Bad Winter for Roses, Good Day for Gardening Gloves

I've had my knock-out roses for five years and this was the first winter that I feared I had lost all four to the frigid winds from the west. I kept vigil, waiting for the brown to turn green but it wasn't happening.

My favorite and most trusted nursery employee, Stacy-The-Fount-Of-All-Garden-Wisdom said that I was not alone in my loss this  year.  She advised me not to give up and said that because knock-outs are a graft, even though they look completely dead, new growth will eventually emerge at the base.

 And so I proceeded to hack them back to the ground and believe in Stacy.

A little promise.......

 It's coming!  I think I have brought it back to life!

Now it was time to turn my attention to the other rose issue - the New Dawn Climbing Rose.  Ideally, this just begins to bloom at the same time as the Clematis - that was part of my plan for contrasting the deep pink of the Niobe Clemais with the rose's soft pink buds. They were supposed to meet across the trellis and kiss!  Romance in the garden!  I could see some new green growth at the base, but what I really saw every time I walked outside was yards and yards of tangled and dead-looking brown canes. Not romantic at all.  And so I did something impulsive.  Sometimes I jump right in without researching, without googling, often with disastrous results.  But I knew the climbing rose situation couldn't get much worse.

  So, WHACK, THWACK!!!  Oh no, what have I gone and done?  Should I have googled?  Well, too late now.  Time will tell.  I'll keep ya posted!

It was a thorny day and I was grateful for my gardening gloves.