Here's what Anne said on the other thread. She typically gives super advice:

"stillanntn6b

Houston HAS been that cold before. Killed all the palm trees and related plants.

For ice incrusted roses: keep the ice on them as long as possible. It will keep the canes from getting below 32.

Afterwards, finger prune off all the blatantly damaged materials. They are gone. If you leave them, they will be the start of cankers that will destroy the canes from that location on outward.

Then feel the canes, if they are soft, they are going to be gone. If they look withered they will probably be done for.

Then watch as the roses try to come back. Prune accordingly down to good wood, to good colored pith. (and watch south facing sides for sunburn as they are no longer protected by leaves.

I've see a lot of tea roses with cracks in the stems (vertical cracks) and they can live with that as it doesn't cut off xylem/phloem transport in the stems."

Do wait and watch. The plants will declare themselves and it will be clear where to prune later. Some can die to the ground and shoot up with new growth later, so give them a chance.

I will tell you that in these kinds of winters I usually have to prune twice. The first prune I do takes off everything I think is dead or damaged. However, later on I always find that there were things that still looked good at the first prune that later died off anyway. Sometimes you just can't see it right away. I have had canes that I know looked green and healthy at the first prune that later on shriveled and turned black. I have had whole roses that I thought looked OK the first go around that simply died off suddenly once things got warm. It's like they froze green and once they thawed completely they dried up. So go ahead and prune early but be prepared to prune again once it really warms up and they start to grow.

The own roots should do OK. They may die way back but should return from the ground. The Fort. ones will be an experiment. There is just know way to know until spring. Did you bury the grafts deep? That would help but it's still chancy.

The only thing any of us can really do now is hope and wait patiently.

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement.

Sub, I did see that comment, it was helpful!

Sheila, my head knows it’s a waiting game, but my neurotic soul wants to know what I’m facing RIGHT NOW, ha! And also what to be looking for in the meantime because I can’t stop obsessing.

Seil, letting me know you generally have to prune twice is crazy helpful. Thank you! I followed Ken and Ben’s advice on a thread about fort and clay soil when I first put them in. The graft isn’t deep, it’s right at the soil line. I did mound leaves and mulch around the base of the plants, which does go above the graft, but I didn’t completely cover them with blankets when the temperature dipped like Ken does. It honestly didn’t occur to me to do that even though we knew the day before the polar vortex was coming, I didn’t expect the temperatures to dip that low for so long. Shows my inexperience, I guess. I‘m glad to hear the own roots will most likely be okay!

So what I’m hearing that I won’t definitively know at pruning time what’s damaged necessarily? Just take out what’s for sure and then kind of wait and see after that?

Hi Katherine! Wait to prune till the soil warms up - in my area we wait till the Forsythia is blooming. As Seil mentioned, you might have to do a couple rounds of pruning. I have Mel here, I think yours will be okay! 😀

Thank you so much, Dingo! I will do just that! Doing other garden clean up instead to try to stifle the urge. Keeping my good pruners in the house just so I’m not tempted.