Sabrina's Apprentice Diary: Rose Pruning

It is winter at the gardens which means rose pruning time, and several hundred of them to get through! Each apprentice was assigned a few days at the Rose Garden to help Rachel and the team with the mammoth task.
I have secretly been looking forward to this for a while and i've been itching to know how to prune a rose. I have one in my own garden and its a curious plant, it seems to grow no matter how rude and mean I am to it, but always looks a bit spindly. I wanted to find out why, and how to professionals do it and make them look good.
So here is the magic revealed...

Tools needed: Sharpened Secateurs (parrot beak blades), Loppers,
Trowel and Wire Brush. And MOST importantly
thick leather long gloves - you cannot do this without them!!!

Start by taking out dead, diseased, damaged and defected
wood (The 4 D's). Next take down the height of the whole
plant leaving about 50-60cm of main stems
- all remnants of flowers/hips removed.

Next, take out thinner, spindly or crossing canes. Chose only the
stronger looking canes and cut them on a diagonal slant just
above a healthy bud. Aim for a vase-like frame work of about
10 canes remaining. It feels really harsh to reduce a huge rose
bush to just a few bits sticking out of the ground,
but I've been assured they will grow back!

When happy with the pruning, clear back the soil from around
the crown, remove any weeks and debris.
With a wire brush go over the crown to remove any loose
bark and caked on soil. Check from crown gall as well.

And there you go. It took me a while to get the hang of which canes to cut and which to leave and I started off being fairly gentle with it until Rachel showed me I could cut back much harder. I had a fun few days. Now to come back in summer and see how they've grown.