Potted roses are just like any other roses—they need a little haircut at the right time to stay healthy and push out those beautiful blooms. Even those cute evergreen mini roses you keep indoors need regular pruning if you want them to stick around for the long haul.
Pruning Potted Roses
For indoor evergreen roses, you’ll want to snip off faded flower stems regularly. I usually just do this while I’m doing my daily watering rounds. Deadheading like this encourages the plant to focus its energy on new growth rather than seeds. It’s a quick task that seriously extends your rose’s blooming season! If your potted roses are living outside, try to give them a good deadheading at least once a week.
Don’t skip the big annual prune, either. It’s super important! Without a good, hard cut after the blooming season, your rose might sprout in the spring, but it won’t give you that lush “wow” factor you’re looking for. If your potted roses spend their summer on the patio or in the garden, you’ll likely move them to a cool, frost-free spot for the winter. You can give them a light trim before moving them, but save the real pruning for spring. Why? Because some stems might die back from the cold over winter, and you’ll want to see what’s actually healthy before you start cutting.
When and How to Prune
Spring is the magic time for pruning your potted roses. Around March, go ahead and cut back any diseased, frost-damaged, or weak-looking stems until you hit healthy wood. You can also shorten the healthy stems to whatever length you prefer—this actually makes the new growth come back even stronger. Here’s my step-by-step guide for a perfect prune:
- Use clean, sharp bypass pruners. I like to disinfect mine first to make sure I’m not spreading any plant diseases.
- Wear a good pair of gardening gloves—those thorns don’t play around!
- Start by removing any old, dried-out wood.
- Thin out the bush so you’re left with just a few strong, healthy canes.
- Shorten those remaining strong canes a bit.
- Always make your cut just above a bud that is facing outward.
- Cut at a slight angle so water runs off the wound.
- Remove any unwanted side shoots right at the main stem so you don’t leave “coat hooks” (stubs) behind.
- If you see any “suckers” (wild shoots growing from below the graft), cut them off as low as possible.
Indoor potted roses get the exact same treatment in the spring. This “reset” helps them develop fresh stems and plenty of buds. Trust me, the blooms are always much more impressive after a proper pruning!
