Valentine's Day is the traditional time to prune modern hybrid rosebushes. Old garden roses can also be pruned then, if you haven't done so already.

Photos by NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN

A properly pruned rosebush should have four to eight canes, be open in the middle, and about 2 to 3 feet tall.

Annual pruning reinvigorates a bush, keeps it healthy and sets the stage for blooming.

But whacking away at the bush without following a plan could leave you with pruner's remorse after the shape of your rosebush is ruined.

Doug Welsh, in his new book, Doug Welsh's Texas Garden Almanac (Texas A&M University Press, $24.95), offers a general plan for pruning bushes and shrubs of all types, including roses. After we list his steps, we'll add pruning tips that experts suggest specifically for roses.

Here are Mr. Welsh's eight steps:

1. Remove dead, broken and diseased limbs by cutting them back to a stronger or healthy branch.

2. Prune branches that rub against or touch another stronger or better-positioned branch.

3. Remove branches growing in the same space or direction as an adjacent, stronger branch.

4. Prune branches that cross from one side through the middle of the plant.

5. Remove branches growing toward the ground.

6. Prune "suckers" and "water sprouts," twigs that grow straight up, parallel to the trunk.

7. Make sure it is really necessary before removing branches larger in diameter than a pencil.

8. Remove dead blooms.

Each pruning cut is a wound to the bush. Because the plant is dormant and spring growth hasn't begun, Feb. 14 is generally a good time to prune roses. Also, the chances of a hard freeze, which can damage branches, are fading. (If we do have a freeze, you may have to prune the die-back off bushes.)

Old garden roses (antique roses) and modern hybrids are pruned the same way. However, prune a repeat bloomer more severely than a bush that blooms only once per season.

Don't prune climbers now, though. Wait until after their spring bloom or you'll have no flowers in April.

Your goal with rosebushes is to prune so that the bush is airy, bowl-shaped and much smaller. Opening the plant in that way increases air circulation, which makes disease and insect infestation less likely. Ruthless pruning helps the bush thrive. (Though beginning pruners may wonder whether they are being too severe, ruthless pruning really does help the rosebush.)

When you finish cutting, you should have a bush that is 24 to 36 inches tall and consists of four to eight canes.

Acclaimed rosarian and author Stephen Scanniello, in A Year of Roses (Cool Springs Press, $24.99), has other tips:

•Start your thinning of the plant at ground level.

•Favor green, softer canes over old, hardened ones.

•Choose a good-looking bud eye – the point from where a future branch will grow – and make the cut about one-fourth of an inch above the eye.

•For each cut, leave an outward-facing bud. This ensures that the bush grows out, not into its center.

•On a climbing rose, leave long canes long so they can be trained onto a trellis or other structure.

•Use a good, sharp pair of pruners, and disinfect them between cuts with rubbing alcohol. You also may need a saw and loppers for large old canes, especially if the rosebush has never been pruned.

•Remove all the leaves from the bush after pruning, because last season's leaves can harbor disease.

•Rake up any leaves and twigs to prevent the spread of disease.