Hello Marcia, 'Henry Kelsey' has not been hardy above the snowline for me (I think others have said the opposite to be true) though, it rebounds quickly and blooms like crazy. I lay the canes down to the ground for winter and the shrub has now attained considerable size. This is a very good rose, though I tend to keep my distance from it, as those nasty thorns just seem to reach out and snare me ... ouch!

Terrance

Thanks, Terrance! I'd untied it already but then thought, what if i really didn't have to.... Last year it only had one long cane, and i did lay that down. We had lots of snow cover and the cane came through fine, and yes, it did grow a lot this year and bloomed like crazy!

You're right about the thorns - it bites! LOL

I don't have Henry Kelsey but it's supposed to be one of the hardier Explorers. In my experience that usually means it'll be fine for a few years then have a year when it dies to the snowline. That's been my experience with John Cabot and John Davis. If you're laying it down, just be glad it's not John Cabot... eek now that one is spiky.

For me, the only climbing rose that is always completely hardy is Polstjarnan.

Do you lay that one down, Gil?

I did Henry today - wore my heavy duty work gloves! One cane was not too bad to lie fairly flat but the other had to be pursuaded a bit - i have a cage doflicky on top of it and put a pumpkin bag of leaves on it!

Nope, I just leave Polstjarnan up and I've never lost a cane yet. It's a scary plant. I also leave John Davis up and most winters he doesn't die back much. Fairly sheltered and snowy location though. John Cabot is way too rigid to lay down, he has to fend for himself.

The only one I lie down is Mme. Plantier, she is very flexible and thornless so it's easy.

How old is your Henry Kelsey that he's just starting to climb? I thought you had one like 8 years ago?

Henry Sr., kicked the bucket - died with his boots on. :> Well, i thought he was completely dead but when i went to dig him out, there was a shoot coming up from one of the roots. If i remember correctly, i put that into a container and when it grew, i planted it into the ground - must have been about three or four years ago now.