If you’ve ever stood over a rose bush with pruners in your hand and thought, “I can’t believe I’m about to do this,” you’re in good company. Roses have a way of making us feel like we’re committing a crime when we cut them back—even when we know it’s the right move.

But here’s the truth Woody is trying to convince Gardy of in the infographic: rose pruning season is how you set your rose bush up to look better than ever in spring. Pruning isn’t punishment. It’s a reset.

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Why Pruning Matters

Roses will usually survive without being pruned during their dormant period—but “survive” and “thrive” aren’t the same thing. When roses are left alone year after year, they tend to become:

• Weak and poorly shaped
• Less productive (smaller blooms and fewer of them)
• More prone to pests and diseases (because crowded stems trap moisture and reduce airflow)
• Leggy and neglected-looking

Pruning helps you open the plant up, remove problems before they spread, and encourage strong new canes that will carry the best blooms.

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When to Prune Roses

Most roses are pruned during their dormant season (often late winter into early spring, depending on your climate). That timing keeps stress low and lets the plant respond with fresh, vigorous growth as the weather warms.

If you’re unsure on timing for your area or your specific rose type, a quick check-in with us can help you nail it.

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Rose Pruning 101: The 5-Step “Why & How” Guide

The infographic breaks it down into simple steps that work great for many common roses. Here’s the same process in plain English.

1) Remove dead, broken, or diseased stems

Start with the obvious problems. If a cane is damaged, snapped, or shows signs of disease, take it out. This reduces stress on the plant and prevents issues from spreading.

• Cut back to healthy tissue
• Sanitize pruners if you’re moving through diseased material

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2) Remove inward-growing, rubbing, or crossing stems

Roses do best with airflow and light through the center of the plant. When canes grow inward or cross and rub, they create wounds and crowded zones—prime real estate for pests and disease.

Aim for an open shape (often described as “vase-shaped”) so air can move through the plant.

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3) Remove spindly growth (especially “suckers” at the base or below the graft)

Thin, pencil-sized stems usually won’t produce strong blooms and they sap energy from the rest of the plant. The infographic also calls out suckers—fast-growing shoots that can come from the base of the plant or below the graft union (common on grafted roses).

Removing these helps the plant focus on healthy, productive canes.

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4) Make clean cuts just above a bud/shoot (at about a 45° angle)

Clean cuts heal better, and where you cut affects where the new growth goes. A classic rule: cut just above an outward-facing bud so the new cane grows outward instead of crowding the center.

• Cut about 1/4 inch above a bud or shoot point
• Angle the cut so water sheds off (often around 45°)

The infographic also reminds: new growth will generally grow in the direction of the last bud below your cut.

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5) Leave 6–10 strong stems at about 18–24 inches

Once you’ve removed the trouble spots, you’re left with the “best bones” of the plant.  We recommend leaving 6–10 strong growing stems and pruning to roughly 18–24 inches tall to balance the plant for healthy new growth.

This part can feel dramatic—especially if you’re attached to a big, leafy rose—but it’s exactly what pushes that strong spring flush.

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The Emotional Part (Because Yes, It’s Hard to Cut Back Roses)

Gardy isn’t wrong to be protective—roses are personal. But pruning is one of those “short-term pain, long-term gain” garden moves. You’re trading a temporary bare look for:

• Stronger canes
• Better shape
• More blooms
• Healthier plants with fewer pest/disease issues

Or, as Woody puts it: you’re pruning now so your roses look better than ever come spring.

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Quick Rose Pruning Checklist

• Remove dead, broken, and diseased canes first
• Remove inward-growing, rubbing, and crossing stems
• Remove spindly growth and any suckers at/below the graft
• Make clean cuts just above a bud at a slight angle
• Leave 6–10 strong canes around 18–24″ tall (adjust for rose type)

If you want help identifying suckers, choosing how far to cut back, or figuring out what kind of rose you have, bring a photo (or stop by with questions). Pruning is a skill, and once it “clicks,” it gets so much easier every year.

And remember: pruning 101—if you cut a plant in one place, it grows in another.

 

The Grim Reaper of Citrus Trees

If you love Citrus trees beware, this Halloween the grim reaper will not be wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe… And it may be providing more of a trick than a treat! The Grim Reaper of citrus trees is a tiny, flying, sap-sucking insect the size of a grain of rice. The Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) can cause damage on its own, but also may infect our trees with a fatal bacterium that causes Citrus Greening disease, technically known as Huanglongbing disease (HLB). This disease has devastated the Florida citrus industry and has now been found in Southern California. While not harmful to humans, the disease kills citrus trees, and has no cure.

Monitoring citrus for the presence of the ACP and symptoms of HLB is key for controlling this fatal disease. Much like aphids, the psyllids feed on new, developing leaves. Check new growths on your trees for psyllid activity, especially during Spring and Fall. Look for evidence of the ACP in new growth by checking for:

• Adult psyllids feeding, head down and rear end in the air (at a 45-degree angle)
• Twisted and or notched leaves in new growth
• Sticky honeydew with black sooty mold
• Nymphs (baby insects) that produce waxy, white tubules
• Tiny, almond shaped, yellow eggs (You may need Inspector Clouseau’s magnifying glass)

Once a tree is infected with HLB, it will die. Diseased trees need to be removed promptly in order to protect other citrus trees on the property, in neighbors’ yards, and throughout the community from getting infected. If you think you have spotted the pest or disease, call the free statewide pest hotline at 800-491-1899.

