“Camelot” rose (Rosa “Camelot”), a grandiflora hybrid tea rose with double coral pink blossoms, thrives in United States Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3b to 10b. The stems grow up to five feet tall in a dense tree form, with each stem capable of supporting three blossoms. Like many hybrid tea roses, “Camelot” increased requires pruning for shaping and to remove old canes so the plant continues making new canes and blossoms. Pruning is best done in late winter, as buds begin to develop on the canes; the small buds help you opt for the best places to prune.
Wipe all pruning tools with rubbing alcohol to prevent spreading disease among your roses. Bypass pruners are the main tool you will need, but you might need lopping shears or a pruning saw to cut through thicker canes and stubs at the bottom of the plant.
Cut long, wild canes down to 2 feet or shorter in order to make it simpler to access the inner frame of the increased tree.
Eliminate dead canes back to the graft union or back to the green, alive bark; cut as much of the dead stubs as possible, too.
Cut out each the sick or old canes to create room for new canes to grow. Old and sick canes are usually characterized by a blackish color, and they have far fewer flower buds than newer, healthy canes. Cut these canes back to the ground or about 1/4 inch above a healthy bud.
Remove weak, thin canes, including those who are far less than the diameter of a pencil. Leave thin canes in position if removing them will leave a marked gap in the bush.
Measure back in the “Camelot” rose bush to observe its shape after removing all the dead, old and weak canes. The rose bush should have a broad frame that’s fairly open in the center, so search for rubbing canes or canes that grow toward the center of the plant.
Remove any canes that cross or touch other canes, deciding upon the thickest, healthiest of two rubbing canes. Instead of cutting the rubbing cane back to the ground, then look for a developing bud that faces out and prune about 1/4 inch over this bud to encourage outward branching.
Cut inward-growing branches in the wholesome canes back to the junction where it branched out of the cane.
Inspect the cut ends of canes in the previous year’s pruning, searching for holes down into the cane that signal the existence of cane borers. Cut these stubs a couple of inches at a time to eliminate the old, brown wood until you reach healthy, white wood.
Clean up any dead or leaves flower buds from all over the base of the plant.
Deadhead the plant since the blossoms expire, cutting the stem just above a healthy bud or leaf collection.