Do you know if those are own root or grafted rose bushes?

I'd wait a bit longer to see what canes sprout leaves... Then when your sure certain canes are dead cut back any dead canes even if means cutting to near ground level... Please try not to disturb that new growth your getting at the base of the bushes... To me it looks like those bushes MAY need a renewal pruning... (Way down) But maybe wait & see...

See what others say....

Rose canes have finite lifespans, and should be removed when they are old. In the first picture, which is the only one close enough for me to tell, it looks like about half the canes are dead, and have been for a while, and about half the canes are fine. The easiest way to tell is to wait for them to leaf out, and cut out the ones that don't.

The answer to your question is NO - they are not dead. They are mainly in need of pruning. I agree that you should WAIT until they leaf out - then you will be able to tell which parts are dead, and which are alive. Prune out the dead canes, all the way to the very bottom. Leave the new red growth at the bottom until new canes grow up and bloom. Then compare the blooms to the rest of the blooms on the bush. If they are the same, yay, you have new canes, which is how the bush renews itself. If they are VERY different from the blooms on the rest of the bush, that means they are rootstock.

Jackie

Jim1961 - I don't know if these are grafted roses or not. I purchased them in small planting pots from the local nursery about 7 years ago. At that time, they were about 12-16" tall, and probably 4-5 canes on them.

I love roses, though I will admit that I am not very good at keeping things that are green and grow. Ha. :)

Currently, I have these two bushes and then 2-3 others ones that came from Walmart in the cheap bag in the garden section - something like $4.88 each...and those have turned out to be the hardiest bushes I've seen! One is coral/orange in color and the other is the lighter pink that you see in one of the photos above.

I was not aware that rose bushes should be pruned every season, obviously. I am quite a newbie when it comes to raising roses. Quite literally, the only maintenance I've done with these two bushes is weeding them when needed, and replacing the mulch once per year. When it gets extremely hot here in Kansas, I will water them in the evenings - but not every day. They do get A LOT of sunshine as there are no trees around them, and we live in the country.

I appreciate all of the suggestions and advice I've been given so far. I will keep waiting and learning here, as long as all of you are happy to keep sharing your knowledge! :)

Fiskars are great pruning shears. Amazon. They will look so nice when you carefully cut the dead parts out each Spring!

What I was given as a guideline was red is new growth, green is slighly older, brown or grey are dead. If it is a grafted plant, the red growth could be root stock. Root stock is not the worst thing ever. Years ago a grafted rose died but the root stock comes back every year. It is in the middle of my xeric garden and requires nothing. No fertilization. No extra water. Nothing. Every year I get a decent showing if dark red roses

No they are not dead! I see lots of new growth at the bottom and a good deal of green cane on top. Besides that not all brown or gray wood is dead. As canes age they will turn brown and woody looking but that doesn't mean they're dead. You need to start at the top of the cane and cut off a small piece. Look at the inside if the cane. If it is a creamy or greenish white and looks moist it is healthy cane. If it is tan, brown/gray or dried out or shriveled it's dead wood. If it's dead keep cut down the cane in small pieces until you reach a center that looks white and moist and healthy. From there down the cane will be alive. Take out all the dead wood first and then stand back and look at the whole bush. From there you can decide if you want to prune more off for size and shape. Most heavy pruning should be done in the spring and is good for the plant as it will always stimulate new growth. Later in the season you can do some moderate pruning for shape or size as you dead head the spent blooms from the bush.

I am not the most experienced gardener here by a lot, but I had some good experiences rejuvenating four roses in my yard and thought I'd share. Just a quick summary of what I did was that I cleared bad looking leaves and branches, I swept out the mulch and other matter beneath the plant, I fertilized regularly, and I was super attentive and was out there multiple times a week tending to them, even if it was just to watch how they were doing. Honestly, it took a couple of years, and I'm sure a lot of it was luck but they are all coming back in full force right now for the first time in the 4 years since I've lived in this house. From what I am experiencing, roses can be temperamental and needy, but they aren't super fragile. So I'd wait to see how they start to fill out as it gets warmer and do some of the pruning others recommend here. I used Bayer 3-in-1 Rose & Flower care fertilzer, and it works well for me. Wishing you the best!

Be careful about how much you are cutting off because the inside isn't pure white. Rose canes develop a heartwood as they age, like other woody plants. That heartwood is usually darker than the rest of the cane, and often brown. Given the age of these plants, and the lack of normal pruning, you don't want to cut off anything that isn't dead or dying. You can always prune more off later, but you can't stick it back on.