In the mid-Atlantic region, roses may be pruned anytime during the first two weeks of April. By mid-April, roses should be absorbing plant minerals from the soil and sending out the first leaf shoots. However, your spring maintenance begins before pruning and fertilizing roses.

* Spring sanitation.

If you encountered disease problems on your roses last year, it is critical that you eliminate the sources of disease infection before growth starts. Your primary concern is raking up the mulch and organic matter surrounding your roses. Why? Since last summer and fall, disease spores of black spot, powdery mildew, and botrytis were deposited on bits and pieces of mulch, leaves and organic matter. The spores overwintered in the rose garden and will be wind-blown to roses starting in May and continuing through the summer.

If you sanitize the rose garden first thing in April, you may be able to coast through the summer with little or no evidence of disease. Carefully rake and gather all mulch around your plants, scattering the mulch around shrubs or trees far, far away from your roses. Debris and litter must also be raked up and trashed. Withhold an application of chunky mulch until you have pruned and fertilized roses.

Start with a casual inspection of your roses to decide how much pruning will be needed.
With all roses, thin canes the diameter of a pencil or less should be pruned to the ground since they are incapable of flowering and will siphon off energy from the plant. Inevitably, some canes died over the winter and must be pruned to the ground.

With hybrid tea roses, remember that you need only two or three healthy canes on the plant for spectacular flowering this summer. Pruning of imperfect canes won’t detract from your summer roses.

* Pruning.

Canes of hybrid tea roses should be pruned back to within eight inches of the ground, always cutting a quarter-inch above a node where there was prior growth. Slant the cut at a 45-degree angle with the high side of the cut just above the node. In pruning, choose a node that is facing outward on the cane, thereby assuring that spring growth will be “outside” the rose bush rather than inside. The more sunlight poring into the center of the rose bush, the more canes will develop over the summer to produce roses next year

In your pruning, don’t despair if you find small holes in the center of one or more canes. If hioles are found, cut that cane to the ground because borer damage over the winter has destroyed the cane as far as growth is concerned.

Floribunda roses are pruned differently, usually to within 18 to 20 inches of the ground, and always above a node.

Grandiflora roses are moderately pruned, topping healthy canes 15 to 18 inches above the ground.

With climbing and rambling roses, you should only remove dead wood and diseased canes. You need only four healthy canes for abundant roses, therefore the oldest canesay and thick in size) should be pruned back to the "bud union" without harmong the plant. Rambling roses seem to grow like beanstalks, so you there will be future pruning as the canes lengthen. With these new canes, let four pairs of leaves develop, then prune immediately beyond the last pair of leaves. If possible, continue pruning these lengthening canes through the summer

As for climbing roses, they will be pruned in July after the last roses wither.

If you have a tree rose, it should be pruned back to within a foot of the “bud union.” Remove any suckers that have sprouted from the base of the plant. Canes of miniature roses should be pruned now, back to half their length.

No matter how extensive your pruning may be, remember to paint all the cuts with Elmer’s Glue to prevent borer damage in late summer and fall.

* Disease control. Having pruned, check the weather forecast. If no rain is on the way, and air temperatures will stay above 40 for 24 hours, spray all rose canes with liquid lime-sulfur available at the nursery. The spray will destroy all spores of black spot disease on the canes. Avoid spraying near concrete driveways and sidewalks as the lime-sulfur will leave a permanent stain.

* Fertilization.

Use a granular plant food for roses according to label instructions. Apply granules away from the trunk or canes, scratched into the top inch of soil. Follow with a inch or two layer of chunky mulch to conserve moisture and deter invasion by broadleaf weeds.

* Summer Sprays.

Plan ahead to control disease and insects. By mid-May, start spraying for black spot disease, aintaining a two-week spray schedule. Rotate between Rubigan and liquid concentrate Ortho Garden Disease Control (containing Daconil). For powdery mildew control, make bi-weekly sprays of liquid Bayleton in the evening, starting the last week of June. Bayleton is available in 2-ounce containers. For insects, rely on liquid Cygon. Liquid Orthene is no longer manufactured, but you’re bound to find the concentrate on retail shelves so you can alternate it with Cygon. Don’t rely on beetle traps unless you want thousands of beetles eating your roses.