Right now, I am definitely not a shovel pruner. Heck, I'm not ANY kind of pruner. Now, I've pulled roses that I just didn't care for and gave them to friends or on Freecycle, but to outright kill something just because I don't like it? I leave that to weeds and aspens. LOL Now, I've shovel-pruned 3 aspen trees (technically, I didn't "shovel-prune", but I removed them because I didn't like them, but long story there), but something as precious as a rose? NEVER! Like Alan, we have a heat problem here in the summer because of the altitude, and, like Andi, I have an extreme cold freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw with the spring. So, I'm ecstatic when any rose survives more than a growing year. That's why I was disappointed in George Burns.. I hated that rose because of the bloodthirst of the canes, but I was super sad when it didn't make it. As far as Austins, I don't have a single one.. I don't think my Molineux made it (again), nor did Fisherman's Friend (again). I'm betting dollars to donuts that both losses are my fault, so I'll try 'em again next year. I haven't had any disease problems this year, my aphid problem was short lived, it's just the heat that's been killing mine. And, if there's any hint of green on the canes, I won't pull 'em (the rose expert at my LGS stated that life's too short, if there's no leaves, yank 'em out, but I give the poor thing the benefit of the doubt). And only when the canes are 100% brown and brittle (I won't pull even if they're purple/black) will I pull.
Which means next weekend (the 21st/22nd), I'll be pulling about 5 more roses out of the ground again.
This year has been murder. If I can't get the roses in by June 15th, I'm not putting any into the ground if they're smaller roses. Smaller roses like what I got from Pickering, Roses Unlimited.. they just didn't make it in the back yard due to the extreme heat. Bleh. DH is so mad that I've lost so many this summer, but I told him, what can I do? I can't control the weather...
Sometimes, when I see so many dead roses, I wonder if I should just give up. Grow more xeric plants like hyssops & agastache. Then I sniff Heirloom or Intrigue, or Picante pops open and I get addicted all over again.
As I explained to my DH, this is the cheapest of my established hobbies. You should try keeping saltwater fish when you're 1000+ miles away from the coast.
