Kate, I totally know what you mean about roses that seemed to do well after the brutal winter just fading over the year. My theory is that either they didn't have a robust root system left after the winter beyond a last hurrah from stored energy in the canes, or conversely they didn't have enough cane to feed the rose enough to recover the root strength from a normal bloom cycle. Usually I'm done pulling stakes from dead roses by mid-June but I just pulled a few new ones this past week, and I've left a few in the ground yet to see if there's any life come spring.

As for survivors, in my zone the usual suspects are the moderns, particularly the shrubs and floris. Smiling Jean, David Barber, Jack's Wish, Savoy Hotel, and my dearly beloved striped Edgar Degas pretty clearly recovered and bloomed like nothing had ever happened over the winter. Surprisingly, two of my usual standby roses - Bad Worishofen and Lady Elsie May - both were sluggish and slow to recover cane, and they're still a fraction of their usual bush and bloom.

Among the "sort of" old, or old looking roses, my hybrid musks surprisingly survived the winter reasonably well, though both Wilhelm and Petite Terre de Franches both decided to sit out the spring flush this year. The Austins spent a lot of time regrowing cane before blooming, and neither Mme. Isaac Periere nor Mme. Alfred Carriere put out a solitary bloom, needing to regrow cane for next year (hopefully). That gave other roses the chance to shine like Guirlande d'Armour, Gartendirektor Otto Linne, the ever-reliable Bonica and Heavenly Pink, and an Austin-like rose - Elizabeth of Goshen. I'll post one of her since she doesn't get much press these days, but she does this most of the year in part shade and looks far more "purple" to my eye than many roses that call themselves purple.

Cynthia