Give us a closeup of the red rose and a well-focused picture of its thorns and leaves. See if the thorns and leaves have the same shape and texture as on the rest of the plant. Is there only one stem of the red-rose type?

Are there any flower buds forming on the rest of either plant?

Possibly the red-rose stem is the only surviving bit of a grafted rose, and the large plants flowering white are from rootstock that survived and took over. Were the white roses small and simple? Rootstock varieties will bloom only once in May-June.

Thanks for the reply, There seem to be more buds on the rest of the plants still, and yes they were small simple white fellows about 3-4 weeks ago. so that sounds about right..

The leaves on the Red fellow seem slightly larger and darker than the rest..

I'm not sure what rootstock varieties are? as I said I'm kind of new to this! Any advice?

.. I was just reading up a bit on grafting there, It seems the thing to do would be to cut away all the 'white' roses and let the red fellow take over.. that's basically the whole bush.. correct?
The plant on the left doesn't have any red roses, so does this mean none of the grafted roses survived?
Should I cut this one away altogether down to a stump?

I won't cut them down, they're two pretty rose trees! I'd just make the tops more round, and then plan some roses around them, like French rose garden. They're pretty already, why cut them down? :-)

From what I gather, the red was originally grafted on to the white, as the white would be more vigorous and would give better red roses, but the white has 'taken over' and is preventing the nice red roses from growing.
I'm assuming that whoever lived in the house before me knew this, and would be keeping an eye on it by pulling out the 'suckers'. (I'm learning!)
I'm not sure if there's more of the 'red' in some of the thicker stalks but if there is I assume the white fellow is preventing it from growing..?

It's too late to get rid of the white rose bush without digging the whole thing up.. Rootstock suckers need to be removed in the first year or two. If you just prune to the ground, they will sprout back immediately. Linked is a variety often used as rootstock in Europe. Could you be mistaken about flower buds? The common rootstocks only bloom in May-June.

Here is a link that might be useful: R. laxa

Yes I could be mistaken alright, but they did flower in May-June alright, so I'd say you're correct.
I ended up cutting away the white fellow, and only the Red Rose remains now. I got a better look at the roots as in the image I attached. The arrows are pointing at the stem of the Red, and its connection to the roots. It looks kind of knotty and lumpy where the roots join the main..

I'm hoping it will take off better now that it is at least getting better sunlight. Should I hack out the rest of the white or maybe give the red a chance to take off first? And maybe just cut the white as new growth appears?

Closer look, at the Red.. Any ideas what the correct name on it is?
Thanks

I doubt that pruning will force the plant to put its full growth energy into the red at the expense of the white, because there is so much extant plumbing directed into the white stubs. However, if you want to cut back the white shoots frequently, it might help the red some. Better would be to plant a new red rose. A good new one is 'Grand Amore', considered easier to grow than older hybrid teas. Quite likely, fungal diseases on the red's foliage helped with the white's takeover.

I doubt you will ID the red definitively, but one bright medium red popular in the British Isles during the 1970s and 80s was 'Alec's Red'. There would be dozens of candidates.

Ah right, that's kind of what I was thinking..
I'll give it a go anyway and see how it turns out.
Thanks for the info.. :-)

All good advice. I learned so much by going to Paul Zimmerman roses & pruning. Google it! He presents some great, easy to understand videos on all types of roses. Made me a lot more unafraid to cut them.

gijoe, you might think about taking a cutting from the red one and rooting it to save it.

Ah yes, I was watching a few of his youtube videos recently alright, he's kind of funny too :-) Just realised there's some 'black spot' on the leaves too.. Time for some more googling..
Edit:
I was considering that alright, I did cut a 2 inch stem that I thought was dead but turns out there was like a tiny bud on the top, barely noticeable.. I threw it in a pot with a bag over it to see how it goes..
I might take a larger cutting but I don't know if there is any suitable stems to cut.. or if it is the right time to cut? does it matter?
maybe wait until it finishes flowering?

This post was edited by gijoe50000 on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 18:17

Yes, the best time to take cuttings is right after it blooms. Dead Head a piece about 6 to 8 inches with several leaf sets if you can. Fill a cup with a hole in the bottom for drainage with potting soil and make a hole in the soil with a pencil. Take off the dead bloom right at the base of the hip. Strip just the green outer skin off the bottom of the cane and dip it rooting hormone. Stick the cutting in the hole and pack the soil around it. Put it in partial shade and keep it moist but not soggy. I like to use clear plastic cups for this because then I can see if/when the roots develop. Good Luck!

By 'after it blooms' do you mean November-ish?
Since there is only one flower on it, and it's kind of drooping the last day or so would this be a good time to deadhead it?

It may also be drooping because of the butchering I done to the rest of the original Rootstock a day or two ago..

Will the same Flower 'take off' again? Or if I deadhead will a new bud appear in a few weeks? I'm a novice but I'm thinking the latter..

GIJoe, how is your red rose doing? I'm really interested in seeing the progress of reclaiming a grafted rose from the rootstock.

Hey,
I think it went into shock for a month after I cut back all the rootstock. Around the same time I raised the soil in a pyramid to cover the original graft that's in the earlier images above.
All the leaves of the grafted rose died, and eventually came back red about a month ago, and have since turned green again. Only one small growth came from the rootstock but I pruned it...

So yea it seems healthy enough again anyway. Winter is coming in Ireland now so I wouldn't expect any growth for the next few months.
I will feed it and keep the rootstock away and hopefully it will get stronger..
The other rootstock at the left, in the top image had already completely taken over.. there was nothing left of the graft..

That's wonderful! Congratulations on the successful reclaim. I wish you many beautiful red roses in the summer.