Disease resistance varies from location to location...Best thing to do is contact people or a Rose Society in your area and see what roses are the best for your location... A Rose labled disease resistance means nothing IMO...

There is a difference between a rose being winter hardy and one being cane hardy... Cane hardy roses usually get less winterkill...

I have no idea if your roses are dead or not? I suggest giving them more time and if nothing happens replace them. Or just do it now if you can't wait... Best of luck!

I know disease resistance varies between locations, but these roses have been very disease resistant for me (can roses be resistant to canker?). I'm not as disappointed that I had to clip them down as I am that they don't seem to be coming back. They are one year old, own-root, and they were purchased as one-gallon roses vs. the ones that are coming back were bands and are also one year old (Neptune was a band).

It didn't occur to me that "winter hardy" could mean two different kinds of hardy. Thanks for that important bit of info! I guess I'll give them as much time as I can stand to look at them. Maybe they'll surprise me *crosses fingers*. Why is it that the roses we consider getting rid of are never the ones to die?

You don't seem to be sure when you pruned--"a few weeks." I'm in your zone, and I have one established HT that lost all its canes to winter and didn't show any new growth until a week ago. I thought it was dead, but now it's looking fine. I also lost my patience with an old 'Aloha' climber that hadn't produced a basal in years and had bare legs. I whacked it all the way down a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't sprouted yet. But it takes at least two weeks for buds to break after pruning.

Disease resistance can also vary from year to year... One year good another year not so good...

Roses that I had in the past that I cut to the ground took approx 2-2.5 weeks to start showing new growth but I'm sure others can take longer...

Unless you've had at least a couple of weeks of warm weather, like in the 70s, I would wait. You're a zone warmer than me but I know we haven't really had any kind of really warm weather yet. If it's still in the 60s during the day and the 40s at night it's not warm enough for them to really put on strong growth. And your ground hasn't had a chance to really warm up to promote root growth either.

If the roses had new green growth and that growth is still green and hasn't shriveled up then the rose is still alive. If that growth is now shriveling then I'd say they're dead. I had many roses last spring that looked like they were sprouting and then they just shriveled up and died anyway. In my opinion the polar winter was such that there was root damage below ground that we couldn't see. When the rose started to leaf out it used up what ever energy it had stored in the fall but then no longer had the root ball it needed to to produce more so the rose died anyway. All you can do is wait and see.

As for hardiness, there is a difference between a rose being winter hardy and a rose being cane hardy. In severe winters, like the past two, roses that can survive and come back from the ground are hardy roses. They are just not cane hardy roses. For the most part cane hardiness is only important for climbers because a lot of them bloom on year old wood. If you have to cut off all of last years canes every spring you won't get as much bloom and it will never really "climb" to the heights we want. For other roses the important thing is to keep the graft, if it's a grafted rose, and the root ball alive. If those are OK they will grow back all the cane they need.

Michaelg, I am not confused about when I pruned. I've had growth on most of my roses for a month or more. I made my thread asking about if I should prune on March 29:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2953107/what-are-these-red-spots-on-my-rose-canes-and-are-they-bad

None of the roses have canes of any kind--I had to prune them to the ground and there's no new growth. That's what I meant by "just sitting there doing nothing". No sign of growth of any kind. The weather has also been quite warm and sunny, though I don't know exactly what temperature or for how long (I've been busy and time flies). It's relieving to hear they might have survived. I was worried that because they had already put out growth that pruning them hurt them more than helped. I'll give them more time. Thank you everyone!

Just curious RoseCandy are your roses own root or grafted? Thanks

oooops I reread your post above and noticed your roses are own-root... Sorry

The pic below is a 3 year old own root rose I had to cut to the ground... According to my rose manual it took 20 days from the day I cut it down to reach this point of growth and that was in cooler weather...

Of course every situation and rose bush is different so just try to be patient and see what happens... I truly hope things work out for ya!

