a lot of people swear by putting Epsom Salt around the base to promote basil canes.

Sammy,
None of my roses are that old.. but
I've noticed that my roses USED to put out basal breaks. They stopped doing that. Completely. The only difference I can see is that I am no longer feeding them alfalfa tea.
I did occasionally put Epsom Salts in the tea, too.
I'm making batches of alfalfa tea now, and I guess we'll see if it helps revive them.
Carrie

My Penelope roses are fairly bullet-proof. I don't even fertilize them any more.

Hi Sammy,

I have zero experience with pruning old roses, but have watched a Paul Zimmerman video on the kind of situation you have. What you are experiencing with your older roses is normal.

If you go to the Paul Zimmerman pruning videos on You Tube, pay particular attention to the second one in the series, "Removing An Old Cane From A Rose." Paul says that you can't shock the plant by doing in one single year all the pruning you might eventually need to do. From other things that I've seen/read, the hybrid musks are particularly sensitive to too much pruning at one time, so be sure that you don't do too much in any one year.

You can always find Paul's videos again by going to Paul's website at www.paulzimmermanroses.com/. I've also enclosed a direct link to the You Tube spot.

Best wishes,
Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Paul Zimmerman's videos on You Tube

Sammy, how did you prune your Penelope in previous years? I belive with roses, as with many other bushes (for example lilacs, mock oranges, etc) it is important every year to cut some of the older canes. If you, for example every year cut all canes that are older then 3 year old, your bush will always send new shoots and never will be "old". The problem that you describe is usually typical for people who don't do sufficient prunning each spring. Of course now, you can't cut out everything that is old, it will be too much of a change for your plant, but if you do cut approx 1/3 of older growth, fertilize and supply plenty of water, when there is no rain, most probably the bush will send new basal breaks. Just keep doing it every year and eventually you will get "yonger" bush.
Based on my experience, I don't believe in H Musks being too sensitive to pruning. At least in my climate, pruning doesn't harm them at all, if you supply adequate water, they will respond with vigorous growth and will be stronger with pruning.
Olga

I don't have any really old roses, but I've discovered over that past few years that I do need to prune my big Tea-Noisettes pretty hard, and I find myself doing as Olga suggests: cutting out the oldest, least productive canes and replacing them with young, vigorous growth. When I do this the canes do keep on coming. And I agree this approach applies also to the Hybrid Musks. I second Olga's advice.
Melissa

But the real advantage of alfalfa is not the nitrogen, the real benefit comes from a fatty acid alcohol called triacontanol which occurs naturally in the waxy surface of the plantÂs leaves. We know it encourages basal breaks on roses and I've read that it's a root stimulant.

Thank you so much for the good advice. Olga, you hit the nail on the head. I have read and listened, but I never got the part about cutting out the huge canes at the base of the bush. Those are the ones that are cracking and looking awful. Maybe it isn't too late for my older roses. As I look around this is the major problem I have besides the winter damage.

Lookin, Carrie, and lagomorphmom, I need to continue the Mills Magic. Isn't that a source of alfalfa? I always wait until the right time to fertilize, and by then the plant is large enough that I tend to forget. I really need to get on that.

Mary, I am making a copy of that link. I love anything I see of Paul's. His suggestions are always relevant and practical. He takes out those older recommendations that really don't do any good, and most of us didn't listen to.

Melissa, I love hearing from you. You are so far away, but I can always identify with what you say.

Your posts have inspired to to consider more hybrid musk roses.

Thanks,
Sammy