It might be a climber or an old garden rose of some type either of which blooms off the previous year's growth. As to care, I would feed, water, and spray it regularly for diseases and watch what happens. If it does flower next year, take pictures and post them so that we can see what you are looking at. Maybe someone will recognize it.

You'll need to start tieing it to the trellis. Roses don't climb on their own. You can use twine or I use a green velcro strip. I bought it at Home Depot in the garden section. You cut it to the length you want and then secure the canes to the trellis where you want them. You want some of the canes to go horizontally across the trellis instead of straight up. That way you get what are called laterals which are short canes that will bloom on the end. It should bloom next year. Once it does take some pictures and hopefully someone can identify it.

Everyone is telling you right. Also make sure your bug spray is rainproof so you do not waste your effort. I use Bayer 3 in 1 which is not only for bugs but fertilizes just a little and acourse does not wash away. You have the right idea about this forum and you can also punch in words like rose foliage, rose climbers,landscape rose, etc... in your browser. There is another website I have found useful although you have to join to fully use it. I have never joined but still use it some. They have pictures about the diferent roses. You may have a William Baffin or Iceberg. They are both big climbers. Here is the link Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://davesgarden.com

Thanks for the help. I do hope it blooms next year, I would imagine this rose is fairly old so I can't wait to figure out what it is. I also have two roses in a bed that sprouted up this year too..of course no blooms, but hopefully next year.

LM:

One other thing is to consider if your mystery rose is getting enough sun. Depending on the layout of your place it may have been getting sufficient sun at one time and now is not. Hence the lack of blooms. I'm having a similar situation with my Mary Rose rose. She bloomed so well last year and this spring. Then my fairly young apple trees leafed out leaving me with a healthy plant and no blooms. Next spring I will move her. You might be in a similar situation.

Good luck.

Kate

Thanks for all the previous posts, I have tied the climber to the trellis and it is doing great with water and some fertilizer. I am so excited to see what kind of blooms it will produce.

But now I have additional questions about different roses and hope that you may have more advice.

There was one flower bed at my house along the garage...most likely not tended to for maybe a decade, seriously! I dug everything out...except 5 columbines & 2 roses. I'm guessing they are the hybrid tea type. They have just a few stems that grow upright and stand about 3 ft high. Like my climber there are no blooms this year...due to the remodeling last year they were not allowed to come up last year. So same care as mentioned above?

Also, again due to remodeling....I have found two roses coming up in the back yard right out of the lawn. They are probably only 4-5 inches tall & the foliage has remained reddish. I vaguely remember there being roses back there, but forgot along the way and these were also covered all year...by a dumpster I think or something.
We will be reworking our lawn this Aug/Sept and these need to be moved and of course I'd like to save them.
What would be the smartest thing to do with them? Transplant directly to a new location or transplant first to pots? Any special care for the little guys?

If your rose was cut low -- lower than the graft joint, it might have reverted back to the original root stock. I've seen this where roses send out long arching canes that dead end with no blooms. You might consider this. Why not get a new rose with the characteristics you prefer? Of course, that would take some research into the wonderful of roses. It doesn't take much to get addicted. I started out with a couple of roses and now have 40. Yipes. Good luck, CJ

Because all your roses have no blooms, received little or no care, and were seriously stressed last year, I suspect they are all Dr. Huey root stock. These produce clusters of smaller red flowers in late spring on long fast growing canes. They only bloom once on 2nd year wood so pruning each year or dying back each winter removes any chance of 2nd year wood along with the flower buds that form each fall and bloom the following year.
Where in zone 5 do you live?
Although the canes may not survive the winter, the roots are very hardy. They will often come up from pieces missed when digging up the original plant.
Were I you I'd remove these and replace them with roses purchased from a reputible nursery or garden center. Because these came with the house they have no sentimental value so removing them shouldn't hurt.
I'm afraid that after babying and waiting a few years you'll still end up with nothing. Getting ever blooming hardy roses for your zone 5 would get you flowers this season and in the future.

Thanks for the input. After reading the last two posts I did some research on Dr. Huey rootstock...before I'd never heard of this, as you can tell I really am a newbie with roses. I checked out the roses and what do you know all symptons of Dr. Huey.

I will be digging up the used-to-be hybrid teas. Actually they are all thats left in the bed w/ the columbine...so hopefully I will have some better luck at getting all the roots out. I actually like where the roses were located, so would it be okay to plant new roses there or is that risking it too much?

As for the climber on the trellis...I finally took a real good look at the base. Last year everything was cut down to about 3 inches above the rootstock...but of course all those cut branches are now dead, and all that's growing is coming from below. So thats a bummer...Eventually this will be removed too.

Thank you all...very informative. Definitely will be referring to the GardenWeb forums again.