Pruning Rose Bushes

So I guess it's that time of year again.......hacking pruning the rose bushes.  We bought our house last April and I really didn't get to do a good pruning.  So this was my first year.  So who did I turn to to learn more on how to prune roses? Only the place who has the best looking roses I've ever seen!  Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC! I found a video tutorial online to help me out. I also called my local nursery.  Anyway, I was advised that you can do a light pruning in late fall, just to bring the height down.  So my amazing husband and I cut our roses down to a 3' height.  Much better!

3' height

Next I was told to prune your roses so down to about 18" in height, leaving only about 4 or 5 branches coming out of the base.  They should be coming out like a vase shape, nothing in the middle and no crossing branches.  I have about 18 rose bushes that line my back yard fence, so I only managed to do about 6.  Will tackle the rest another day.  I also, have about 30 rose bushes that line the front perimeter of my house!  I thought to myself.....hmmmmm.....this is alot of work, I'm not sure I have it in me to do the whole front yard! Yikees!  So I posted "18 rose bushes for FREE" on craigslist......and within 1/2 hour I had 4 emails.  Of course the catch....Free if you dig!  Anyway, off track a little..... so here is what my rose bushes look like now.  So much, much better! I hope they look fan-tab-u-lous when they bloom.