Thorn-free Roses

Thornless or thorn-free roses are supposed to make pruning easier because they have finer prickles or no prickles… Thornless varieties of roses such as Smooth Touch roses were bred specifically to make rose care including pruning easier and more comfortable. In theory thornless roses should be easier to prune.

Unfortunately, what I have experienced so far when I have had to prune thornless roses is the total opposite and that could be because the roses were old, had thick and woody canes and in some cases the stems were stringy and hard to prune. I also found that the growth was denser and had tangled growth which made it difficult to prune. There was just too much going on in the rose bushes that I was trying to prune.

With what I experienced I would prefer to prune back roses that had thorns because they appear to be more manageable.

And after doing some research I also found that certain varieties of thornless roses such as hybrid teas or old shrub roses can be more challenging to prune due to the way they grow.

It is recommended that thornless roses that are a tangled mass, should be pruned more frequently or regularly and that will allow the growth to be more manageable.