<p>I had some major tree trimming done and the trimmers went a little overboard. I had an over 25 year old climbing cecil brunner rose bush that was intertwined with another tree and while trimming that tree they took the rose bush down to the ground. The bush was over 20 ft high and is now just stumps in the ground. There are now a few little signs of growth coming out of the stumps. Is there any chance that the bush will come back?</p>
<p>I don’t know about that particular rose bush but in CA I take mine down to the ground in early Feb. and they always come back at least waist high.</p>
<p>Cutting back to the ground works really well for mountain laurel. I’ve had my laurel mistaken for rhododendron when it’s been cut back and allowed to regrow for a few years!</p>
<p>Does it work for this variety of rose? I have no idea!</p>
<p>It should be fine. Give it a nice compost mulch for the winter, and when it starts leafing out in the spring give it some fertilizer. Make sure it’s watered well next year - after such a shock it might be more sensitive to water needs than it was before. Good luck!</p>
<p>It depends on whether that rose was grafted onto another rootstock and whether they took it down to below the graft. Cecil Brunners are pretty hardy bushes and might be able to survive such extreme pruning, but if they cut to below a graft, all you will get is whatever grows from that rootstock, which usually isn’t very good looking.</p>
<p>Please be sure to report back in the spring.</p>
<p>I think normally you don’t prune Cecil Brunners. They are the tiny pale pink roses that are climbing.
Dadofsam- is there a way I can tell it it was grafted? From what is left on the ground I can see a few stumps that are about 5 inches in diameter that are real woody. I also see some canes that are about 2-3 inches in diameter that look like a rose bush cane. Right now there is some dark red new leaf growth coming out at different spots.
The rose bush was there 20 yrs ago when we moved in and it was fairly old and established back then. I can’t imagine how old it probably was.
Moominmama do you think I need to mulch it even if we are in a mild winter climate? Thanks for the tip about watering. I don’t think I have ever watered it in 20 yrs aside from the rain. It just grew and we basically neglected it.
I am kicking myself for letting my husband handle the treetrimmers. When they told him they were going to have to trim the rose bush along with the tree and hedge I never imagined what they have done.</p>
<p>I would do the mulch just to “baby” it over the winter, even if you are in a mild climate. The compost will slowly feed the roots in a very gentle way. Be sure to not bring the mulch right up to the stems, give it two or three inches of breathing space all around so the stems don’t rot.</p>
<p>As for the graft issue, the graft is usually right at ground level, and is a bump in the stem/trunk. You said there were stumps left, so I’m betting it’s cut above the graft. At any rate, do nothing drastic like digging it out until it’s had a chance to bloom next year.</p>
<p>Cecile Brunner is quite an old rose, and those are usually able to put up with all sorts of abuse, rebounding vigorously if given half a chance.</p>
<p>Moominmama- I don’t see any bump. The rose bush was in an area that had several different plants all quite large growing together. Over the years it was so overgrown that you couldn’t see the the rose bush only the blossoms that appeared to be growiing out of the different trees and shrubs. The whole area was under a really tall cypress tree. The area now is bare as all the plants were totally cleared out or trimmed down. The ground now has tons of its own mulch from the cypress tree. The mulch is covering much of what remains of the rose bush. I can leave that mulch there but it sounds like I should clean it up a bit around the stumps.</p>
<p>Cecile Brunner isn’t a graft-type rose, but one of the hardiest varieties available. Give it a bit of care (food, mulch) and it will be back in no time.</p>
<p>give a man a chainsaw and everything becomes a dead tree</p>
<p>Cecile Brunner can be propogated in all sorts of ways, including growing a new plant from a cutting, as well as grafting. So it sounds like yours is on its own roots, and not a graft. According to this website <a href=“http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/64548/[/url]”>http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/64548/</a>, it’s incredibly hardy, and if you scroll down a bit, there’s a quote that will give you heart: “When she asked a local rosarian how to control it, the rosarian calmly replied: “With an axe, dear.””</p>