Precious Platinum:

And here's what it looked like in September of that year....

I still have roses that have not broke bud yet!! This was another year that roses around here were cut to the ground.

We are way behind this year also... Approx. 2.0 weeks behind but no roses had to be cut to the ground... I think the lowest is like 10 inches above ground...

If you can reach the bud union, nick the outer bark and see if there is green inner bark, which is a sign of life.

Jim that bush is lovely! It's so fun seeing all the wee little sprouts, too ^_^.

Michael my roses are own root, and they did have green inside the stems when I first clipped them. That's one reason why I'm so puzzled as to why they haven't put out new growth yet. We've had above freezing weather for nearly all of April, and nice and warm weather (above 60s during the day) consistently for at least 2 weeks. Do you think I should nick the stubs of the old canes and look for signs of life?

Dan, I hope your roses come back strong! You're two zones colder than me. I don't know how you survive!

Similar weather conditions here & although days have reached the 60's, only a few nights have stayed in the 50's with most in the low 40's & dipping below that. Consider this a cool & late Spring overall. Mine is a country garden, but those in town with more buildings & heat sink are consistently 10 days ahead of development in my yard this year, where azaleas only began to bloom a week ago & columbines are just opening their first flowers. The soil here is still cool below remnants of last Fall's leaf mulch. Roses are now fully leafed out & pushing new growth, but no hint of the flower buds that will follow quickly when it's consistently warmer day & night. Pulled back mulch around rose & hydrangea bases to let the sun warm the soil & new basals are breaking there on many of those. You may want to do the same with the roses in question till true warmth settles in. Since you cut down the canes to ground level, the plants lost the energy stored there & didn't receive new fuel from leafage. So it's not surprising to me that some of your relatively young plants are temporarily stalled - temporarily being the keyword here. Being own roots, expect them to put up new growth at their own pace. I'd give them a half-strength dose of diluted Neptune's Harvest or fish emulsion watered in damp soil, protect them from rabbit nibbling & wait for them to grow back, continuing to give them quarter-strength Neptune's or fish emulsion weekly (the weakly weekly routine). If gaps in the garden are really bothering you, you could dig the rootball intact, pot them up & treat them the same way. Never trimmed an own root to the ground, but the dog did this time of year (more than once!) on roses as young as yours. They came back with gentle encouragement.

Losing roses over the years to cold weather and diseases are part of the experience, Rosecandy. I am in a colder zone than yours and I noticed about five roses that looks "dead" too last weekend when I pruned them. I usually give them some time to make sure they are really dead. Although it is a sad occasion, I always look at it as another opportunity to plant a new variety. There are literally thousands of roses I wanted to grow after visiting this forum for many years. If you can't get your hands on new roses this year, just plant annuals for now and then plant new roses next year.

Thanks for the info on cane hardiness, Seil. I've never paid attention to it since I only been growing non-climbing roses for years. It isn't until I started growing climbing roses about two years ago that I realized the importance of cane hardiness. So it was disappointed to have to prune all my climbers to the ground after I found them not to be cane hardy. Then again, each winter is a bit different and last winter was cold. But it is okay with me. If I only managed to see a few buds of them in the summer, I would be happy. So now I will definitely pay more attention to more cane hardy climbers in the future.

Well I tried to be brave but I think at least 7 of my roses doesn't seem to be growing. I only lost two bushes two winters ago to the polar vortex compared to last winter. Yikes! Don't worry, I am still breathing and my heart is still beating!

Well, two of the roses did die, but the one I REALLY didn't want to lose (My Girl) survived! She's just starting to put out some wee little canes and I'm so glad! Thank you everyone for talking me into waiting! I've already dug up the two dead ones and replaced them with new roses. I wasn't too sad to see them go, since I was already debating on shovel pruning them, and it's really fun to be trying the replacements.

I have lost 6 this year. All Miniatures!!!!

Wow I'm so sorry! Are you planning on replacing them?

no, I've already have 500 roses!

