How to Trim Creeping Roses

Climbing roses, also known as creeping or trailing roses, add color and fragrance to any landscape, especially when they adorn the side of a house, creep up latticework or envelop an archway. All the different varieties of climbing roses grow upwards from a base with blooming branches that intertwine like vines with other structures. Most climbing roses love full sun but may vary in hardiness. Plan on properly trimming and pruning whenever your creeping roses are encroaching where they shouldn't or the plant is aging and needs a boost to produce more blossoms.

Pruning saw
Long reach rose trimmers
Bucket
Bleach
Water

Instructions

- 1
  Disinfect your pruning tools in a bucket with 10 parts water to one part bleach to avoid spreading plant diseases. Disinfecting your tools again after you move from one plant to the next to minimize contamination is also a good idea, especially if you are pruning several plants at once.
- 2
  Identify two or three of the plant's canes that are dead or dying. The canes are the main stems that emerge from the ground. Use the pruning saw to prune these canes, cutting them close to the base. Removing damaged and dying canes forces more of the plant's resources to stronger, healthier canes.
- 3
  Identify any side shoots that are overgrowing their space. Examples include sideshoots growing across a door or window on a house or drooping down from a trellis into where people must walk. Use long-reach rose pruners to snip side shoots back at least 6 inches from the main stem.
- 4
  Remove from one-third to one-quarter of the climbing rose bush to keep the plant vigorous. This level of trimming also helps train the plant in the direction you want and prevents wild offshoots.

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