Alot of rose growers feel the way you do and that's normal... Now me...lol...I feel by making the necessary improved changes our rose gardens can be better thus making it more enjoyable for us in the long run...lol... So it does not bother me thinking of it this way...

Just decide you absolutely love a couple of them. That usually works for me. :-p

I know how you feel but I also think you would be much happier with a healthier garden which would happen by pulling out a few and giving the others more room and air flow. I thnk Marlorenas idea of potting up the ones you pull out is a good idea.

Yes good idea Marlorena-z8 England-!

I dunno, I tend to lose at least 100 roses every year to winter kill so it's hard to wish that on any rose that is willing to survive our cold winters and hot dry summers. I know what you mean though with roses that are just plain annoying or unproductive or in the way. I have done a version of Marlorena's strategy by moving uninteresting roses to a part shade dry spot of the yard where roses don't thrive but I am happy to tolerate them there. If they want to survive, they'll have to earn their keep by brightening up a problem corner. I did this with Mountain Music and Chimo last year and it feels so good to have them out of the way in their original spots. They survived the transition after a spell of sulks, so we'll see if they bloom now.

The only rose recently I had wished would die was Rountuit, a rare dud of a rose from Buck. It had maybe a week or two of scruffy dime-sized blooms on an incredibly thorny plant and it was right by my water faucet. I tried a couple of times unsuccessfully to give it away but even my lazy approach to rose gardening had enough last year. I gleefully chopped it up and hauled away every bit of the roots and I have no regrets. It's only the second rose I've deliberately shovel pruned which tells you about how tolerant I am of underperforming roses.

Other roses that are only brief bloomers and in my way the rest of the year get chopped back to about 6" after what passes for a bloom season - like Fimbriata, Therese Bugnet, Variegata di Bologna. The first two are such hardy survivors that they get to stay but I'll be darned if they're going to take up that much of prime garden location. VdB is of course a once-bloomer that shouldn't be cut back that drastically, but I've found it'll rebloom occasionally with that treatment and under the best of pruning conditions it never gets particularly bushy or impressive in its main bloom cycle.

Cynthia

Marlorena, My pot ghetto is already planned for next year's bed and there are already too many even for that. My yard is like on 'Wayward Pines,' outside the fence is out because any rose will get eaten by deer. I have almost no room inside the fence.

Cynthia, we don't have much of a problem with winter kill here in Central GA and the darn buggers are doing what they are supposed to, blooming their little hearts out.

I had the overcrowding this year. Also, I dig some stuff up because it just wasn't producing like I wanted and taking up space in my garden bed for one cane or one rose is not worth it. So this year I potted up those some timey producers and put more established bushes down. So I have alot of pots now. I will have to figure out what to do for overwintering the pots. I like to read old post and someone said if something is not producing get it out of there. I know the look Im going for and I don't have time for slow producers. Also its easier to baby the roses in the pots during the summer months. If they don't improve doing this they never will.

One of the hardest things I had to do was remove most of my OGRs. Because of their huge size you couldn't walk through the garden, everything was a tangle and a fallen mass of canes interwoven with bindweed that I couldn't reach to pull. Disease started and wouldn't let up. Forget pots! I had to roll the severely reduced root balls to their new location. Many of them were so big they did not survive the cutback and transplant. After a winter of -40F not long after I wished I had them back in the garden as it was absolutely bare. But life goes on and money buys new roses! I still have 4 roses I haven't planted yet this year because I overbought and some dead to the ground actually came back really, really late. I have to decide soon if something is going to get jerked out or potted up.

I absolutely have a couple that wish would die on their own. The trouble is .. wishing I would lose some over winter means I don't get to choose which ones ! lol I hate to admit it bc it's so well loved but Cornelia's blooms fry for me so fast . I do like the shape of the shrub and it's healthy .. I just don't get what I see posted . And I wish my summer sun would die . Too bright but it's in an area I don't garden much so it's fine for now . And the unruly headge of KO by the utility boxes .. weeds grow through and I don't care about that area either .

I too wish some of my huge roses would die on their own ! We dont have winter kill here .My Memorial Day gets so huge and wide that he suffocates nearby roses .l want to s/p him but when l see the beautiful blooms ,l cant bring myself to .Also Mr.Lincon who grows 10 ft tall every couple of months .recently l am worried about newly planted Florentine .l am scared it would grow too huge for its place .l am actually thinking of s/p her now while she is small .l will see if she can be trained on a tripod .