My sympathy to all living in this region of horrific winter, and late freezes this year.I am so sad-I live right on the lakefront in a small ohio community.My second rose bed(5-6 yr old plants) is nearest the brutul winds coming off the lake. .I lost eight roses this year!! My most mature and beautiful rose, About Face included.Had searched for over four years to find "Amelia Earhart"-one died and my fingers crossed for the second..The constant freezing and thawing was soo bad that they were heaved out of the bed!! My more protected bed on the east side of the house lost none out of 14... Only compensation is that I am getting a bit wiser and looking and both own-root, and the roses developed in Canada to replace...I WON"T be caught like this again!!!

Hi again, Thanks all, for your input. I just wanted to come back and say I did cut down the Dr. Hueys. I basically pruned the rosebush as far to the ground as I could get. (It was really bushy, so it was hard to see!) Once I got the "bushiness" ut away, i was surprised to find that something has been digging at my rosebush. I can see the root ball. When I planted this rosebush (some 5 years ago ro thereabouts) I definitely planted it so the root ball was a good 10 inches below the surface. But now, I can see that something has been digging away at the base of my rosebush, and the root ball is, indeed, exposed. So you all were right on that pont! So now I ask you wise rosebush-caretakers, what do I do? There's still one very strong cane of the Billy's left (I can tell it's the Billy because the cane is woody and very thick - the Hueys were slim and bendy. Even the leaves were different.) so I left it intact. It's got a lot of green on it, and it's very strong, so I hesitate to cut it off, as it's the only cane remaining on the rosebush. However there are no buds on it (I think I see the *beginnings* of a couple of them, but I'm not 100% sure if they are buds or more leaves.) How would you all recommend I proceed? It's obviously still a healthy plant, and I'm 100% sure the "Billy" part of is is not dead (yet). But I don't want to dig it up unnecessarily (especially when, I believe next year, I will HAVE to dig it up, as we are putting in a deck exactly where it is now). The plant is only as high as my knees - would it be a good idea to dig it up and put it in a large container to overwinter inside? (and if I do, should I be sure to scrape off the Dr. Huey's completely, as previously recommended?) If I do that, do you think it would also be good to do it to the rosebush next to it? (The purple ones that the June bugs and caterpillars just adore?) perhaps putting them both in large, separate containers will help alleviate the issues they are having *now* so when I replant them after the deck is done, they'll grow stronger? Any advice you all can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Sorry, don't know, but keep on trying! This is my first year of container gardening, too. I have about 20 pots in my yard. Right before the 100+ temperatures hit, I got up a 50% white shadecloth. It really works well! The plants that are shaded all day do very well, the ones that are in front are yellowing and suffering a bit. I think the sun weakens plants and lets the buggies really go to town. I just caught 4 tomato hornworms that ate 80% of my tomato plants :(. And my sunflowers are infested with some weird brown patches that are making the leaves limp.

Did you use anything when you planted it like bone or blood meal? Three months in the ground would have been what I consider barely established and easy to uproot. A rose bush in the ground for a year would be much more difficult to pull up because of the root mass. It could have been a raccoon if he was after something underground, I've just never heard of that. I have seen raccoons dig up dog food that my dog buried when we went camping so if there were something 'stinky' maybe they were after that. Raccoons like meat and are masters of destruction. My grandpuppy is a 3 year old mastiff mix, so not technically a puppy. My pet name for him is is misleading :-)