Roses are pretty tough and should recover just fine... Kind of makes me think of that scene in Mommie Dearest... Did he scream at you to "bring me the axe"???....
Maude

What's your general location?
They should be ok... Depending on your climate
they may bloom toward the end of this year or next year.
Providing they are not once blooming roses...

Do you perhaps need to put fences around your rose bushes? Meanwhile, a week or so of eating his least favorite foods might induce him to be a little more careful in the future.

Where you are and what kind of roses you have would be helpful but for the most part pruning them down shouldn't kill them. Taking out the bushes behind them may actually be good for them if it gives them better sunlight.

Thanks for all your responses. I feel better knowing he didn't kill them. We live in southern california. I'm not sure what kind of roses they are because they came with the house. But that's a good idea about getting a fence to keep my husband out.

I better go trim the icebergs in the front if our house as he said he needed to "trim" them before they hit the house. His version of trim is different from mine.

Not defending your husband in any way but in SoCal the best way to get a rose bush into reset mode is to do a hard cutback. Since there is no real winter down there to cause a rose bush to go into a dormant period the next best thing is a hard pruning. AFTER all of the clearing is done put down so good fertilizer and water them good they should take off like crazy.

People ask me all the time if my husband helps with the rose pruning. I just laugh and laugh.

His cutting down your roses is aggravating, I agree, but it could be much worse. What if YOU had to do the hedge work he seems to have gladly done? At least he DOES things in the yard. I know many who won't/don't. We're going to experience another round of hotter weather in the next few days. Personally, I would just keep them watered well (whatever your soil and location dictate) and wait until the extremes of heat are over before feeding. They'll recover a lot faster and easier as long as they are properly hydrated. Fertilizers are generally salts which can cause more water stress during hot, windy, more arid times. They will show you when they are ready for food. Take a deep breath and cut your husband some slack. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. Kim

Just be glad I didn't trim your roses....LOL

{{gwi:246817}}

This post was edited by jim1961 on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 13:27

i feel your pain. My husband mowed down the new ones over at the house we bought.

I'm glad they'll survive though!

Luckily, in our yard, the flowers are my department. My husband mows and trims the lawn but doesn't touch the roses. The exception is when a rose cane is roaming wild and it catches his clothing or hits him in the face...he pretty much cuts it off. And I'm okay with that. :)

Actually, we did have a couple of weed whacking incidents some years back, but none recently.

Yesterday, my husband actually sprayed for me, just because I hate that task so much. He's pretty good. I'll have to thank him again. :)

Mowing over plants can be cured with large rocks. Place rocks prominently around the plants. No one who respected a lawnmower will use it to cut rocks. (The rocks need to be big enough to get the attention of oblivious mowers.)

Also consider that your spouse might be colorblind and (I know mine) doesn't see the colors of certain red roses. (Nor can mine see the aqua that I painted the porches- he sees them as "Porch grey").

Finally, good healthy eating could never be construed as retribution. Even trying macrobiotic eating.

I want to share what I've learned lately. I'm sure others here knows it too. I cut my roses really low before and when it came back the following year, it produced different flower. The staff at Platt Hill Nursery told me that it could have been grafted.

Why can't they understand? I feel your frustration. My dad made a mess of the garden too when I was just starting out. After a while he stopped. I have had plumbing crews and other service people smash down plants far outside of the work area, even those roped off. I can never understand it. Sometimes its like you have to stand right there watching and waiting to be ready to make a rescue. I do whatever I can myself and try to hire people that will listen if I can't do it myself. It's that " they're only plants " way of thinking and it drives me crazy.

Keep them watered and clean up any raggedy cuts. I would probably go in and cut out any dead growth and clean up/ shape the plants as long as they are getting a trim now. go together to buy some mulch to help them along since they don't have the leaves shading the roots now and the heat will come on. That makes a big difference in helping them bounce back. As soon as the heat passes, you can feed and I bet you'll have some great roses around Thanksgiving. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you all for your responses. Hopefully he will get the hedges cleared out soon as it is a mess right now. But I will keep in mind to water and fertilize after the heatwave is over. I'm going to cross my fingers that they grow back. I think I am more annoyed that he doesn't care about landscaping and can't appreciate it enough to maintain things. He just wants to get rid of all the trees, hedges that he can get his hands on. I need to keep an eye on him when he walks around with the cutters.