Pruning:

• Pruning immediately after the blooming period is standard practice.
• Deadhead old spent blooms.
• Cut out dead branches. Then remove crossing branches and weak wood. Remove excess branches to give the remaining ones room to grow. Except when layering a plant, remove drooping branches that scrape the ground. Remove spindly shoots that sometimes develop along the trunk. Remove sprouts from under-stock on grafted plants. When removing hardened wood, make clean cuts and prune flush with the trunk or main branches; do not leave stubs. Thinning the small outer branches is the final step in the pruning process.