How to Prune Drift Roses

Drift Roses are great additions and popular choices for many small gardens because of their low, spreading, and/or mounding habits.

Since these miniature rose bushes bloom all season long, they also provide lots of bright colors to your garden designs and style landscaping since these special roses come in many colorful blooms.

That makes this low-maintenance rose the perfect choice to brighten up all empty spaces such as borders, walkways, paths, landscape beds, flower beds, and even smaller spaces in your yard.

Many people don’t know that drift Roses are a cross between miniature rose bushes and full-size groundcover roses.

Perhaps the best part about these rose bushes is that they are one of the easiest-to-care-for varieties around. These repeat-bloomers are excellent disease-resistance plants, winter and summer hardy, and are designed to be tough. Making them an excellent choice for many.

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Different Types of Drift Roses

• Coral drift
• Knock out roses
• Peach drift
• Sweet drift
• Red drift rose bush
• Apricot drift rose
• Pink drift
• Star roses
• Popcorn drift

While this small shrub is a low-maintenance ornamental, cutting back Drift roses when they’re established can be beneficial for the plant and for having a flush of rose blooms. Today, we’ll be talking about pruning Drift roses.

So grab your pair of shears, and let’s get started!

Why is Pruning Important

Since Drift roses repeatedly set buds and grow new shoots at a fast rate, good pruning, especially annual pruning, is a good idea and is also crucial if you want to encourage more blooms and new growth throughout the growing season.

It prevents the production of rose hips and reddish seed-filled balls that sap energy from the plant and prevents it from further producing flower buds from your shrub roses.

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Furthermore, pruning can protect this low-maintenance rose from diseases while shaping the plant, which is excellent to help the deciduous shrub be at its best performance. As you prune a Drift rose bush, you also improve air circulation, which prevents the accumulation of moisture on the leaves and glossy green foliage.

You can also prevent the growth of fungi and fungal diseases that often result in black spots and powdery mildew.

When to Prune Drift Roses

Pruning Drift roses can be done twice a year—once in the Spring and again in the Summer.

Spring pruning is done mainly for structural purposes and to shape the plant and dark green foliage to a manageable size. This allows you to remove deadwood, damaged, or cross wood from your prolific bloomer that died back over the winter.

It is best done in early Spring after the last frost date to avoid dieback.

Meanwhile, Summer pruning is done to manage growth and get the full bloom you want while maintaining the shape of rose shrubs. You can trim back some leaves and damaged wood from June through September.

This is also the best time to deadhead Drift roses.

Pruning Steps to Follow

Drift roses are best maintained at a height of 1.5 to 2 feet high. Here are some simple steps you can follow when pruning them:

Step 1: Gather your tools

You will need a few basic tools when the time comes to cut back your small roses and abundance of flowers:

• gloves
• hedge shears
• hand pruners.

Step 2: Decide Where to Cut

Determining where to cut depends on what size you want your rose bush to finish. Your Drift rose will usually triple in size by the end of the season and bloom cycle after cutting it back for your desired look.

Step 3: Trim Your Rose

Using hedge shears or hand pruners, trim your Drift Rose to the desired height. Be sure also to remove any smaller or damaged canes throughout to promote better growth of new flowers and new leaves and airflow between branches.

Step 4: Discard the Debris

Once you have finished, be sure to gather and discard the debris from your new plants.

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