That's awesome! And it will keep rewarding you with bountiful of blooms for your kindness and giving it a second chance.

Wow, that is amazing indeed, that it could grow back from a stub for roots and support that big plant.

Congrats Sheila! WTG!

Wow so resilient!

That is freaking amazing. Wow.

That's awesome, Sheila. This kind of toughness gives me hope that roses are sustainable in the increasingly bleak conditions many areas are facing. We need the beauty of roses more than ever in such an environment. I'm so glad you have your beautiful rose back.

Wow! Are you feeding it anything to help support it, or would that just encourage more top growth?

Woo-hoo, Sheila! That's truly a Phoenix from the ashes experience. Carol

Sheila, you do have a rosy miracle--you did all the right things, and the rose proved that beauty can be tough as nails. Roses are such survivors. Now I know what I need to do if the gophers try that on a rose of mine. So glad you posted, and so glad you have your rose back. Diane

I did not feed the rose. I planted it in Gardner & Bloome Rose Potting mix. I have tried this before and never had this miraculous result. This rose just stayed the same size and leafed out and the only difference was only one bloom instead of a full flush. I've had other roses roots partially eaten that I did not pull up and pot and they are limping along still in the ground. This Alnwick tipped right over, so I knew it had been severely attacked. Some others I have found undermined and half attached and I have left those in the ground. Of course others have not woken up in the Spring because their roots were all gone and I didn't know because they didn't tip over and it was winter. We are using the Gopher Hawk now to prevent this kind of horror. I'll replant it in the Fall in the ground. Thank you all for your support.

Shiela, congrats. That poor rose made it and it is so resilient. You did nurse it real well. Great job !!
jin

This shot is better showing the whole bush.

Wow, Sheila. Diane

I’m still amazed. I had a beautiful plant of Buxom Beauty that I very dumbly transplanted without getting sufficient feeder roots. (still, far more roots than the gophers left you).. Your plant gives me hope that mine will recover.

Wow, you should open a rose ICU. None of my winter stragglers ever make it when I pot them uo and put them on life support.

Glad that worked out for you. Hope that's the last time the gophers get anything in your yard!

Awesome!

That is truly amazing, especially the "I did not prune it" part. However, on reflection I realized that when you potted it it did not have any leaves to support, so I guess it was able to decide when it had enough roots to leaf out.

What is Gopher Hawk? I ask because I have a niece who just discovered she has gophers, and she is in despair.

Jackie

Geesh.... I think I want you to purchase me a lottery ticket.... you are lucky... I can plant a rose "correctly" and it is still 'touch and go'. I love how you have such a green thumb.

That is wonderful and don't you love it when that happens? I had a vole eat the roots off my Baptisia (false indigo). They have a tap root, don't like being moved. I was looking for it one spring and it never came up, found a gnarled free-floating woody nub when I dug a little. I buried it back in, as in burial-buried it. Next year, surprise, one little sprig came up, next year three, this year it's massive. So I salute your rose and say veggies 1, rodents zero this time!!!

You are a wonderful rose “mom” Sheila, with great instincts! What a comeback! :-)

Wonderful when a rose can be saved. Those Gopher Hawks look pretty effective and safe (ie. No poison getting into the food chain). I have my first underground critter hole just this morning! I am hoping it is a mole. How to tell though....maybe a small camera trap? A camera trap would be fun too since I am seeing more and more birds now that back lawn is gone and we have plants on drip irrigation instead.

Great job, Sheila! I’m constantly amazed at how tough roses really are. I’ve had bad gopher damage before and just left the rose in place, and flooded it. The only times the rose didn’t survive was when it happened while I was out of town and the rose was thoroughly dead upon my return. Good save! Lisa

We have a 'Gloire des Rosomanes' ("Ragged Robin") which we collected in an old California town, from the ruins of a garden which was probably planted in the late 1800's. I treasure that rose.

It outgrew a big pot on the patio, and was planted on the hillside, where it got up to between 7-8 ft. tall. Then a gopher ate its roots down to a smooth nub. It fell over.

We hauled it back up here, trimmed it down, and soaked it in water. Then, we re-potted it. A few months later, it was back in the ground, protected from gophers by an in-ground pot with a lot of holes.

This is the way it looks now:

Sheila, a good lesson in not giving up and taking a chance on something that looks hopeless. It makes me think of rescued pets that were saved at the last minute by kind souls, and how they blossom like never before to seemingly show their gratitude.

This needs to be revived.

Markay, this is the story.

THank you both! Roses are amazing, indeed.

Jackie

Artist, this is my first gopher tale.