Jerijen says to get rid of any roses that had canker but my potted rose is doing great still. I know I can never put it in the soil or around other roses because the canker is in the wood. I have not looked at the roots to see if new canker is growing again because the plant is doing so well. Karl advised the bleach treatment to someone else and it worked for me. There is a treatment that will kill the critters that cause canker for use on the soil but it isn't 100% effective and its costly. I had a rose die off exactly as you described. It was healthy in December. I cut it down and moved it in January to a new spot. The old leaves fell off. The new ones grew a few inches then suddenly died. The canes turned dark at the base and continued until the whole cane was dead. I was wondering if I overwatered. One outlying cane is still growing leaves. I'm going to dig up the dead canes and look for cankers. Usually the plant goes into slow deline with canker-fewer, smaller flowers and small slow growing leaves. Eventually canes begin to die. This was a rapid die off of all the canes from the bottom up. Roses on either side are doing great. Wish I had not decided to move it but too late now. I had buried an old possum there the year before. Maybe he didn't appreciate me disturbing him when I planted the rose.

As you no doubt know, the caning on the back is handwoven, which is a sign that this is a good quality, possibly antique chair. If it were mine, I'd try to strip it. You can always repaint it if you don't like how it turns out, but you might discover a real treasure under that paint.

up close it still appears to be Walnut , but not veneered on the top curves , solid through out . you can learn to do anything , hand caning is not something ya that just pick up .... and doing a curved back and seat is even harder to do then a square .

Your idea sounds very elegant! I think you are not supposed to stain cane cuz it dries it out so paint is probably the way to go. I thought cane had to "breathe" to stay flexible, so maybe don't overdo it on the back side (don't coat totally, Imean)? I've seen old painted cane furniture and it has chipped a bit but that was seats. I think I've seen it painted on hgtv or somewhere with Krylon. I'd go to the store and read the paint cans. Post a pic when you are done. I've always wanted to cane a chair, but not sure I'll ever make it. Would love to hear about your experience. It also occurs to me that a fabric that was b&W and brown would coord with a black frame and natural cane. Just seems a shame to me to do all that work and then cover it up! Either way you would want to paint the frame of the chair first I think. kathy