Now I am not a gardener, more of a "plant it in the ground and if it grows - Great!" 
Most of my roses have finished now but should I prune them now or leave alone for a while? I have not pruned before and most of them are very, leggy, I suppose the word would be, long stems with bud at end. I would like them to look healthier for next year. Are they beyond help?? :rolleyes:   !!

I always prune right back in the autumn. Cut down to a low outward facing bud.
Hope this helps, I.m not a gardener but it seems to work for me!!

So...Sept/Oct time??

If they have finishe flowering, then cut back a third in the Autumn, Sept/oct  so the snow and wind doesnt break them over the winter, and the 'surplus' protects tham from the frost, then in March time, cut back to 3 leaf nodes(where the leaves sprout from) from the bottom.
BUT, if they are old roses you have to be a bit more careful, and it is harder to explain, so if they are new, do what I have said, If they are older tell me and I will explain more LOL
HTH
Lea :)

Hi Lea,
Think they are about 5 years old, is that old in the life time of a rose!!!! (Can't you tell I've never had green fingers!!!)
Sarah

Do the bottom stems look woody or new?????
It is better to only prune the new stems down to one leaf node ABOVE the old wood, and cut off any that are in the wrong place, ie, over hanging opaths etc. And only cut one woody branch a year, as woody branches are more suseptible to die back than the new wood.
Does that make sense???
Lea :)

Most of the stems look woody to be honest, very long and brown.

Um can you take a pic and send it to me??????
LOL
I know instinctively what to do when I look at roses but cant get it into words LOL
Lea :)

Yes, can do a photo tommorrow and email it to you - am in my Pjs at the mo!!!
Thanks for your help Rose Doctor extrodinare!!

I agree with Lea :) I only dead head - if you keep doing it through the summer the roses can go on flowering until at least November :) I only take off more of the branch if they are dead or causing the whole rose to rock in the wind. I give a good hard prune in February/March :)

Daisy

Roses should be pruned in the Autumn or in the spring - I was always told to prune them no later than March.

If you cut off the dead flowers they will keep on blooming all summer. I have had roses out in the garden right through until December. If you let the dead heads form into rose hips then the plant won't produce any more flowers as it will think it's work is over for this year - but cut them off and it will throw out new blooms. The flowers turning to seed heads are a plant's way of reproducing so all the time you are preventing it from doing so it will continue to try.

ah hah! Have lots and lots of rose hips out there, so need to keep ontop of this. There is a cottage I pass on the way to work which is literally covered in roses and they are there for months, so they really have their work cut out.

Our Roses have had lots of blooms this year and still have loads of buds coming, most of them are ours that we planted 5-10 years ago and either new or moved when we moved here but others were here from who knows when,and doing well! We didnt cut them back last year ( did the year before)but will do this year again, we do it between october and march, and usually dead head but only a couple times a month.