Help with a 90 year old rose bush!

Hi, I’ve took charge of a small rose bush which was planted in the 1930s. Just wondering if I should plant in the ground now or leave in the pot. Also can it be pruned right back? I really want it to make it to 100 it’s smells lovely, no idea what it’s called

 

Yes it was dug up. It’s been in several gardens over the years and I put it in a pot today till I decide where it’s going. The four stems all come from the bare root

 

Can I prune this time of year? And what sort of height to?

 

It looks very like an Ena Harkness to me.

Rosa 'Ena Harkness' - Wikipedia

Which would make “the 1930s” just a touch early.

 

I agree it looks too deeply buried, but if it was mine I'd prune the stems back by a half now with view to prune back by half again next spring.

 

I beg to differ, I don't think it is planted too deeply. Both Peter Beales and David Austin advise to plant 1 in above the graft union so that the graft is buried. They should know, they are professional rose growers. I have always planted so that you can't see the graft union and it has worked well for the last 50 years.

I don't know what @JWK means by a single stem coming from a root. When you buy a young rose there should be 3 or 4 healthy canes coming from the base. None of the canes on your rose are suckers.

Roses last longer planted in the ground but so long as the pot is big enough and the compost is hearty enough, ie. has some earth mixed in, like John Innes No 3, is fed and kept moist, it should be fine. I've grown many roses it pots.

When those flowers are over I would prune the top third off which should help to prevent wind rock. Prune a bit more in late winter/ early spring. Feed it in March.

 

For it to be ninety years old and so un-gnarly at the base, my guess is that it is a cutting (of a cutting, of a cutting, probably) and that it has no rootstock. I have a twenty year-old rose, bought on a rootstock, and it looks like Methuselah’s backside. This looks quite a sprightly thing.

 

Good point @Tidemark, but maybe the gnarled bit is buried.

 

Perhaps one should plant with 1" above the soil to permit a 3/4" mulch of well rotted FYM , thus satisfying all camps. ?