I'm not sure what you are seeing that I'm not seeing. The roots look fine. Why did you unpot it? Was something going on above the soil line that didn't seem right? The plant looks ok to me as well, so I'm curious. It looks like a very healthy root system... You know, one of the earliest things I read about Hoyas was to not disturb their root system unnecessarily. I've grown a lot of succulents over the years as well, and when you repot a succulent, you can whack away at the roots and do no harm. But I was always told when you repot a Hoya, it's best to disturb the rootball as little as possible - just plop it in a bigger pot and add soil and let it settle in. It takes a LOT of messing to get every bit of soil off a rootball, so I would expect it to go dormant for awhile now. Of course, that may have already happened just because of the change in environment... Denise in Omaha

Pam knows which zone I'm in and JC is marketed for zone 5. I sent her an email and asked her which root stock JC has. I don't believe she does the grafting. She gets these from the Austin nursery in Texas already grafted. I'll let you know what root stock it has when she replies. Here is what she said about all this in an email yesterday after I first told her I didn't want JC because it was grafted, then I changed my mind and said I would give it a try and sent that email out to her.. She grows all own root herself and preaches that own root is much better, she is also completely organic. So, here is her reply to me about grafting. " Well, that's funny as I was just going to send you a "lecture" on the benefits of grafted roses in SOME cases. Many roses are too weak and too slow and too hard to root from cuttings. Jubilee Celebration is a case in point. Although All rose societies say the opposite of what I am going to tell you, David Austin and ALL of EUROPE plants their budded (grafted) roses UNDER the soil with the intention that the SCION, the one on top WILL put down roots of it's own because it is allowed to be under the soil. We're talking 3-5 inches below the graft in cold climates (where the bud union tends to freeze and die) and 2-3 inches deep in warmer climates like mine. Within a year or two the graft will die away and the rose shoots out a whole new bunch of basal roots and Vualla! You now have an own root rose that started out large instead of puny! The best of both worlds. All of Europe and DA are not crazy. You even get less suckers and less disease. I have not tuned into Fraser's talks (maybe once) but Very few rosarians even know about this. It's really amazing. So that being said, feel good that all will be well and I will leave your name on one."

Roots from large trees can spread for dozens of feet. I've found roots 20 feet away from my oaks in SW FL and gave up on even trying to dig my sweet potatoes here because of roots that were NOT there when I originally planted them. They are about 10 feet from a large oak. I found out the Brugmansia (angel trumpets) have unbelievable root spread, as do Chaya. I tried to take out a large chaya and the roots were so massive that I ended up just girdling it and letting it die a natural death. i thought the roots would eventually rot, and they may, but two years later, they are still there holding fast to the dead trunk, which also hasn't rotted. Roots will spread to any area that is more fertile than the one they are in. I read they can feel the difference in electrical current between fertile and non-fertile soil. Nature is amazing. Roots are aggravating, no doubt, but there is really no way to keep them out of your beds. I even tried sheet metal roofing, and as soon as one tiny piece rotted out, the roots crept through it and twisted it in knots.

You have to remember, some roses are just NOT winter hardy. The first hard freeze (below 28 degrees) and their canes will freeze and die. It's known as "learning the hard way". And yes, you have a few dead canes. I would wait until mid March and cut them down to any green stems and then wait until early May to see if anything coms back. But if you are like me, if the rose has major winter die back, I toss it. It's to winter tender for me to fight over. Like I said, I'll hunt for a rose that is listed as winter hardy to zone 6.