I have grown Henry Hudson and I doubt they would die from neglect. It would help to know where you are. I think trimming off dead parts would help any rose. It may even be OK to cut these back now depending on location. Cutting back earlier in Spring is usually recommended. Severe pruning in extreme heat or with a water deficit I'm less certain of being beneficial. I think this is more old cane than disease.

I'm no expert on this but it looks like rose scale. There are folks on here that can help with what to do. You can also do a search on rose scale on the internet and on here for information.

I'm on the Northumberland shore , northern Nova Scotia (right on the ocean if that makes a difference?) i have cut out all the obviously dead stuff, pretty sure its bad timing for any more pruning as we are just coming into the heat. This is what the poor thing looks like right now. It was trying to grow up through a pretty thick stand of wild daisies

Also I'm not sure that it is a hh now either, the roses are not white but actually pale pink, so unless hh can sometimes looks a bit pink before the flowers fully open up its something else.

And one more pic here of a bit of newer growth that I clipped by mistake, even the newest growth has some of whatever this is on it. I've been googling and some of it does look like scale, I also seem to have a good crop of aphids. (probably from all the darn daisies, they always seem to be loaded with aphids!)

Thanks for the replies!

I do not believe your rose is Henry Hudson. Nor does it appear to be a hybrid rugosa.

Hybrid rugosas are almost always very thorny, unlike your rose, which I would characterize as lightly to moderately thorny.

Henry Hudson is one of the shorter hybrid rugosas, generally about 30" tall. It is bushy and the foliage is rugose, unlike the smoothish foliage I can see from your photo.

Its flowers are smallish, white, densely petaled with a very attractive yellow boss when fully open, and presented in tight clusters with very short necks.

HH's fragrance is typical rugosa: strong clove like.

Now, your rose needs to be identified correctly in order to know how to rehab/manage it properly.

Clean up the bed, mulch it. You can do this right now as you search out its identity.

Any disease/insect problems it may now have will be knocked down considerably if not eliminated entirely as you begin its care program.

What I can see from your photos it has no major health issues to be concerned about.

Do not do any pruning until you determine its name/class.opu

I agree with opuntiamic. The leaves do not at all look like a rugosa - probably not HH. Very lovely half open bloom - please post more pictures.

It is very important to weed out anything (including daisies) growing within, say, 20 inches of the base of the rose. Then put down 1-2 inches of mulch.

You could give the rose some food - I would buy any actual rose food and follow the directions. Overall, the bush looks pretty good.

If you can post more pictures, especially of open blooms, and hips if there are any, hopefully someone on here will know what rose it is. For now, just wait, and when you know who it is we can give you better advice about pruning it.

Also, scale can be gotten rid of by a dormant spray (when the rose is dormant in the winter), but not now.

Jackie

Considering the difficulty you may encounter in ever identifying the variety of this rose, you will be able to discover its habits by your powers of observation, and proceed with its management accordingly, not ever even knowing its name.

Start it on a good care program first: mulch, weed control, watering, light fertilizing, etc.

After the first flush is finished (deadhead faithfully), see if it reblooms. If it does, then a more liberal pruning program can be initiated, treating the bush as a floribunda (you know it is a cluster bloomer already), since it has shown it will bloom again (and hopefully again until late fall), this year, on new, green, this year's growth.

If it does not repeat, it is a one flush per year rose, and probably an old garden rose of some sort. These are generally pruned lightly right after blooming since any new, this year's growth is the 'wood,' from which next year's flowers bloom forth. Any of this year's growth that is pruned is reducing next year's flower production. My suspicion is that your bush is a repeater.

I hope it is fragrant, and has a lovely flower, because if it is not so hot, you may just want to replace it with a new bush. There are as many great new roses available these days, better in many ways than roses of the past, it is good sense to consider something recent.

It takes as much work to care for a dud rose as for a champ.

It does have very pretty flowers, but more so id like to save it rather than replace it (even if is a bit of a dud) because my mom planted it and has since passed. A bit silly probably, but it's most likely a fairly hardy rose (my mom wasn't much of a rose person, but she was smart about what she planted) I've sent a message to the lady who helped my mom with the gardens when she was sick in the hopes that she knows what it is, and if not I'll just keep plugging along as long as it does :) thanks again for all the replies. I'll post more pics as soon as they open up more.

Rose canes have limited lifespans. Some types have longer lifespans than
others, but all eventually die off. For the rose to continue, it has to
produce new canes to replace the old ones. What it looks like to me is
that the old canes are reaching the end of their lifespan, and for a
variety of reasons, new ones haven't grown to replace them. The problem is that older canes are weak, and most of the rose may die off next winter. The way around this is to prune out the oldest canes, fertilize the rose a bit, and hopefully new canes will grow soon enough to harden off before winter.

That is not silly at all. Many of us have plants that represent something or someone in ours lives. Wish I could be there to help. Try not to worry the rose can be restored. Do you know what your usda plant hardiness zone is?

Right now I would clean out the weeds and stuff growing near the rose. Then grab some mulch to put around the bush but not touching the canes. Then a few feet from the rose check to see what the soil is like. Even with plenty of rain some areas can tend to dry fast. The opposite is also possible. Considering what the rose has been thru I really think that a good pruning next spring some mulch and rose food she will be fine. Look at how healthy those leaves are with no care at all. I may be wrong but I would only give the rose a gentle organic fertilizer at half strength. Seems better to let it recover before feeding to much. If you have access to good compost that would be good for it also.

Try to crush/squeeze 1 of the scale. If something is alive inside, it will pour out, as an opauqe liquid. You got to be really careful as they suck out the juice of your rose and they're difficult to get rid of. On large scale I think you should prune it, and check the remaining for scale, scrap them off before spraying. I read somewhere you can only smother it with mineral oil, since the regular spray can't get to them. I lost 1 glamis castle rose to scale, so my research was quite extensive on that.

So I have the daisies beaten back and both plants freshly mulched and dead canes removed. They are both looking happier already, and they have more new (relatively healthy looking) growth on them than I thought. The second one although a bit smaller seems in better shape overall than the first one I uncovered.

Does this bloom look fully open?

It doesn't seem to have a strong fragrance. I heard back from the lady my mom knew and she didn't really know the name but she thought it might have been ice or snow or polar something, she was pretty vague lol.

I think I've decided I'm going to wait until fall (or next spring?) to do much pruning. With all they have been through I'm a bit afraid to do too much. I plan to hit the garden centre tomorrow for some rose food. So I think I've done what I can for the moment. I'm sure I'll have more questions soon. I also have a huge hedge of rugosa roses that needs some attention so I'll post about those soon too :) thanks again!

Lovely flower there! Just because it does not have a powerful scent does not mean too much just now. As it comes into its own it may turn out to be quite fragrant. Fragrance is often dependant on many environmental factors, some beyond our control.

Look at your rehab project as bringing back your roses to their full potential. This takes time and consistent effort. You can do it.

Easy on the fertilizer. Look at your rose as a sick person in recovery. Weak tea and jello at first. 18 oz. steaks when fully recovered. Same idea with your rose. 1/4 recommended application rate for now. Increase slowly over time.

Good choice, your care decision for this growing season. Do nothing drastic until next year, if necessary even then. Seems like you're on your way to having a beautiful rose garden. Keep up your good work...pays big dividends!

Not Polareis, or HH, both rugosas. Both are great and your Mom apparently had good taste in hardy roses. They both should be around there somewhere if Mom planted them. Could this one be Morden Blush?