How to Prune Repeat Flowering Climbing and Rambling Roses

Climbing and rambling roses are among the most rewarding roses to grow. Given a support and a little guidance, they quickly become generous plants, covering walls, arches and structures with leafy growth and repeat flowers across the season.

To keep them flowering well and looking their best, they benefit from an annual prune while the rose is dormant. Pruning is not about strict rules or perfect cuts. It is simply the way we guide the plant into a good structure, encourage fresh growth, and keep flowering spread across the rose rather than concentrated at the top.

If you feel unsure, it helps to remember that roses are resilient. You will not kill a rose by pruning it imperfectly. These guidelines are simply to help you get the best display, and any errors are usually only short term.

Why Pruning Matters

Pruning keeps a climbing or rambling rose healthy, manageable and productive. Done well, it will:

Improve the overall look and shape
Maximise flowering
Help combat disease by improving airflow
Keep the rose within bounds and easier to manage
Stimulate strong new growth

It also helps prevent a common issue with climbers, where flowering is abundant at the top but the lower part becomes sparse. The combination of training and pruning is what keeps growth and bloom distributed evenly.

What You’ll Need

Essentials

A pair of secateurs and holster

It is worth sterilising secateurs from time to time, particularly if you are removing diseased growth, as this helps prevent
spreading infection from one plant to another.

Gloves
Flexi-Tie Roll (or similar soft tying material)

Optional

Long handled loppers
Pruning saw (for old, thick stems)
Ladder
A wheelbarrow or bucket (to gather old leaves and pruned stems)
Steriliser for secateurs

Climbing and rambling roses also need reliable support. For training on walls and fences, we recommend vine eyes and galvanised wire, securing stems loosely with flexi-tie.

Vine eyes ensure the rose is not held flat against the wall, improving airflow and helping to prevent fungal disease. Flexi-tie is durable and expands as stems thicken, reducing the risk of damage.

When to Prune

Prune every year between January and February, when the rose is at its most dormant.

Pruning earlier is not advisable because roses can still be growing. Pruning later, particularly as the weather warms, can shock the plant and may delay flowering.

If you are pruning late, it is still fine to prune if shoots have started to appear, but ideally before the plant has leafed up fully. And if you missed pruning last year, do not worry. It is still worth pruning now, and the rose will respond well.

The Guiding Principle: Train First, Prune Second

The key to successful pruning is understanding how climbing roses flower.

A climber trained straight up will often flower mainly at the top, with fewer flowering side shoots lower down. But when long main stems are trained outwards and tied closer to horizontal, the plant produces many more flowering side shoots along the stem.

Where possible, aim to fan stems out and tie them in place. Longer stems can be pulled down to around 45 degrees or more, and ideally nearer horizontal where the structure allows it.

This training is what encourages flowers from lower down, rather than only at the top.

Year One and Two: Establish the Framework

In the first year after flowering, and usually through the second year as well, a climbing or rambling rose is still establishing its roots and building the main framework. At this stage, pruning is light.

Step 1

Start by removing any remaining leaves. This improves airflow and removes places where disease spores can overwinter.
Step 2

Next, focus on the main stems. Pull longer stems down and tie them against your wires in a fan shape. Any stems growing away from the wall or structure that cannot easily be tied in can be shortened.
Step 3

Then remove unhealthy growth using the Four Ds: dead, dying, damaged and diseased.
Step Four

Finally, shorten flowering side shoots, reducing them by around half. Clear away fallen leaves and prunings from the ground and dispose of them. Rose foliage should not be composted, as spores can reinfect the plant.

Year Three and Beyond: Increasing Coverage and Maintaining Flowering

By year three, the rose is beginning to form a fuller plant on its support. The approach remains much the same, but you now have more choice in shaping.

Beyond year three, continue pruning each winter as before.

Step 1

Where longer side shoots help extend the fan shape, these can be tied in rather than cut back.
Step 2

Shorter side shoots can still be reduced by around half their length. This is one of the simplest ways to increase coverage and flowering across the structure, without relying solely on new basal stems.
Step 3

From around year five or six, it is also beneficial to remove some older stems at the base, particularly those that have become thick and woody or are no longer as productive.
Step 4

This reduces congestion, improves airflow, and encourages fresh new stems from the base. In the long term it keeps the rose healthier, more manageable, and more floriferous.

Discover Our Video Guide

Narrow Spaces and Structures

Not every rose has the space to be fanned out widely. In narrow positions, training techniques are even more important.

Obelisks and Pillars

Where stems cannot be fanned out, wind the main stems around the structure in a spiral. This is easiest when stems are young, soft and pliable.
Arches and Restricted Spaces

On slim arches or in limited space, stagger pruning heights to spread flowering. For example, pruning main stems at different heights such as 20 inches, 3ft and 5ft can help distribute flowers more evenly across the rose.

The Season Ahead

Once a climbing or rambling rose has been pruned and tied in, the structure is clear and the plant is ready to grow strongly. In spring, buds swell along each trained stem, side shoots form, and flowering follows along the length of the rose rather than only at the top.