We lost own-root Mr Lincoln this year...

Okay a week has passed and we are approaching the last week of may and Peace and Ingrid Bergman has not popped any new growth yet. I still see some green around the crown but I want to dig it out. However, I don't want to make the same mistake as last week when I dig out my Tropicana and found 4 canes popping underground and I damaged 2 of them. To dig or not to dig, that is the question. Where is Hamlet when you need him?

I use plastic jugs, cut the bottom out and Presto, instant green house. I have done this with several plants and they came out great! make sure it's not a clear bottle.

I lost 30 roses all together. That's half what I lost last year. I've bought about 20 new ones so I'm down under 100 for this year. That's OK, I'm not getting any younger and it's getting harder to care for them all.

JJ, see if you can gently move the soil around the base by hand to look for new basal growth. If not I'd just dig them out. They're both fairly easy to find and replace.

Seil!
First HI!!!!
I lost maybe 6 or 7 and they were minis! That -6 in March hurt them bad.

I thought all my roses were dead this year after the winter, but they are all back as strong as usual . I think it is because they have a strong root system and the soil has the proper biology. I took out a grafted Mr Lincoln but it was OK turned out but it died to the ground and was still alive.

Jim I am sorry that your own root Mr Lincoln didn't make it.

Dan,

What were the 6 mini's that you lost?

Most of my grafted roses are buried in the ground 4-6" down. That way the bud union is protected. It looks like all of us northern rose growers had to cut to the ground. This pruning forces out new growth to replace what was lost. It's actually good for the plant!

That's true Seil. Both of them are easy to find. I guess the questions is do I want to choose the same or newer roses that I've wanted. I guess I will be shopping next weekend for new roses. Yay!!

I keep losing the new bands I've bought the year before with this stupid Polar Vortex. Not all the bands, but a percentage that just burns me up! I don't like buying roses then having them die before I get to enjoy them. That is beyond irritating.

The Iris Clow I lost over this winter said zone 6, and I protected her well, too. She looked so great going into winter. It's like there's not a rhyme or reason to it. Well, she did come with canker at the base, but she had put on enough great growth in my garden over the summer and fall that I felt confident in her root system, even knowing I'd probably have to cut her off because of the lesion she came with. That didn't work out at all :(

I lost one I've had forever, too, but that's starting to bother me much less than the ones I've just gotten.

If they were in pots without being protected they would die. I bury my pots in the ground. That way I can protect them and not have to move them around!!

Mine were in-ground :( But she didn't look dead until we had our cold-to-warm fluctuations, so that's the part that can zap the small canes of those so badly, I think. Her canes had to be cut off then, but they were nice and green after the actual really cold temps. They did that shrivel thing that is so disheartening :(

Most of mine were sprouting leaves by April but I had four that didn't show any sign of life. JFK, chicago peace, blue girl and oregold which I planted in the fall. JFK and chicago peace aresending up a shoot each. However, blue girl and oregold show no signs of life. I got Moondance and oregold last fall so I'm not happy about oregold possibly being dead.

Mori - one issue to consider with the roses that didn't come back (Moondance and Oregold) is the timing of when they were planted. I don't have very much luck with any planting in the fall, even big pots - I stop planting in June. In our zones, roses need to put down a good root system before the winter to survive, particularly if the canes aren't hardy and it needs to regrow from the ground. Beyond that, Oregold is a particularly weak grower, and I've never gotten it to overwinter regardless. I've had a Moondance for about 6 years but it finally faded and died this last winter and wasn't particularly robust. Blue Girl grows well for me and is worth another try if it doesn't show some life. I usually wait to at least mid-June before I decide if a rose isn't going to come back from the dead. Some roses (like Double Delight) can take that long to put up canes.

Cynthia

Moondance is fine and will bloom in the next week or two. Its Oregold but its good to know not to waste my money on another one.

I used to have Oregold. Gold medal would be a good choice