I'm sure more expert people will pitch in, but you are right to use caution and let this rose be herself. I think she will bloom more if you leave her alone.

Take off all the dead stuff first and see what you have left. If the canes look like they will be rubbing on each other just take off the weakest looking one below the cross. If they don't actually rub on each other leave them alone.

The 'crossing canes' rule doesn't apply to the little twiggy growth. Listen to Seil.

Great thread! I have fretted over this very thing and didn't know what to do about it either so just left well enough alone and hoped for the best. Glad to know I did the right thing and I can stop worrying about it.

Jackie, I never tire of that gorgeous pic either.

A rule for climbers, no pruning the first 2-3 years (except for dead wood).

Crossing growth on climbers and ramblers is not such a big deal -- in fact, when training a climber or rambler around a pillar or post, one often begins by securing strong growth to the structure, then tucking the rest back into itself. The result is LOTS of crossed stems. My 'Baltimore Belle' has only a few stout climbing canes so far, but sprouted lots of laterals last year. When they started looking too floppy, I wove them around the trunk of the dying Japanese maple it's climbing, tucking them behind growth already going vertical.

:-)

~Christopher


P.S. Your rose is still a baby, and what you see are its "baby canes". Their job is to feed the roots, and eventually you'll start getting "climbing canes". Eventually, you'll find yourself looking at those original "baby canes" as something in the way, and will likely want to remove them. That's what I do -- once they've done their job, they're more in the way than anything. So don't worry about crossing stems on something you'll likely remove in a year or two, anyway.