The garden has half a dozen rose bushes in it, in various states. This one
is about the saddest looking. It had severe problems with black spot last
year, such that I now informally know it as Typhoid Mary.

http://img594.imageshack.us/i/iansrose.jpg/

So this year I read up about pruning for about thirty seconds on the
internet, then hacked savagely at all the bushes in the hope of creating
some improvement. They're all sprooting now, but the big problem with this
one is that it only has one, or if you're generous and squint your eyes a
bit, two canes coming out of the bud union (which also, as you can see, is
rather a long way above the ground for some reason). The rest is just a big
lump of gnarly old bark.

Is there anything I can do to improve its prospects and get some more, I
believe they're called "basal breaks", or is it the Gordon Brown of the rose
garden that is just clinging on until somebody does the kind thing and puts
it out of its misery? It produced one little red rose last year, which was
impressive considering all the leaves it lost (and it had not many to start
with) in my attempts to control the spread of the spot.


Ian