Winter rose pruning - any experts out there? (Pictures attached)

[Anne75D]

This may give some a good chuckle but I'm a complete novice to gardening and worry I might ruin the lovely climbing roses I've inherited. They formed an arch over a garden gate and I'm keen to retain that shape but I'd like to give it a good prune now for new flowers to come in spring/summer.

I've added different coloured lines to the pictures and wanted to know where would be best to cut? I'm not sure whether I need to cut just below the flowers, half way down or all the way at the bottom.

I hope this doesn't seem too daft a question - grateful for any advice!

Rose pruning is a whole art in itself! Unless it is rocking a lot in winter winds, then don't prune it yet - it's too early. The best time to prune roses is just before Valentine's Day (according to Alan Titchmarsh anyway).

The best thing you could do is to read through the rose pruning section on the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) website, as climbing roses need a specific regime. Some years you need to cut back a few of the stems lower so you get fresh growth from low down, but it really depends on the variety and what the branch structure is like now.

There's a book you could buy called the Rose Expert by DG Hessayon. Easily available from garden centres and you can often get second hand copies on Ebay.

Thanks yamadori

I really need to prune my climbing roses too! I was going to wait until March because it's often cold here in the SE in February. I'm wondering if we're due a late cold snap and proper snow/ heavy frosts.
I shall investigate the Valentines Day thing

One of my climbing roses is an absolute beast. I think it might have a maximum height of 3-4m as it's shot up well above the fenceline (5ft+1ft trellis) and my poor blooms get wrecked by the wind

I'm not sure of the variety, I think it might be flame or fire something. The petals are graduated red-pink-orange-lemon. I need to reduce it somehow anyway and tie the new whips in so it grows more horizontally.

The other one is Iceberg which needs a bit of maintenance but isn't quite so sprawling.

Easy rule to remember is always cut back to the first stem that has five leaves on it.

@Crapbuttrue

Easy rule to remember is always cut back to the first stem that has five leaves on it.

That's a good tip for dead-heading in the summer, but most of them lose their leaves in winter though, so you can't tell.

I follow David Austin’s advice which is really simple. For established climbers, prune the side shoots 2-3in away from main stem and remove all weak stems and deadwood. I think climbers are the easiest to prune.

I'm a bit late to this but does anyone do the Sissinghurst method of tying roses down hard to bend the branches?

It's not just Sissinghurst, it's a standard method of raining roses. The rose is climbing because it wants to reach the light. It knows when it's got there because it's burst out of the top of the trees/shrubs supporting it, so with nothing supporting them, the stems bend, which stimulates side growth with flower buds. Therefore if you bend the stems, it triggers the rose into thinking it's reached the top of the canopy and can concentrate on flowering instead of growing upwards.

Ah very interesting! I didn't understand the science behind it ... it certainly works. Thank you!

I'm in Ireland and I thought we should either prune in November or March, up to St. Patrick's Day.

Very helpful video on Sarah Raven’s instagram.

@LadyEloise

I'm in Ireland and I thought we should either prune in November or March, up to St. Patrick's Day.

Slightly different climate. In England at least, it's up to St Valentine's day!