You need to have pruned near to a growth point, but not TOO close. If you just whack anywhere, the stump you leave will not resprout.

Next fall, go to the library and get a book about roses to learn how to do it more correctly. Just think--if they are doing well with the job you did using the lopper--how much better your display will be when you have just a bit of education about the process. It really isn't hard.

Good luck.

Susan

You get 'the best' flowers coming from the reddish coloured new canes which often have heaps more thorns than the older wood.
Some people call these 'water shoots' and remove them - which is not a good idea.

On a hybrid tea shrub rose - and many of the old fashioned roses - near the base is a round sort of stump which is sometimes called 'the bud head'. New wood will often start from here and give you the red shoots I mentioned.

However, there can be mini budheads on old wood. The new wood from these points is often neither as thick nor as vigorous as the big burst from the bottom - but they will give you flowers.

The quickest way to check is to look at the different colours of the wood on your roses: red or green is most likely to be new and lively wood with good flower potential; dark or greyish brown, older wood. Older thorns or bristles can be more woody than new ones, too.

Take the time over summer to look for the the different sorts of buds on the wood. There are some that are very flat - which turn out to be dormant buds that will come into action if there is damage to the top of the stem; fatter buds which will make side shoots, and the ones which develop into flowers.

Most roses don't mind being pruned by loppers, hedge clippers, cows, frost, and first time pruners. They'll throw out a mass of small new wood and become quite choked up but they'll still keep flowering and fruiting.

However, if you want that long-stemmed, dew-kissed, barely unfurled gorgeous specimen - get to know your buds, learn how long it takes for your roses to move from wood bud to flower bud, and practice on stems you've already removed.

Hope your shade tree venture is coming along and the 'puppies' are enjoying their special yard.

I have a ground cover rose bush that isn't covering the ground but growing like crazy---I need to know how and when i should prune it. I also had a rose tree, and despite all I did this winter to keep it alive, it did not perish. I cut it down at the base and now there are 2 sprouts growing from the roots I assume. I am wondering if it will automatically grow into a tree, or if they are pruned into a tree??? My rose tree the last three years was so beautiful, I had people stop in the street to tell me how beautiful it is--or shall I say was. I am wondering what to do with the sprouts as well. thanks for any info i can get

A tree rose is usually grafted in two places, you have root stock, stem stock and the top blooming part. Because grafts are sensitive to cold, you need to loosen the soil around one side and tip the rose over to the ground and cover with a loose layer of soil and a layer of leaves or straw where the winters are severe ( too much trouble for me!)
You may have root stock ( which won't bloom whorth a toot) or stem stock growing....let it go and see what flowers.
Linda C