I suggest you bury your graft next time. Our springs are very hard on them if they're above ground exposed. You can still dig this rose up and re-bury it deeper, especially since you're about to cut off most of the canes, it should be decently easy to handle. But I would do that now or next November/December, not while it's actively growing/blooming.

I see a lot of cane that is quite dead (easy to tell because it's black). IMO all the canes should be cut down short because you have a lot of cold damage. Cut down to where you see buds leafing out (I can see some) and if the middle of the cane is brown inside, cut down further. But almost all your surviving buds are right at the base anyway... If you enjoyed your rose, there are plenty of roses available locally here that will be better much suited to our climate. It looks like your Beverly is hanging on by a thread, here.

Wow, it sounds like you're really trying to do right by your roses! I'll leave the particulars of your very good pruning question to those more experienced with hybrid teas, but I have always had much success with my Morden's Sunrise (shrub rose) hedge by pruning out all obvious dead sections in early spring when they're still somewhat dormant, then raking in finished chicken compost and/or Rosetone fertilizer around May, and by hosing the leaves regularly to keep the aphids down. Although now that Japanese beetles have started to show up in the neighborhood, I suppose I'll have to vigilantly hand-pick them almost every morning this summer if I want to have any blooms. Hopefully you will be spared this problem! I'm also thinking of planting some garlic nearby, as I've heard this might repel some pest critters. We shall see.

Best of luck with your rose bush; it certainly enjoys a beautiful view! :)

--L

Thank you Magpie and Laura. It was a Mothers Day present from my son so I hope to keep it. And it was beautiful last year! But I would have chosen an own-root rose if I was buying it myself :)

Magpie, I will start by raising the dirt level up to the edge of the retaining wall and see if that buries the bud union. I'm a little hesitant to dig it up and move it, although I do that with other perennials all the time!

Laura, the Japanese beetles just found our garden last year... My neighbor has had them for about three years. I drown them every morning and bring in each bloom as soon as it starts turning pink.

@rockiesfanzone5co I get your hesitancy to move it! I was worried too when I had to move a few roses earlier this year. But roses are pretty resilient to moves, especially when they're not in full on growth mode, so I think of you're experienced in moving other perennials then you'll know just what to do with the rose as well. But yes cover that graft, it's vulnerable to freeze/thaw cycles and Colorado is many months of freeze/thaw with a few months of terribly hot, which I'm sure you know lol. If you can't find the time/funds to purchase the soil to raise the bed this year, and are too nervous to dig it up, I would at least put a good thick layer of mulch on it next winter. How sweet to get a rose as a mother's day gift from your kiddo.

The fact that it was a gift from your son alone makes that plant SO precious!!! However, roses are quite gracious about being moved. In any case, DO cover the graft-and why not use an organic mulch instead of the pebbles? That would give the plant a real boost, I bet.