Pruning Roses in Spring

Begin by removing the rose collar and start to pull back some of the mulch. It’s best to remove mulch gradually over the course of several days. Check for cane dieback.

You can see on this cane where the green growth begins, so you want to cut past this point. Remove any old rose hips which remained through winter. 

Select an outward facing bud eye and make the cut about a ¼" above the bud eye.

Angle the cut away from the bud eye. Pruning cuts made this way will keep the rose growing outward.

Even with mounding for winter protection, roses can experience significant dieback, such as this one. Cut back brown canes to healthy growth.

This may mean you’ll cut the canes almost to the ground, in some cases. Use a good bypass hand pruner for medium sized canes and a long handled lopping pruner for larger canes.

After removing all the brown canes, this hybrid rose is ready for spring.

Mini-roses grow on their own roots. Remove winterkill down to healthy wood. Climbing roses have two types of canes, the main climbing canes and the flowering canes, which come off the main canes. Prune out any dead wood on the main canes now. If you’re unsure how to prune, stop in and we’ll be glad to show you.

How to harden off plants

What does it mean to “harden off plants”? Whether you grew your own or bought them at The Flower Bin, vegetables and flowers need to be acclimated to the outdoors, before they are planted. The process of preparing plants that have been started indoors to be planted outdoors is called “hardening off”, and usually takes about a week. This allows your plants time to get used to direct sun, wind and cooler nights. The first day, set your plants outside in a shady spot and bring them in that night.

The second day set your plants in morning sun for half a day, then back to shade and indoors at night.

Gradually increase the exposure to sunlight over the next several days, before letting them spend the night outside.  At the end of the week, plants should be ready to stay outside.

Floating row cover also provides added insect and weather protection for your plants.

 Plants you bought outside in the Perennial House

or in front of the store have already been acclimated and can be planted right away.