You can help protect your own trees by controlling ants that directly interfere with biological control of ACP. Ants farm the psyllid for honeydew. Ants feed honeydew to their offspring and protect the psyllids from natures beneficial predators and parasites. There are some “fruit safe” chemicals and home remedies that can help protect and to kill ACP insects before they infect the tree. However, we need to be very careful not to use these when the trees are flowering, because they can kill honeybees and beneficial insects. These methods, if used, need to be done on a very short and consistent time frame- so I would usually suggest going this route only if trees were found in your neighborhood with the disease.
Always purchase your trees from a trusted source. At Garden View Nursery, all our citrus trees are grown and kept safe in quarantine zones in screen houses inspected by the Department of Agriculture.

 

Simply stated, encouraging deep root growth is universally accepted as good horticultural technique. Deep roots stabilize our trees and shrubs and the deeper roots can tap water from deeper in the soil where moisture is retained for longer periods of time.  One of the biggest obstacles to developing deep roots is the habit of daily or too frequent watering, where the roots are not encouraged to grow downward for water, partially because they have sufficient moisture they need near the surface and over saturated soil below.

Shallow rooted trees and shrubs may survive normal conditions but when it gets hot out, the surface is the first place to dry out. Even though there is water deeper in the ground, it is not tapped, because their active roots are only on the surface. Shallow daily watering can lead to:

1. Shallow roots that do not provide stability
2. More frequent & wasted watering, because the tree is relying only on the surface roots for sustaining moisture
3. Roots growing under paving looking for oxygen
4. Unhealthy trees & shrubs that are much more susceptible to disease & insect infestations
5. Daily watering encourages weed growth by providing the continuous moisture needed to germinate weeds that would not happen if the soil dried slightly

More importantly, we can kill or reduce the health of our plants and trees by continued saturation of the soil. Plant roots require oxygen for growth and respiration. Devoid of oxygen, plants can literally drown- the roots die and the plant is left to rely only on what surface roots that are still alive if any. The key is to water deeply and infrequently enough that the roots grow downward for the water. Be careful though, if the plants are allowed to dry out too much, the minute root hairs (feeder roots) may die, setting back the process. It is important to understand that it is a process. You cannot just cut back on how often you water; you must slowly train the roots to grow down. Water less and less frequently while increasing the amount of water as the plant matures and/or develops deeper roots. Several short watering periods spaced out across the morning are more efficient in most cases than a single long watering. For instance, instead of utilizing one 12-minute watering period, change to a 3-4–minute watering period with three separate start times cycling shortly after the other.

Encouraging deep root growth is a balancing act that is complicated by many factors, including but not limited to, new landscaping, soil types, existing roots from trees and shrubs, plant types, plant groupings, prior watering techniques, sprinkler systems, shade, sun, slopes, drainage systems, changes in the weather, and numerous other factors. Water penetration also depends on the soil. Sandy soil absorbs water much more quickly than clay soil, and loamy soil falls in the middle. It is thus important to check your soil for absorption.

The benefits of deep watering can also be seen in our lawns in ground covers. The same rules apply and the amount of water savings can be enormous. If you want to learn more, check out our sister article: “Lawns Can Survive On Twice a Week Watering”

 

Bringing out your hedge trimmer can be an easy, fast way to turn your plants from shabby to shapely. After a few effortless swings, the job is largely done. But we’ve all seen that stiff, unnatural, exterior of dense, tightly packed leaves with dead dry interior as a result. At Garden View, our maintenance teams use trimmers to efficiently remove plant material – but instead of solely relying on hedge trimmers, our team has perfected the strategy of utilizing what we’ve coined as, “The Inside-Out Method.”

Start by reaching inside the plant and, using a hand pruner, snip a small branch with leaves on it back to a lateral branch. Repeat the same process every 6 to 9 inches balanced throughout the shrub to create small openings in the dense exterior so that light can reach into the interior. New growth will start to sprout from inside the plant. Depending on the shrub and your needs, you may want to do this as often as every third pruning.

Here are our Top 5 benefits of Inside-Out pruning:

1. Less work – Plants that have been inside-out pruned will require less maintenance. Flush-trimming forces the plant to devote energy to producing new growth predominantly on the exterior of the plant instead of throughout the whole plant. This makes more work for you!
2. Healthier plants – Constant flush pruning cuts off growth before new healthy leaves and stems have a chance to mature and photosynthesize (produce plant energy). Plants need new growth to be healthy, produce chlorophyll, and to grow out of disease and other issues. Inside out pruning allows for new growth from inside the plant.
3. More natural look -In most cases, constant flush pruning makes plants look unnatural while subjecting the plant to possible over pruning resulting in exposing the dry, brown and dead-looking interior. Inside out pruned plants will produce new growth on the interior of the plant and won’t appear as sheared.
4. Less disease & insect problems – The dense exterior of sheared plants has minimal airflow at the center of the plant, making it a safe haven for pests, fungi, and disease.
5. More Flowers – Constant flush pruning cuts off most flower buds that appear on new growth before you, beneficial insects and hummingbirds can enjoy the flowers.