Help! Special rose bush died while on holiday

[Roxieandthegang]

As the title says….help needed by you experts!

This rose bush was given to me when my son died so you can imagine my horror at the state of it when I returned from holiday 🙁

To be honest it looks like it’s unsavable to me, but if there are any tips I could try like cutting down or giving it a magic cure any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙏

The green leaves bottom left are not the rose bush it a weed 🙄

So sorry, how sad to come back to that given its emotional attachment, Have you tried gently scraping any branches to see if there’s green underneath the bark? Or even lower down towards the bottom? If there’s green, there’s hope and you can use some rooting powder and replant after cutting the dying branches/growth.

I would cut back the dried branches and give it a good feed, then cross fingers.

Do you know which nursery it came from? David Austin are brilliant at replying to questions like this.

my gut would be doing as @EatCrow suggested with scraping back the bark to see the colour then prune it back to a healthy ish bud and soaking it in a bucket of water for a few hours. But it’s not my rose and it’s very special so I’d want a second opinion.

There might yet be hope. I have 'killed' a couple of roses while moving them. They looked like yours. Perhaps leave it, trim it back in the early spring and see what happens. It might come back yet! Roses are surprisingly hardy.

how long has it not been watered?

tbh roses are quite hardy and there is a chance it might come back.

give it a lot of water now. followed by more water & a prune a week later and once new green shows a rose/shrub feed.

think of putting it (or it's replacement) in a larger pot during winter.

Give it rose food, cut right back and water appropriately. It may come back next spring

I can see some green leaves mixed in with the brown ones on several branches so I'd say there is hope. Cut back the dead stuff, water & feed.

It doesn't look completely dead to me? I'd give it a good drink and some food, put it in a spot that doesn't get excessively hot, preferably in a bigger pot with compost not garden soil, and trim off any bits that are definitely dead.

Are you able to plant it in the garden? Get some John Innes no3 compost, some Mycorrhizal fungi for the roots, cut the black, dead branches, and replant. Roses do better in the ground. They need regular watering and feeding in a pot, more so than in the ground.

Roses are pretty hard to kill. It should grow back next year if you do the above.

Thank you so much for your replies…I was expecting nothing to be honest! I will do as a few have suggested - give a good water over the next few days, have a look if there is any green under the bark and cut away the stems that dead and prune early spring.

I’ve been away for three weeks my other half came for the last 2 - I think he watered it once when I reminded him and am pretty upset he didn’t think to look after it a bit more but he is not exactly green fingered, I’m not either tbh but I do try…I don’t think the hot weather has helped either.

I didn’t want to plant in the garden in case we move but I do think a bigger pot is a good idea!

thank you again 🥰

If you’ve got room it would be happier with it’s feet in the ground or a bigger pot as well

To be fair I'm not sure you can entirely blame your partner. If it's been in the sun in that narrow black pot it's probably had a fair bit of cooking to the roots, not just lack of water! But agree with all pps they're tough and in the ground or a big pot out of the hot sun it might well forgive you!

- Don't feed it!!!! -
<good grief what is wrong with the formatting on this website?>

You don't give a roast dinner to someone in intensive care. Plants cannot use nutrients unless they are photosynthesising, and this obviously isn't. Excess minerals at the roots will prevent the proper uptake of water, and can kill a sickly plant.

Don't cut back the stems, as I can see that there is still the faint glimmer of green on some of the leaves.

Stand it in a bucket of water for 2-3 hours, then let it drain and put it in the shade in a sheltered corner of the garden and pray to Mother Nature. Check it every so often and make sure it doesn't dry out again, but don't saturate it as roots need air as well as water.

@Roxieandthegang Please don't cut any of the stems at all just yet, as you may inadvertently cut off bits that are still alive. Removing the crispy leaves would be okay, but don't cut anything else back. Give it a chance.

I agree with @Yamadori , especially the “don’t feed” bit

This might give you hope. I had a shrub rose for free that someone dug out of their garden. It had barely any roots and when I got it hope I didn't get around to planting for about a week. Anyway, I planted it, cut back some of the deader looking shoots, and watered it loads. After a while I forgot about it again until noticed this week four new shoots! So, my advice is, cut back the dead stems and water it every day. Plant it out of you can. Hopefully you too will see new green shoots soon🌱

Monty Don describes roses as “tough as old boots.”

Id cut it back a bit and keep it well watered. Stand it out of direct hot sun, in dappled shade.
Keep your eye on it. I think it will sprout again, maybe next spring.

Gardeners need to be patient.

Apart from the pointless question of where your rose went for its holiday, I can only defer to the more experienced gardeners on the thread.

Watching anything about roses with interest, though, as I’m looking to have a climbing rose put in. Is there a best time of year for that?

Roses really do like deep roots so are happier in the ground, if you did move they are usually survive being dug up and replanted.

Give it loads of water and cross everything, roses are tough and can grow from a tiny bit of rootball.

Yes. I dug up a rose and moved it and it has been fine.