No, you won't kill the plant. We like to recommend to wait until after blooming because, well, seeing the blooms is kinda the point of growing roses. However, they are your plants, if you want to prune them now, go for it.

Thanks! The roses were planted by a previous owner and look absolutely gorgeous.....when taken care of. Now its just a big rat's nest. I think 2 of the plants have black spot. Good to know I won't kill the plants. Just going to give them a haircut and then get the diseased plants cleared up.

I cut on my roses alot. I think if you just get anything sickly looking off the plant and dead that would be a good thing.

A typical rule of thumb when you're doing pruning to reshape the bush is to only cut off 1/3 of the plant at any one go, and if you need more than that to let the plant rest and regroup between haircuts. A good strategy for an overgrown plant is to pick the oldest canes and cut them down low toward the base, to open up more blooming space for the newer canes and work toward that open vase shape that maximizes bloom. But roses are tough puppies for the most part - you can take a chainsaw to many types of roses and they'll survive OK too.

And you're not a bad gardener - you have teenaged roses and you're encouraging their independence. That's good parenting in my book!

Cynthia

Haha Cynthia! I meant to take care of them but school and work got in the way! Thanks for the tips!

If they're in bloom I'd wait for them to finish and then when I dead head cut deep and do my pruning/shaping then to set them up for the next flush.