Where do you live and what is the average date of your last freeze? Is it a grafted rose or an own root rose? If you can't tell dig some dirt away from the base and take another pic. If it is an own root rose you can cut it completely down and it will resprout. If it is a grafted rose immediately cut 1/3 of off each of the smaller branches and cut the larger branch to match the others. Then next year you can trim it way back.
Don't do anything yet. I am sending pics a little later so gata montes can get a look. I think I know what's what, but need a little verification
Not the best pics in the world but aren't these pics the same as that unknown thing next to the rose bush?funkelt - As Chuck has already mentioned - your roses can very definitely be saved - however as the best treatment very much depends on what type of rose it is and as it is very hard to tell from your pictures - whether it is a hybrid tea or floribunda gone wild or a standard that is just a bit unruly - wondered if you know which one it is.
The reason being that if it was a hybrid tea or floribunda rose that has never been pruned - it would look much like the one in your photo - with all the growth at the top - which is not where it should be and the best way of reviving a rose like this - would be to cut the whole rose back so that the main stem was roughly 30cm in height - as this would allow the rose to branch out at a lower level and become more bush like - as well as give it more energy to produce new shoots and blooms - whereas if it is actually standard rose that you have which is meant to have growth at the top - it would be best to first take out all the dead wood and any weak or spindly branches and then cut all the remaining branches back by at least half
As to what the plant is in your second picture - am thinking that it looks very much like a Robinia Pseudoacacia - which is a very attractive smallish tree and definitely one that I think you'll probably want to keep - as even though there are many, many different varieties of these trees - they all look stunning from an early age
A really nice bush/tree called a Mountain Laurel. When they bloom the flowers smell just like grape coolaid. Here in Texas they are pretty expensive to purchase because they are next to impossible to transplant which means growing them from seed and because they are very slow growers. That little bush in the pic I started from seed 9 years ago and it has buds on it for the first time. They are evergreen and the flowers/blooms are long purple/bluish. They are virtually maintenance free and are extremely drought tolerant and long lived.
After further checking I don't think they can be the same unless you live in Texas or New Mexica. I think Gata Montes is correct. It is probably a Black Locust which will also be very very nice to have in your landscape. They look a lot alike
I think you are correct. I believe Mountain Laurel (calia secundiflora) only grows in alkaline soil in portions of Texas and New Mexico. It is amazing how much alike they are. Are the flowers on yours aromatic?Looking at the pictures you posted Chuck - I still feel more than sure that funkelt's unidentified shrub/tree belongs to the Robinia family - as I originally said and looks something like this
View attachment 2625
which I think you would agree looks very similar to yours - but as to exactly which variety it is am not sure - as it would be difficult to say until the tree/shrub had matured a bit or had some flowers
If you don't think its a Robinia - what do you think it is then ?
