We also lost many roses, that first summer of extreme heat. Some, we have replaced. Some we rehabilitated. Some we tried to rehab, but ultimately failed.

The garden now is very different from the garden we once had. Fewer roses. More salvias, and even succulents. Quite a few Plumerias. It's different. It's more open. I sort of like it better this way.

First thing I would do is evaluate. What roses did the best? Those are the ones to save if you decide to thin them out.

Next would be to water generously. Roses can tolerate a lot of heat with enough water. I have in the past tried to push my roses to minimum water and I've come to regret it. Big old climbers and teas can do with less water than HTs but they still need deep watering.

After that I would prune judiciously, not heavily. If you have a lot of material you have to remove, I would do it in stages, not all at once. Too much shock to their systems especially since your roses probably never go dormant.

Some nice compost would help, too. Actually a nice layer of compost would all by itself may everything look better as well as make them happy.

Jerome, I have so enjoyed seeing photos of your garden, and have been wondering why you haven't posted for a while. I can't be of any help I'm afraid, but Rosefolly's advice sounds good. Good luck with your task.

I am very sorry, in particular, to hear that Marechal Niel died.

Trish

I too might work on the irrigation and mulching, and leave the judicious pruning for the next step after you see what revives. I too have treasured your garden in photos and look forward to it's revival.

It's a pleasure to see you posting again, Jerome. I'm sorry that the garden is not what it was, but with some care from you I'm sure it will bounce back, or at least for the most part. Since your bushes are mature, I would venture to say that some controlled pruning may not hurt them, and they will at least have less of a bush to maintain.

Oh, I forgot the most important part - first, I had to weed all around each rose so I could see it!

Jackie

Good to see you back, Jerome, and it's pleasant to hear you have time once more for your roses.

I had about a year and a half in which I considerably neglected my garden, but since mid-August I've finally been able to work on it steadily, though the amount of maintenance required is staggering. Lately I've been cleaning up an area I hadn't touched for two years. I've been shearing weeds and pulling Bermuda grass, cutting out old growth from the roses and mulching. There are a couple of roses that have rootstock suckers to remove and some obnoxious perennial weeds and one elm to dig out, but they'll have to wait: we haven't had a good soaking rain for two months, and right now you'd need a pick to dig. We had a prolonged drought in 2017 (worst in eighty years, I read) with high temperatures, and I found out the garden can take it. All the roses that were doing well at the start of the drought came through it fine. I think much of California still had less rain and more heat than we did, so what was true here may not apply to where you are; also, our roses have good deep clay to get their roots into, which is important. It may also be important that we don't water after the first year, a practice that forces the roses to root deeply. It's hard to establish favorable conditions for the warm climate roses--the soil tends to be too heavy for them and is difficult to amend sufficiently--but the Teas, Chinas, and Noisettes that were thriving at the start of the drought were still doing fine at the end of it. The main problem with not irrigating isn't the survival of the roses, but the flowering. At the moment ,with the summer drought still holding on, there's hardly a rose bloom in the garden.

For pruning I'm taking out old, damaged, and dead growth now, promising more drastic attention to some plants during the winter. The Noisettes and Tea-Noisettes always get a thorough cleanup and retraining in March, and roses with Multiflora in their ancestry need significant pruning. The once-blooming old roses of European origin can be prettied up by pruning, but they don't seem really to need it to live and flower.

Hi Jerome, I'm very much in the same boat. Due to a broken right arm, I have been pretty much incapacitated in the garden since June. Everything is completely out of control, swamped in weeds, etc. I know I have probably lost some young roses. Its very depressing and discouraging. But I think the advice people are giving here is very sound. The only caution I would add is about pruning - where are you located? If you are in a cold zone, like me (I'm zone 6) the pruning should wait til spring, though its ok to cut out obviously dead stuff. You don't want to do anything to encourage new growth right now. My plan for my own neglected garden is that this fall, now that my right hand is fairly usable again, I'm just going to do the basic fall chores I would do anyway, while carefully noting which roses have died or died back so much they might as well be dead. Then, over the winter I'll evaluate which ones I feel are worth replacing, which ones not. And then in spring - a total reboot. Mulching is a great idea, once you've cleaned out the worst of the weeds.

Oh my goodness, it is so wonderful to hear from you all! I have missed you like crazy. Thanks for the good advice. I have been following it, and have lots of help this year. We're mulching away, cutting out all the dead wood, and will fertilize soon (Frances, I'm in Southern California - permadrought and permahot!) for the last time this year. I just have to be patient. I think we will not lose any more plants than what I mentioned earlier (Oh...Pope John Paul II is gone too...). I will try my best to keep in touch and keep posting. More later. Thanks a million for all your kind replies!

No advice! But I wanted to wish you the best of luck with everything!! Hopefully the rest of your Rose's pull through strong!

Years ago, there was a detailed article in The American Rose about rejuvenating a rose garden in California. I think the author was Steve Jones , now a past president of the American Rose Society. IIRC, the article had lots of pictures and was very detailed. I think you can contact Steve on line and he may have a copy or remember which year he wrote the article.

Good luck. And good to see you again.

Ann

If you decide to replace Pope John Paul II, you might consider getting it grafted on fortuniana. It will be more vigorous and take off quickly. You will have to watch out for rootstock suckers, but the fortuniana leaf pattern is distinctive and will be easy to catch. I got mine from a mail order nursery in Georgia. Let me know if you would like to pursue it and I can look it up my source.