The only time the bowers look ragged from loss of leaves or brown leaves, here is So. Calif., is in December and January. Here, I prune the bowers for the spring bloom, in late December or early January. Of course that would be way too early for colder areas. I actually prune the Cecile Brunners on the bowers, several times a year. Once you have enough canes on the bowers to fill the empty places, you will continue to get long canes coming out here and there...I prune those back. If you allow too many canes to build up on top of the bowers, the sun will not reach the lower canes and they will die back. So once you have enough canes to fully cover the bowers, it is best to keep those new long canes pruned back, unless you need some to fill in empty spaces. Also, if you dead head the finished blooms , you will have more rebloom. I actually use hedging shears to dead head the blooms because it takes me so long to do them with regular pruners. I use long handled pruners to cut back the long canes that I do not need and also for deadheading the blooms on the top of the bowers. These pictures, that I took today, show some new blooms and also some dead blooms that I have not dead headed, yet. Also, I hope that you can see the tall growth coming out around the top and side of the bower. I will get all of that pruned back asap....;-)