Monty Don urges us to prune rambling roses right now – for beautiful blooms next year

Expert gardener Monty Don may have already shared his rose pruning advice last month, but he has returned with more – and if you have rambling roses, then his timely tips are especially for you. 

While it remains important to maintain the deadheading process for some roses, others, including rambling roses, have now finished everything they will do this summer, and will no longer flower.

So, if you have rambling roses, then Monty’s latest garden ideas will explain how to preserve future potential, but he urges you to act this month in his latest blog (opens in new tab). 

Monty's top tip for creating more flowers from rambling roses

Monty's exact instructions for ramblers depend on how you want them to grow, whether that's loosely or in a tight, well-trained shape. However, before sharing his rose garden ideas, Monty reveals how to categorize a rambling rose if you're unsure. 

‘Ramblers tend to be much more vigorous and always have a mass of small flowers that never repeat once they have finished, Monty explains. He then continues, sharing his timely expertise. 

‘Many ramblers are best grown into a tree, and these can be left unpruned apart from straggly, unkempt growth. However, if space is limited or you are training the rose in any way [then] this year’s new shoots should be tied in or cut back according to the circumstance.

'Remove any damaged or very old shoots, cutting them right back to the ground,’ he instructs – this of course is more dramatic than simply deadheading roses.

If you decide to train your rambling roses around a vertical support, then Monty has tips for that too. He recommends winding the stems in a spiral to promote an abundance of growth in the future. ‘The more horizontal the stems can be trained, the more flowers will be produced next year,’ he says. 

To conclude the process, Monty recommends tying any loose growth before applying mulch which prevents weeds and locks moisture – thus promoting beautiful blooms long into 2022. 

The future is already looking bright, but with Monty’s tips, it’s going to involve a host of sumptuously smelling petals too.