As a recent transplant from California to Missouri, in California I was in a habit of pruning down our roses between Thanksgiving and Winter Break, (Christmas Vacation), to about a foot and they always came back in the spring. I expect to do the same with the roses here in Missouri but now we have a dozen miniature rose bushes. Do they require pre-winter pruning? They didn't in California, but the winters are much harsher here and if so, how much? Any other suggestions you could offer would be appreciated. Thank you. Moscow Mills, MO Hank.

Hi, neighbor! Roses are pruned very different in this general area from California. Here we don't do fall pruning, except for basic deadheading. Here cutting back time is in the late winter very early spring time frame. I am slightly south of you, but our zones are fairly close together ( mine is 7b). Here we start cutting back the roses right after Valentine's Day. You would cut yours back slightly after that, and no later than mid March if you want blooms in April. This applies to all types of roses except for climbers, which are cut back in the fall.
The reason not to prune now is that we sometimes have warm weather for quite sometime and then have a hard freeze. If you cut them back now, that will encourage new growth that can be killed by a sudden freeze.

In St. Louis, they prune in April. See this monthly "To Do" List used by the St. Louis Rose Society:

http://stlrosesociety.org/St%2...

If you wish to contact them directly:

http://stlrosesociety.org/

Wow.Luis, if I waited until April to prune my roses I would be pruning off all my blooms! I had no idea that St Louis would be so ,I had later to prune.

Garden Fish & Luis_pr:
Thank you. Moscow MillsHank

I usually also go by the Valentine's Day suggestion here but my mild winters definitely dip below freezing in Jan-Feb a lot and rocket to the 60-70s so the dormancy that the roses have is similar to sleeping with a dog that snores.

I have lately started pruning in late Feb or March.

Yeah, those big dips are killers. They do a number on my hydrangea, too. Last year we had very warm weather until mid November, then it just plummeted to 20 degrees one night. My roses were full of buds and blooms. The cold temp freeze dried them on the bushes!

Hank, that transition from fall to spring pruning can be shock to the system. It doesn't only apply to roses, it's across the board; don't cut back perennials, ornamental grasses, etc, in the fall, either. Like GardenFish said, aside from basic deadheading, leave all of the dead top growth as insulation for the plants over the the winter. One of my first gardening lessons several (many) decades ago in Northern California was the importance—and ritual, even—of "fall cleanup." Even now, having lived in a freezing zone for 9 years, I still have to resist the urge to cut everything back in the fall. Good luck in your new gardening environment

Hi, Hank,I'm in zone 6b Michigan. We do not ever prune in the fall. As said earlier, it promotes new growth that has no chance of hardening off in time to survive a hard freeze, But also, roses store energy to start out with in the spring in their canes. If you cut those canes off now come spring they won't have any food to generate new growth with so they can start up photosynthesis. If you have some very tall plants just stake and tie the canes to keep them from whipping in the wind all winter. Miniatures get treated exactly the same way that regular roses do and in very cold climates you don't prune climbers much at all. Winter die back will do that for you unfortunately.

seilMI, nmoasis & an all:
Thank you for your advice. Growing here in Missouri compared to Southern California is like being on a different planet, it's very different. I was use to growing year around. Thanks again, MoscowMillsHank.