Some older roses have a single blooming period lasting about a month in May/June. Other large shrub and climbing roses may have two additional, but smaller, blooming periods later. Finally, most smaller bush roses will give strong repeat bloom every six weeks. Roses that normally repeat will fail to repeat if they run completely short of water and have to stop growing. If your plant has been in growth most of the season with no bloom, it is probably a once-bloomer.

If it is a climbing-type rose with shoots longer than 6', you should bend them down and fasten to the fence instead of cutting back. Show us a picture if you can.

IF you can post pictures of the entire bush, rose buds, roses open, and close ups of the leaves, someone one here can probably identify it for you, and then its exact blooming cycle will be understood. Some roses do just bloom in May/June in your area, but I had some very old bushes that did that, until I started taking care of them, and they got more sun, at which point they started blooming all summer.

Jackie

Zoecat, any chance of photos of the plant, with close-ups of the growth tips, foliage including the stipule (where it attaches to the cane), perhaps any of the hips or even of the flowers when they were there? Do you remember if they had only five petals or were did they have more? Much of this can help determine if what you have is remaining root stock from a previously budded plant the stock has overgrown, or if it's something you actually want. "Clusters of fragrant white flowers", could easily be R. multiflora used as roots for a commercially budded plant. If it helps, take a look at all the photos at the link below, comparing them to what you see in your garden. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Multiflora on Help Me Find - Roses

Most people wouldn't recognize Rosa multiflora as a rose.

You probably have a once a year blooming Old Garden Rose. They typicallly bloom on old wood for 3-4 weeks in early to late spring depending on your growing zone.
Once blooming roses set buds deep in the cane, at the base of each leaf, for the following spring as opposed to modern repeat blooming roses that bloom on new wood.
Cutting a once blooming rose back in the fall or in early spring before they bloom, removes the flower buds and you'll not get flowers. For that reason, once a year bloomimg Old Garden Roses should be pruned only after they bloom. This allows new growth during the growing season and flowers the following spring.

The OP's description of clusters of fragrant white flowers, and this rose's location by a fence, immediately tells me that I need to eliminate Rosa multiflora as a contender. Around here, birds eat Multiflora's tiny hips, perch on fences and power lines, and poop seeds that become new roses. (They also poop Virginia cedar trees, but that's a subject for another day.)

At the very least, you are dealing with a once-blooming rose of some sort. If this rose is anything besides Rosa multiflora, you may have a gem. A description of the flowers that the rose had this spring, and some photos of the current foliage, can help us give you an ID and assistance in caring for it.

Connie

As I understand your post, this is your grandmother's rose that repeat bloomed years ago....

If it has fallen into neglect, it might be shy to repeat bloom.

I would do the main pruning in spring time, remove dead wood. It will need plenty of sun in late summer to repeat bloom, so if trees have grown larger over the years, one should re-evaluate how much sun the rose is getting.

Since it's quite overgrown, a light pruning of long canes now might be helpful, to keep winter winds from whipping the canes.

If the soil needs rejuvenating, one can topdress with mulch and compost, humus etc. in autumn, and in spring.

Wow! Thanks for all the responses. I'll get some pictures up on the weekend.

In the meantime to answer some questions, this is a rose bush in the home we purchased in May. The previous owners were not interested in gardening beyond mowing the lawn. The owner before them is the person who likely planted the rose bush - she lived in the house for nearly 70 years. So with the combination of the two previous owners' disinterest/advanced age, it's been neglected for at least 10 years.

It's quite large - probably 6 feet wide, 4 feet tall and 3 feet deep. The flowers had full, blousey petals, and as I recall,they were a bit under 3 inches across - I'd generically call it a "tea rose." The hips were probably a half inch or so across. It is in a good location where it gets full sun all day.

Thanks again for helping me restore it to it's full potential!

The flowers had full, blousey petals, and as I recall,they were a bit under 3 inches across

Well, this is a horse of a different color. It sounds as if you have yourself a once-blooming rose ... which are some of my very favorites, BTW.

When you say DC area, where are you? I'm just north of Fredericksburg, and I may be convinced to come make a trip your direction to give some on site advice, if we can mesh our schedules. In general, you don't cut OGRs back or you lose some of next year's flowers ... but there are ones that can be pruned while dormant in winter, and I will be happy to help you.

You can contact me off Board using the email address on My Page.

Connie