I agree about giving each one a deep soaking. With clay soil they may not need additional water for a month +. In my heavy soil the best way to soak the roots is with a drip from my hose. I mean drip, one thousand, drip, one thousand, etc. I leave it overnight and the slow drip goes directly down to the roots. Encouraging roots to go deep is beneficial.

Everyone has their favorite fertilizer. In your zone a good pruning date is January 1st. So there is time for fertilizing once. There are inexpensive granular fertilizers. 10-10-10 is all purpose. If you use granular I would measure the amount recommended on the label and put it in a heap beside the base and lay the drippy hose on top of the fertilizer. When I move the hose, I trowel the (wet) granules into the top 3 inches soil around the base.

As they bloom take pictures, check them for color accuracy and focus. Don't use flash or shade the rose. I like late afternoon light. Pictures at different stages and angles. Hopefully someone will recognize. Have fun!

Thank you both! It's good to have a starting point. Hopefully I'll be back sometime down the road with photos. :)

Yes please do post photos! It will be fun to see what you have. :)

I have always found that restoring neglected roses is extremely satisfying. They usually become so robust! They're survivors and have earned their right to live and thrive. :) I bet you will be delighted this spring. :)

I agree with the above - WATER is the most important right now - they somehow survived our hot dry summer, but as you said are not happy. When it really starts raining a lot, you do not have to keep watering, but until then I would.

Other comments:

1) If you are going to prune them, first take off any dead wood (stuff which is brown, brittle). Then DO NOT take off more than 1/3rd of the (live part) bush at most.

2) WEED any weeds or other plants which are within 20 inches of the base of each rose.

3) GET RID of the rock mulch - that makes them hotter. Replace it with mulch or compost (you can buy it at any nursery) - about 2 inches deep, over the same 20 inch space you weeded. Make sure that the mulch is at least 2 inches away from the base of the rose.

4) Put some granular rose fertilizer over the mulch, and water it in. DO NOT use anything called 2 in 1, or 3 in 1, etc. - they contain poisons which kill bees which you do not need. Make sure it is ONLY rose food.

Then you have to WAIT - the roses may not bloom until next March-April, or some may. When they do, take pictures to post on here. Post pictures not just of individual blooms, but of the whole bush, the leaves, the rose buds, and the rose hips, if you have any. That will make it easier for folks to identify.

So fun to inherit roses! When my DH and I moved into our house 27 years ago, we inherited lots of roses - I have had a wonderful time finding out who they all were.

Jackie

Give them some SuperThrive

I typically use Eleanor's VF11 with great results instead of Superthrive. Curious... how is it different?

I also moved to a property that had 6 or 7 rose bushes. I got lucky with ID-ing one of them by digging around the base of the bush and finding an old metal tag. Have you looked around any of the bases? I also agree with giving them plenty of water and watching how the soil absorbs it. Maybe some compost mulch would help as well by providing more organic nutrients to the soil. Yes, please let us know how they do and post photos of blooms. Fun!

Thanks everyone! Yeah I actually did just have the same thing happen - I was pulling the rocks away from the base of one of them and found an old tag. That one is Betty Boop! I still have a few more to clear out, maybe I'll get some more IDs.