My Zephy is not hardy here in my Z5 yard, although it is only a couple years old. I got it as a band from RU a couple years ago. I think this past winter was it's third winter. It is planted on the east end of my front porch. It is in a protected location recieving the least amount of wind/weather and yet it still completely dies down to the ground each year and blooms very sporadically for me. Maybe it will improve as it matures a bit but so far it has not been hardy for me. Mine is an own root, so it comes back pretty strong each spring, but has never gotten over about 6 foot tall. It gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight per day plus another couple hours of indirect sunlight, so maybe that is part of the problem with mine. My Awakening climber, which is supposed to be a better/improved version of New Dawn has been much more hardy for me, although the bunnies did it in this past winter. They ate everything they could reach from the ground/snow so I was left with a detached 15' tall tangled thorny mess to remove from the side of my chimney. Next winter I will put up some kind of bunny proof barrier around it's feet to keep the bunnies away. :I also planted a Dublin Bay climber late last year. It was just a small own root band, so it didn't do much in the short time it was in the ground. Since it was so new and small, I did winter protect it with a rose cone. So far this spring it seems to be doing nicely. I have been training it on the lattice along the side of my deck. Hopefully that one will prove hardy for me also.

Hi FlowerLady, I grow mini roses here in zone 2, which is very different from your zone 10. I have to bring the minis in for the winter. What I do is stop fertilizing in aug. Then when I bring them in early Sept, I quit watering and let them go dormant. They lose their leaves. I do water very lightly occassionally through out the winter, so they don't dry out completely. In about Feb, I put them under grow lights. I also take cuttings when they start to grow, of the fresh green stems, and just put them in 4 inch pots of pro-mix. I use the plastic zip bags that sheets and blankets come in, for propogators. In 10 to 14 days the cuttings show new growth. I slowly acclimatize these cuttings to room air and put under grow lights and start fertilizing and watering regularly. In the case you mention above, I suggest that she start fertilizing about every week or two with 10 52 10. This is the seed starter fertilizer, which is also good for roses. If the pot is a suitable size, then no need to repot. If the pot is to small, then definately go ahead and repot to a larger size. If she repots it, then yes pruning is a good idea. The other thing I wonder is, if this rose is one of the minis that came in a 4 inch pot......usually these pot have 4 cuttings in them.......if this is the case.....then the plants should be separated into individual pots. Hope this helps, but our zones are so different, I wasn't sure if I should even answer this question or not. Sierra :-)

You might get a better response over in "Rose discussions" or "Antiques".

It’s weird, I have one bush that really struggles, and the same bush that’s like 10’ away doing fairly well for the location (roadside)..the one that’s doing bad I blame on a maple tree that used to be right next to it..I just cut that tree down last year (hated the thing anyway) and the bush is doing a little better...not tremendously better..but I’ll know more after this growing season...this is also the bush that had issues with mildew (the healthy one never has) but again prior to maple tree being cut down...after tree gone, no mildew..it’s weird.