Polka dies back every winter to the ground and comes back every spring to the same height as your shown picture. I am in zone 5. I think you may have luck that some of the canes survive in zone 8 and the bush may be bigger next year.

I would not do anything till spring. Deadhead spent flowers and don't let them form the hips even toward the end of the season. Don't prune them till spring for removing dead canes.

That's my advice from zone 5. People may have different opinions on leaving hips and fall pruning if they are in warmer climates. But, definitely, Polka is a very healthy and sumptuous bloomer.

For my zone 9 yard, where we get some frosts but no snow, here is what I do. In January, I strip the remaining leaves. I do not want disease carried over to spring. Then, I cut off spindly little canes on climbers, leaving a good framework. On brand new climbers, I leave much more there on the trellis. You have trained your canes nicely and you may want to leave all the canes there. I am assuming you are similar in climate to us but I may be wrong. If not, you will get different advice.
I also know which climbers need harsh pruning as they grow rampantly (e.g Graham Thomas, Westerland) and which get a lighter pruning.

Here in northern California, I remove dead roses through September and maybe even October to keep it blooming away. I just fertilized the roses last week for a fall bloom. I don't know enough about your climate to give you good advice. Sorry.

Kathy

Sage and Kathy. Thank you very much for your help. Should I just leave the canes tied the way they are on the fence?

Should I just leave the canes tied the way they are on the fence?

Yes, leave them because they look good. You did a great job.

You want to always keep the main canes tied, in case of a strong windstorm when the wind can whip the canes around and they lash against each other and scratch each other up pretty badly. Tying is good.

I would think in 8b you won't get dieback, and it is just cold enough to make the foliage drop off on its own.

You may get new larger canes growing next spring. Polka was 10-12' here, yours should get nearly that large.

I have no advice to give (I did live in BC for five years but never gardened there) but just wanted to say how beautiful your climbers look and how nice the bed looks as a whole. I saw Polka growing in a garden last year and thought it was a gorgeous rose. I hope you'll post pictures again next year when it's blooming and hopefully even larger and more sumptuous.

Ingrid

hoovb- Thank you very much for all your helpful suggestions and for the very nice compliment. Hearing that from a skilled gardener, made me feel good and more motivated. I've been using Velcro ties from the nursery. Perhaps I should use something a little stronger?

Ingrid - Thank you for your compliment. I just love them. Yes, I will definitely post pics next year.

I don't have Polka, but do have some z8 experience. In my z8 SoCal mountains, we do get snow, but the avg lows aren't bad. I followed the advice I got up here and found it works very well. First off, we don't need winter protection up here per se, but I do plan to tie up the ones that need it a little better as we can get a dump of 4' of snow at one time which doesn't hurt them because of the cold, but the snow turns into a giant ice cube encasing the canes and so as it melts canes can break. If the canes are more vertical, they are less likely to break.

As hoovb said, the leaves pretty much fall off due to the cold so your mileage may vary on what you want to do about them.

I would strongly advise you, though, to wait until spring to trim them. If you get any cane damage, I would bet it would be due to a late frost and that's it. However, that can be serious for roses that are not 'cane hardy'. The rule of thumb for spring pruning that I see often around the country and one that I use is to prune when the forsythia start to bloom. If you're tempted to prune earlier, you may regret it if new growth is sprouting and you get a late freeze.

Good luck, I hope you get some more roses next year!!!
Kerin

Your Polkas are lovely and, like Hoov said, you've done a wonderful job tying and training them. I grow Polka also, but things are quite different here in zone 5. However, we both probably enjoy the fact that the blooms are so lovely, and the plant is so disease resistant.

Thank you karen. What I really love about them is they just keep on blooming all summer long. I notice as the weather gets cooler the apricot colors get darker. Pretty!