Florence....
When you said "my Dr. was in trouble, I thought you meant YOUR doctor who operated on you.....for a second I thought he'd messed up your hip or something...lol.

That photo is really amazing, and the sheer size and beauty of that rose is a testament to the love you have obviously shown it over the years. Even giving it a haircut is a sign of a good mama....(and poppa, in your hubby's case). Your husband is a good man to fearlessly take on such a monster rose...sounds like my hubby. Tonight we were outside with a flashlight planting out some suckers of Scotch roses....our neighbors don't even question things like this anymore....they know we're weird about roses. The ground was rocks on top of rocks and DH wrestled some major boulders and roots out of the ground, breaking two shovels in the process.

Now that I see how little cuttings grow in your yard, now I know how our "Pompom" rose will one day look!

Celeste

WOW! Does your Dr.van Fleet repeat? It's gorgeous!

What a wonderful story. You have such a gentle soul Florence, I can read it in the way you write, so it always brings a smile to my face when you're ready for combat. My dad does a good deal of the yard stuff himself, and sometimes whenever he tries to help me with my own landscaping plants he sometimes does more damage than good, despite him knowing quite a lot. I'm trying to remember an instance where he did something I said not to- but all I can remember is once finding all my roses ( and my poor CREPUSCULE) pruned back ( Darlow's Enigma took a brutal hit) so I assumed it was him, but when I took him out to show him he said he didn't do that at all and I suddenly realized it was Thumper (most likely) who was the culprit!

What a magnificent rose, Florence.

Looks like it would be quite a task to give it a haircut...

Sounds like the Dr. is the kind of rose to rebound well, should be spectacular next spring.

Florence:

Your life is certainly not dull!

Florence, I like your sense of humor. Your husband seems
like a great guy too.

Your pic of the Dr., looks good. What is that pink rose to
the right of it? It's pretty.

Florence - Your rose is certainly beautiful, but it isn't Dr. W. van Fleet if this is a picture of the rose in fall bloom. The good Dr. doesn't repeat, and certainly does not look like your picture in the fall. I have never seen more than a couple of blooms on DWvF after late spring. Not even my New Dawn (the van Fleet repeating sport) has ever had a bloom like that in the fall. I may have missed the suggestion, but perhaps this was a picture from the Dr.'s spring bloom when he certainly does look like the picture. In either case, prune what you must, and the rose will adapt to the whack! - Best, Nick

Dear ogroser----I apologize if my picture was misleading-----I should have said that is was taken in the spring---

when I brought the cutting home from Martha's Vineyard I thought it was New Dawn----(blooms are identical to my many ND bushes) but after a couple of years of absolutely no repeat bloom I finally determined it has to be Dr. Van Fleet.

So sorry---I should have said the picture was not taken this fall but last spring.

Thanks for all you kind comments----

I would rather have pruned him after blooming but I wasn't able to do it and I'm grateful for any assisstance I can get---no matter when it is--LOL LOL----I think he will rebound nicely in the spring----(fingers ctossed)

Florence