What a great topic for a thread. I'm also not a "shovel pruner." For years, the gophers were eating about one-fourth of all the roses I planted, so I zealously protected anything that escaped their jaws. Now I use gopher cages and I'm subconsciously "shovel pruning" certain roses by deciding they're not worthy of a cage.
The only rose I can remember digging up and tossing is the Baronne Prevost I got rid of last year. It was easily the ugliest rose bush in my garden. The blooms were pretty, but the bush itself was a magnet for black spot, powdery mildew, rust, and every imaginable pest. The black spot wasn't such a surprise because it runs rampant through my whole garden, but powdery mildew is something strictly reserved for old ramblers and Baronne Prevost, and rust is something reserved exclusively for Baronne Prevost.
Anyway, I dug it up and threw it away, but guess what... It's back. I must have left part of the root in, because it's coming back. So far, I've decided to let it stay. It has survived gophers, rose diseases, pests, and my own murderous assault. That kind of tenacity has to be appreciated and rewarded.
Maybe I'll just douse it with heavy chemicals next year -- pesticides, fungicides, etc. I always meant to try that, but I never got "rountuit."
