I'm in KY. We really didn't have any cold after pruning and none of the other roses have any damage. So what is that growing all over it?

H, redsox. It looks like the bud union was severely damaged by winter and the rose is done for. I can't see details of the "stuff." Could it just be dead rose tissue?

Hi, Michael! Hope all is well. I'm not sure what dead rose tissue looks like. This just looks weedy. No cane growth at all.

Did it get BS last year? If so, it may not have stored enough energy in the roots--it may have used it all up growing new leaves--which were zapped by winter.

It was cold enough last year in eastern zone 7a to kill an exposed HT bud union--and redsox is in zone 6.

No bs last year. I saw a tiny growth today...might just be weed but I am going to snap a photo.

My Peace got zapped pretty hard by winter--no surprise--I had more important issues last year--sort of looked like that for a while--but now it has some canes and at least one bud.

The root ball was probably severely damaged over the winter. The rose used what little energy was stored in the cane above ground to produce that small amount of growth but then with not enough root ball left it couldn't produce any more. When the cold damaged those tiny leaves the plant just didn't have anything left to grow with. I've had this happen to roses several times over the years. At first check they seem to be starting to grow in the spring and then what little growth they put out just shrivels and dies because there aren't any roots below to keep sustaining them. When you go to dig it out you'll see that there aren't any feeder roots left.

This is what I was able to photograph today.

Ice can really zap a root ball. Snow is an insulator, but ice has a much higher thermal conductivity. Explains why my attempt at the Michigan tip method of over-wintering small tree roses was a dismal failure.

Word, seil! That's my issue recently exactly, darnit!

Redsox, you actually have enough cane there in that last set of pics that I wouldn't lose hope, lol. They are tiny canes, but if the roots can keep up, consider it like a rooted cutting, I always say :) If it does grow enough this year, bury the graft, definitely.

I do think the weird-looking stuff is a bunch of shriveled, dead leaves and the beginnings of other growth that petered out.

This is what happened to some of my older HTs last year. When I first started planting roses, I followed the advice for my zone to plant the graft above the soil. the winter of 2013/14 we had temps below zero twice. That is not zone 7. I lost Fragrant Cloud, Tropical Sunset, Sultry and Mr Lincoln. Most of my teas had all the growth above ground killed, but they were own root so they came back. We never get snow cover, but do get ice, so we have the worst of winter weather.

Mr. Lincoln and Tropical Sunset did have some new growth like what you show in your picture. However, they were not able to recover, as seil said. I finally dug them all out and got replacements.

My Double Delight, Tradescant and Tamora were also badly damaged. I bought replacements for DD and Tradescant last fall. However DD started to come back this spring, but I decided to dig it up and put it in a pot. So now I have two! Tamora still survives but is very small. I will see how it does this year.

I'm not sure if your DD is worth saving or should be replaced. I would give it this summer to see how it does. If not, it's easily replaced. I did get new roses from Palantine, which are rooted on Multiflora. And when I plant my roses now, I put the graft at ground level so I can easily put some leaves on for winter protection. Plus I don't like looking at those old ugly grafts. The roses I have from Palantine are fantastic and are doing well.

Thanks for checking it out. I am going to give it a few more weeks. The rule of thumb when we planted was to plant the graft at the soil line, not above or below. Clearly that did not work out well. This year I lost 3 roses including this one, more than after the polar vortex.

I recall that same rule on the planting instructions when I first started rose growing--lost about half the roses in the garden due to our first real winter and that incorrect advice climate. I've been burying the grafts--either by planting them deep--or adding soil or well aged compost (crumbly) to roses that were already planted and doing well.
These days, instead of losing roses, I gain them, as the buried canes root and form their own root systems! My 2nd Sexy Rexy is now about the same size as one you would buy in a 3 gallon pot!

I remember about 10 years ago, the USDA revised the cold hardiness zones and I was supposedly in zone 8. HA! I feel sorry for anyone who listened to that and planted more sensitive stuff. It would have all been killed last year.

One of the roses I lost was Duchesse de Brabant, a bit of zone pushing and now, dead. However, Cramoisi Superieur is alive and well although it never gets large. I think with DD planted at the soil level and then soil erodes over years...busy life without realizing it, live and learn.