applevalle said:Zepherine Drouin rose bush that was planted the year my house was built (1953). It's been declining for the past 6 years or so. The base root is gigantic & whole plant is leaning severely. I've tried different ways to train it upright again. No success. Actually, the huge bole at ground-level appears to be slowly rotting. Can it be saved? If not, what is the best way to root cuttings from this rose? Although I bought my house only 12 years ago, I love this old bush so much & will be very sad if I lose it.
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It does sound like you need to do some work to rejuvenate the whole plant starting from the ground up ...
but there may be other issues that need to be addressed.
The part of your post that makes me uncertain about how to proceed in giving you suggestions long distance is "the huge bole at ground-level appears to be slowly rotting". This can be caused by so many different variables that have nothing to do with the rose itself that need to be addressed first before doing a rejuvenation pruning. You may have crown gall disease in the soil or some other problem.
The reason I am bringing this up is that old garden roses were not generally sold as budded roses even 60 odd years ago so I doubt if what you are seeing at the base of the rose has anything to do with an aging graft failure, but more likely has something to do with a change in the environment around the rose or in the soil since it was planted.
Although, I love giving advice about how to rejuvenate a rose, in this instance, my intuition tells me that there is more going on than just a need for a special type of pruning.
We can try going forward with photos, or you might try to find someone you can give you an on site consultation, or you can get a soil test.