I just found a picture of it in bloom. This is from 2 years ago. Small flowers, no fragrance, and that’s about the only blooms in a year. There seemed to be more leaves at the time, though some of the leaves belong to the clematis “Dr Rupple”.

Maybe I should just dig it up and plant a DA in the spring...

If I had to guess I would say that is Dr. Huey, a root stock used for grafting, it looks like whatever was there before reverted back to Dr. Huey, it will always be once blooming. If it were me I would pull it up and plant something you really want there. A Austin would be beautiful!

Thank you Boncrow66! This is super helpful. I would have wasted another year hoping to nurse it back to health, and scratching my head on why it is not doing well: not enough light, too little/too much feed, pruning, water etc. :)

I’ll go ahead and pull it out now.

Now I just need to decide on which Austin rose to order for the spring!

What a bummer but so fun to choose a rose you prefer ! David Austin puts out many excellent roses . Have fun choosing!

Now you will get to invest in something you love. There are so many fabulous roses to choose from.

I actually don’t think that’s Dr Huey. The bloom seems to be the orange side of red (Dr Huey is crimson), it’s larger, more double and has better substance. It seems your spot might be lacking sunlight. I’d dig it up and put it in a pot with more light...because i do like those blooms you pictured.

If you don’t like it, of course you shouldn’t waste any more effort on it.

Thank you BenT. I googled Dr Huey pictures. Some are more double than others. How confusing! This spot has got shadier from our dogwood tree and our neighbor’s tree. We pruned the trees a little this spring and will do more pruning next year since an arborist friend told us not to prune more than 10% in a year.

Hi Kristine, yes I’ve been looking at various roses for a while:) This spot get more sun on top of the fence so I am thinking a climbing rose might do better than a shrub. I may start the climber in a pot in a sunnier spot and put it in the ground in the fall when it reaches good height. Or will the transplant do more harm than just starting in the ground?

Thank you so much for everyone’s help here! I only started with an Eden this year so not much experience with roses. But they look and smell so good I think I am getting obsessed!