Hi Harry! You don't list your zone and I'm not familiar with BC climate so it's hard for me to say when would be the best time to prune. However, it's usually NEVER in the fall if you have any kind of freezing temperatures during the winter and your roses go dormant. You can always start out by just cutting off any dead wood. Once that's done you can look them over and prune for shape cutting out anything that grows in toward the center or take out one of any crossed canes.

I'm not sure what you mean by buds. Are they leaf buds starting to pop out or do you mean flower buds have already formed? If they're leaves coming out then now is your best time to prune. If they are flower buds you can wait until they bloom and then when you dead head the spent blooms you can prune back deep if you wish. Either way won't hurt them.

Hi Harry, you don't prune in the fall. After the first frost, you can 'top' your roses, that is cut them down a bit so you don't have tall canes whipping around in the winter storms.

The main pruning in early spring. Most people time this with the blooming of the forsythia. Even if your roses have leafed out a bit, you will still want to prune. It's hard, but it's for the best. Every time I leave some early leafed out canes that I know I should cut, I wind up cutting them anyway because the rose gets too big and floppy.

The roses that aren't putting out new growth, do you know if they are grafted or not?

Hi seil and buford,
Sorry about that, I usually put in my zone8 info. Good to hear that both of you suggest spring pruning since that's my option at this stage, but I don't think forsythia is out for at least another month here. By then my roses could have some full leaves.....is that not leaving the pruning a little too late? By the way seil, the cllimate here is basically the same as Seattle Washington which is only 20 min. drive south from my home.
Speaking of where home is I see that both of you are from the U.S.A. Reil, I have cousins that live in Kalamazoo area. My mother also from there. And buford, I had another cousin who was living in Savannah Ga. Small world sometimes eh (or should I say "huh"!!).
I'm sure you both can grow fantastic roses in your climate so thanks for the advice.
I still remember the smell and taste of my grandfather's fresh picked tomatoes from his little garden in Battle Creek Mi. ........ Ah, the things we remember.

nice chatting,
Harry... from the frozen north - go Canucks go!!!

Buford, IT DEPENDS ON YOUR CLIMATE!

Folks where it is cold prune in the Spring, because the roses are dormant and sometimes buried in snow all winter. We in WARM climates, where our roses usually do not go dormant at all, prune in Jan-Feb. If I waited until "Spring", I would be pruning right in the middle of the Spring flush! (Mine starts here for real in March).

The advice to top them in the Fall after the first frost and prune in the Spring when the forsythia comes out is great if you live where there is any frost, or where there is any forsythia, which I do not.

So, if your roses are already budding out, I would prune them NOW. You live in a relatively warm and mild climate, I presume?

Jackie

Jackie, I think Buford was directing the advice at the OP based on that climate.

:-)

~Christopher

Thank Christopher, I was. I am not that familiar with the PNW, but I have rose friends there and I don't think they have pruned yet.

It's really up to you. I normally get roses leafing out at this time of year because we do get mild winters (even though we get frosts and freezing temps). Especially the roses that get a lot of sun. As I've said, every time I don't prune because it's already leafed out, I regret it. And I usually have to prune a lot after the first flush.

And we are all victims of the weather. In 2007 we had a very warm winter and my roses were almost fully leafed out in early March. I did prune some. But many were full of buds or in bloom at the end of March. Then we had a disastrous hard frost on April 7th and 8th, Easter weekend. Everything was destroyed. All new growth was killed and the damage on some roses went back to the graft. I also lost my hydrangea blooms and almost my Japanese Maples and Gardenias. Some of the roses never recovered. There was probably nothing I could have done to prevent it, but after that year, I did wait until March to prune, no matter what was going on in my roses.

It depends on where you live and what type of spring you normally get. If you can get frosts in early spring, then delaying pruning may be a good idea.