My best advice is to just sit and wait. Though what it sounds like you did isn't necessary in many instances, it may not be terminal. Why rip out plants which have been successful and spend the time, energy and money when you may not really need to? As long as the new, odd looking growth isn't coming from below the bud unions, presuming your bushes are all budded, they should be fine. I'm not surprised you're not seeing flower buds yet. Even with the heat we've had here in SoCal, it's not really the amount nor intensity to push flowering growth, particularly when they're trying to replace mature growth. I'd suggest to simply do what you would normally do to/for them this time of the year and use it as a learning experience. You may well not have to replace them. Waiting until you'd normally expect flowers, or until you can be sure they're beyond repair can't hurt a thing and may well be the best thing you could do. Good luck! Kim

I echo Kim's advice. Yours would not be the only roses in Southern California that have been pruned to 12 inches and survived. (But don't do it again!)

I would add only that you look to see where the "odd" growth is coming from. If it's issuing FROM the bud union, that's fine. If it's coming up from under the ground, it may well be suckers.

If you have an opportunity to do so, DO attend a Pruning Demonstration before you prune next year.

Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal.

Having lived in both Socal and the mountains of northern California, I can tell you that roses in Socal recover from pruning mistakes much quicker than they do in areas where there are true four seasons.

It's almost like having the longer growing season gives the roses more time in one season to recover from our mistakes.

As you move further into the growing season, you'll be able to see what to do with those hard canes. You may be surprised. I have actually had roses that, I, too, had hard pruned in error, activate bud eyes that I thought would never produce growth on those canes and produce new solid growth.

Good luck with your roses and let us know how they fare as we move further into the season.

Smiles,
Lyn

Kim, Jeri and Lyn - Not sure which was more valuable, your helpful insights or the time/effort given to respond. Thank you all, SO much!

So... I had to look up what "bud union" was (obviously didn't do my homework very well prior to pruning). I can't remember if the odd thorny-growth was coming above or below the bud union because a few of the rose bushes are buried too deep (right at the bud union?). So it was hard to tell if the growth is coming the top-side or bottom-side. If that makes any sense? Unfortunately, thinking they were suckers, I cut all those off too (sigh).

Pretty sure I learned more from this mistake than I did from the youTube vids or books. But if it weren't for your responses, I'm certain I would've panicked and yanked out all the roses only to have more regrets later. Thank you for preventing me from further disappointment and burning a hole in the pocketbook!

I meant to take some photos but remembered that I let my son borrow my camera. I'll have to post some photos with my phone camera when I get the chance. Hopefully it'll save others from making the same mistake and perhaps also serve as encouragement IF the rose bushes end up surviving. Will post update in a couple of months.

Thanks so very much again for your encouraging responses (and not calling me a rose-murderer)!! ;)

You're more than welcome, yodiana. But, don't you think we've all done things which, once finished, resulted in our asking ourselves just WHAT we were thinking? LOL! It's a learning experience and I believe you'll find your roses will tell you clearly what they want and don't want from you. I don't think it's going to be all THAT bad. Kim

I agree with what everyone else said - please wait, do nothing - I would wait until after the Spring heavy growth season before touching these roses again, except to water them if it is really dry. Then, you will be able to tell if there are any suckers, because the sucker growth will look different than that of the scion (top part of the rose that you want to keep). Any suckers will have blooms of a different color & shape (I would let everything bloom - do not touch the rose until all of it blooms - even a novice can then tell what is a sucker and what is not), different leaves & possibly number of leaves.

Luckily, you live in a climate where the roses will recover easily. After they are in full Spring bloom, I would look at them. After the Spring flush, you can prune out dead growth, if any, and take care of suckers, if any. You might want to find someone at your local rose society to come look at the rose bushes for you, before you start chopping on them again. Suckers are NOT a life threatening emergency that have to be dealt with immediately - better to wait until you can tell if they are even suckers at all.

Jackie

Kim's correct. The reason we respond to questions with any help we can give is that we've all done a whole range of THE DUMBEST THINGS.

It's nice to think we can spare someone the same regrets.

Jeri

After reading this thread I had a thought yodinia, where did you purchase your roses, were they bands, barerooted or in gal pots, this might give some idea whether they are "budded" or cutting grown. Regards David.

Yodiana, you make me chuckle. I have so been there done that one! I wish I had a dime for every time I've squeezed the handles on my pruners and then went, "oh, crap, what did I just do"? Good thing roses are very forgiving, lol!

I had a 10 foot tall Cl. Peace that would NOT bloom (I mean as in it NEVER bloomed even once) so I decided I was just going to dig it out the next spring and replace it with something else. I figured I'd save myself some trouble over the winter with the long thorny canes and just whacked it off at the ground that fall. Lo and behold the dumb thing grew back taller than ever the next season! Of course it still didn't bloom and I did end up digging it out but just saying, hard pruning rarely kills them. Having to prune to a foot, and often even less than a foot, is very common in cold places and the roses spring back very well every year. Not to worry.

We routinely bury the bud unions in cold climates in the hope that if they die back to the ground in winter they'll still come back as the preferred variety and not root stock. So chances are if you've buried the union those canes are not the root stock. Young new canes can look very different from old wood ones. So I'd be patient and wait and see what develops.

The funny thing here is that no matter how we prune (in Zone 10), the roses have a long enough growing season that they do fine. I have a patch in a community garden center where people from all over the world grow all sorts of things. I see some roses cut down to the nubs and other roses untouched. They all are blooming fine by summer! The ones that are cared for with all the fine info learned here (on the Forum) do the best, of course ;)