If I was in your situation, I'd trim off only Winter damage, and leave it be. Transplanting a rose sets it back, and you'll want to leave it with as much cane as possible until you see more canes coming up. If you plan to take cuttings of it next year, consider what you remove for propagation to be its "pruning".

:-)

~Christopher

Ditto on the pruning, but I'd wait until march, at which time I'd give the rose some Plant Tone, or manure. When things warm up, cover the area around it with mulch, but don't heap the mulch on the crown of the rose. Let us see some photos later on. Diane

With those spindly, arching stems it looks to me like you may be growing root-stock such as 'Dr Huey' instead of the 'Queen Elizabeth' that was presumably grafted upon it originally. In which case the best pruning would probably be with a shovel.

'Queen Elizabeth' should have tall, straight thick canes with large prickles, leaves and flowers, be quick to bloom (bloom in small sizes).

Grafted modern roses that have been partially or completely replaced by 'Dr Huey' root-stock sprouts are very common in my area. Internet questions from people elsewhere looking at this same occurrence are also comparatively frequent.

You can't assume it's root stock. Until it blooms it could be either. I've had two QEs and both were rather spindly here. Wait until next spring, only prune off dead wood then, and see what color it blooms.

I really appreciate all of the responses and have taken note of the advice given. Embothrium: I am impressed you can identify a rose cultivar looking at foliage characteristics, and a rootstock at that! You may very well be correct, but I have a few concerns. I have only a rough estimate of when this rose was planted (anywhere from 1955-1975) and I have no earthly clue when they started commercially grafting roses. Also, I did look into 'Dr Huey' and it seems to be a deep red color, but this rose has been consistently blooming a pink very very similar to 'Queen Elizabeth' for as long as I can remember. But, I did go out and check it out and the main cane that remains is seemingly coming from straight out of the ground, as opposed to a trunk or graft union, but there is a side shoot coming off the old base/woody portion. Unfortunately, it has become dark here in Virginia and I will not be at my grandmother's house tomorrow, so I had to take a dark photo of the base of the rose to show what I mean. I will try and bump this thread come bloom time and let you all in on what happens. I have been fertilizing this with a proprietary fertilizer the company I work for makes that has worked plant miracles hundreds of times over on some valuable trees, so I have confidence it will at very least help.

I'm sorry to double post, but I just came across a picture from my mother's archaic phone (sorry about quality and orientation) that shows that Embothrium has at least a chance of being correct

What it shows is that side shoot blooming the pink it always has, and the cane coming from the ground level not blooming (hasn't as far as I can remember). This rose was really in bad shape when I moved it, I waited for it to rebound for a few years, and only moved it when I thought it may not come back the following year. Anyways, I will probably take Seil's advice and wait until next season to see what happens with the suspected "imposter cane" and then go from there. Thanks everybody! I may be coming around to this ornamental gardening idea...

Yes wait. It was QE at some point and until it blooms next year, there is no way to know.

It looks like the graft may be buried or sunken under the soil line. In that case, and since it's an old rose, it may well have gone own root anyway. Did it bloom at all this season? What color were the blooms? With an old rose like this it's better to never assume anything until you see it in bloom. I've found that with roses, just because the "norm" says it should be this, that, or the other, doesn't mean the rose got the message and wants to co-operate. Roses do what they want!