I've never really shovel pruned one that wasn't healthy. I mean, they almost never die on you, and generally if they do it's at the bareroot stage, not once they are established. My garden is older now, and I have some that have failed. A friend once told me that most roses only live 10 years in our hot desert climate. I have had the house for 19 years. I've been growing roses almost as long. I've only had 4 fail after 10 years, crash and burn. That was climbing Sunsprite and Spectra. Both of these were on arbors, one of the same plant on each side. I think once the canes reached the top, and they were going more horizontal, the sun would stress and burn the canes, and then over a period of time they slowly start dieing back. I think our heat is too much for them, and they just cannot get enough water in our super dry desert climate to live much longer than 10 years. All my non-climbers still thrive to this day. I do have some climbers that have made it over 10 years, but they are in places where they get morning sun and afternoon shade/dappled light. I'm thinking that's the only reason they have survived and remained health. They don't have that intense HOT desert sun beating down on them all day long. So, I have shovel pruned and discarded 4 roses. They were dead when I did. Climbing Sunsprite and Spectra.
I have started an experiment. I'm trying one aggressive climber (Ralph's Creeper) on one side of an arbor, and Climbing Autumn Sunset on the other side of the arbor. I want to see if the aggressive Rangoon Creeper helps to shade the rose canes at the top of the arbor, and allow the rose to live longer and co-exist together.
Alan
