I hope you are happy in your new home!

Those roses do not look neglected at all to me. You just have mature, older bushes which have very gnarly, barky lower areas near ground level....perfectly normal. They look very healthy to me. Do not let how the lower bush parts look, be of any concern to you. Rosarians cherish old, but vigorous bushes.

I advise you, in addition to the excellent advice given by our Roses Forum's previous posters in your post, that on a yearly basis, each early spring before rose bud break, check the mulch's depth. Maintain it at app. 2 inches. Top off to a 2 to 2.5 inch depth, if needed, once a year, in early spring.

May I suggest using pine or fir bark mulch to top off, actually the larger pieces, 3+ inches in size, often called 'nuggets.' Pine bark or fir bark (fir bark is the Rolls Royce of mulches, pricey and hard to get, but decomposes very slowly, slowly is,ideal), makes the best mulch IMHO, because it decomposes slowly. You want decomposition which enriches the soil below it, but not so fast that it changes from mulch to compost too quickly. Nugget size bark pieces decompose slower than the smaller pieces and are more economical, needing topped off with less mulch every year.

It looks like the mulch in your photos could be cypress mulch, which is not bark but wood pieces. It's still a relatively slow decomposing mulch and a very good mulch, but not as slow as pine or fir bark, and to me, its light color is not as attractive as pine or fir bark mulch.

Stay away from the colored or hardwood mulches. They are wood, not bark, and decompose very quickly, making them more labor and expensive than the bark munches in the long run. The exception is cedar mulch, although it is wood, it decomposes relatively slowly like pine or fir bark because of its rot resistant nature.

You may find that as your roses bloom that they are wonderful varieties worth keeping. However, you may discover some dogs among them. Bushes that are disease magnets, as so many older varieties are, especially hybrid teas introduced up until the 1990's, can be removed and replaced with more modern roses that breeders of them today have made great strides in breeding disease resistant/free, winter hardy roses having incredible flower output of beautiful, fragrant blooms.

Moses