Margie ..
Thanks for the complements. I thought the house was pure ugly because I hate that color of brown ...
I don't particularly think of myself as a gifted rose gardener. I simply was trained by breeders of roses and see roses through the eyes of a breeder. That required learning about roses in a different way than most people learn about roses.
The rose gardeners I think of as truly gifted are the millions of people in the US and around the world who grow beautiful, vigorous roses and maintain glorious rose gardens without my specialized training. Those gardeners always give me a sense of awe.
My training gives me an edge, that's true. That's what I want to share on ATP. Site users will either use the information, or part of it or none of it, depending on their own experiences with roses and their own gardening philosophy. At least I've put the information out there.
I don't think your roses didn't thrive because of lack of pruning. I think other variables were at play.
Zuzu wrote one of the best articles about pruning I have ever read for ATP. It's true that she doesn't have to deal with the climate issues you have in your garden, but her basic premise that you do not have to prune roses to have healthy plants is spot on.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/z...
Roses are genetically programmed to to come back from pruning, but not all roses like to be pruned hard and will sulk if you mess with them. There is no lineage information available, so I can't tell you if 'Tineke' falls into that group.
I'll contact you by Tmail to give you some tips about bringing the rose back.
Smiles,
Lyn
