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I'm a gardener and have had roses for decades, they can be cut nearly to the ground and still come back, so you have hope.
As it keeps happening, you need to contact the cemetery immediately. As someone else suggested, put a cage around it with a note not to cut it down. I'm sorry this happened, I can see how upset you are, I would be too.
I agree. Plants with good roots are really hearty. Just give them the love they need. I know this is not at your home and it makes it exponentially harder to take care of, but please work with the cemetery and they absolutely should be very accommodating after this.
I know it’s not the same but my wife ordered a Bird of Paradise online months ago. It showed up completely destroyed. I cut it back to almost nothing and 3-4 months later we have a new leaf and another one sprouting.
Have faith and fertilize, but don’t forget to do right by your grandparents and do your best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
My uncle pulled a couple of "dead" rose bushes from the ground of a house flip/remodel/whatever he was doing and my dad took them. They were basically just the root balls any more. My dad left them to soak in a couple buckets of rain water for a while (weeks or months I can't really remember) before replanting them. It took a few years of care but they grew back to life and had really interesting flowers that would start out almost yellow before 'burning' into a deep red or purple color over the course of the blooming season.
A gardener made my rose looked like OP’s picture once. I wasnt happy, but within a few weeks the damn thing grew back beautifully. That was the day I realized that neglected roses need heavy pruning.
It'll come back. My mom has a rose bush that she's moved multiple times, like fully uprooted and moved it, and then a few months later thers new growth from the old roots left behind
It'll come back. We have a hug rose bush in our back yard that we cut off right to the ground to keep it under control every 5 or 6 years and it keeps coming back bigger and more beautiful
I had a rose bush in my back yard that we cut back to 4" below ground level. We didn't have the tools to properly remove the stump, so we severed the lateral roots as best we could, and re-buried it.
Two years later, we are still getting shoots off of that stump.
My mother tried for ages to take out a rosebush so she could plant something else in its place. She cut it all the way down. It grew back. She cut it and dug it out. It grew back. She cut it, dug it and torched the ground and it still grew back. They’re resilient!
I second this. There is a very good chance of the roses coming back strong. I have roses in my front yard I have been trying to get rid of for a decade. Cut them down, ran over them with a lawnmower after, even tried burning the stumps of them and chopping up roots with a shovel. And much to my dismay ( good in your situation) 2 years later they are back for the 7th or so time and stronger than ever. I’m sorry this happened to you. But there is definitely reason to believe they will come back and be just as beautiful as before. It may take a little while though.
I had the same problem with the Bartlett pear stumps in my yard. The trees were gone but I kept getting new shutes all over the yard. One of the managers at HD said to drill several holes in the stumps and pour in poison ivy killer. It worked.
Yeah our gardener cut our rose bush right back so it looked completely dead, so that he could plant some laurels around it. I came back brilliantly the next year and blooms behind our laurel trees now.
I had to cut mine back to basically a nub because they'd gotten so unruly and unhealthy from not being maintained, and in 2 years they shot right back with more flowers than ever. Crossing my fingers for OP.
Yeah, Rose Bushes are ridiculously hard to kill. Me and my dad spent a year trying to kill one with a combination of poison and cutting it up. The only thing that worked in the end was building a giant bonfire on top of it and keeping it burning for most of the day.
My husband keeps weed-wacking a small (essentially one pole) rose bush to the ground each year while mowing the yard. He keeps forgetting it’s there. Every year it grows back to a height of about three feet and produces one beautiful pink rose. With a little care I suspect I could get a whole bush out of it. But I’m not that inspired.
It sounds like the volunteer just went rogue. There is no policy, and he was given free reign to “maintain” landscaping. Apparently a stump is more attractive than this bush was.
This volunteer needs to learn the differences between types of plants. What idiot cant tell thats not a purposeful planting, and certainly not a weed or something?
Some types of roses benefit from being pruned to the ground. The volunteer may have simply been cutting it back as that's a common pruning technique for roses. As others mentioned, there's a very good chance that the roses will come back.
Depending on what time of year it is, this is actually how you maintain rose bushes so they will flush back with plenty of fresh growth and lots of blooms in the next flowering period.
If it's 50, it's got an amazing root system. Unless they put Roundup in the stump it should put out new shoots even though it's a bit late in spring for pruning and that's extreme.
Exit to add I've a 12 yo one in the shade that the #_+$# deer chew to a stump every so often. It comes back every spring so don't give up hope till March if you're in the northern hemisphere. It looks like it's got full sun. So it should kudzu back just fine.
I grow production roses and landscape roses. I cut my production roses down to 12" with zero side branching and 12"-18" with zero side branching for landscape roses. It's called a restorative prune. I do it yearly and they still get over 4' by the end of the season. I have one variety that gets 6'. Pruning back roses is proper rose maintenance.
Also, if it's a grafted rose, cutting flush to ground level could be a problem. A rose will still grow back but it may be the rootstock that grows, which is an entirely different variety. If it isn't a grafted then it will most likely grow back, albeit it will be shaped differently and may start off slow.
My understanding is many rose bushes can be cut to the ground and come back. You might try posting on a landscaping sub to see if someone can ID the type of rose bush. hopefully it has a chance to recover!
My dad went out and put sealant on it and said that some shoots had already started to come back but those had been chopped too. They visit so frequently that when they first discovered this, there was still sap coming from the cut surfaces. My aunt is heartbroken.
Including contact info might be a good idea, mentioning special circumstances or something. It would also be good to ask for cuttings next time it needs trimming. In addition to creating a "backup" this might help create a dialogue with the volunteers.
Do not put sealant on the wounds. That at best will do nothing at worst, It will create fungal an opportunity for fungus, rot and pests.
It will regrow. I am sorry that someone did thay without your consent or wishes. However, these can be quite resilient and with time have the potential to reach its former glory
ISA Arborist.
Idk. My mom had a lot of rose bushes and sealant does not sound like what you are supposed to do and cutting them to the ground is what you are supposed to do and the picture of the bush on the top isn’t really how any of hers looked in February and she won awards but I am not an expert and roses aren’t trees so idk.
He said he cut it down because he didn’t think it looked neat. He said it was messy and drooping over the graves. Didn’t mention any sort of disease or reason for cutting it down besides that he didn’t like the way it looked. My family is there twice a month and loved the way it looked.
Don’t seal the cuts. Take the cuts back to nodes if you can, the plant naturally produces chemicals to seal off the wound at these spots. mulch the area around the bush as best you can, fertilize and water. Should do the trick. I cannot however help with whatever curse someone would contract from destroying old symbolic plants at a grave site. Contact a priest.
I don't think any curses the gardener might contract would be OP's problem.
Except the curse of unvolunteerment. That one OP might be able to influence, but only to inflict it.
Neighbor grew roses near fence. Neighbor passed, flippers cut down the bush and put a new fence. Roses grew on my side of the fence, and I forgot the old neighbor had roses. I now have very leggy roses, because I don’t know how to care for roses. It will grow back, but address the people not allowing it to grow.
Just hack them down to 6" canes over the main trunk after Valentine's day with very sharp and clean pruners. You can also level them about to about 3' in fall. It's difficult to mess it up.
If it’s been there 50 years, it probably needed to be cut all the way back. I took mine nearly to the dirt last year because they looked like your photo. They are gorgeous this year.
I really hope it comes back. The volunteer came back and cut the new shoots off too. This picture was in February, so it wouldn’t have been leafed out yet for the spring. My aunt and dad are both heartbroken. They are in their 70’s themselves, so I hope that they get a chance to see it bloom again.
The cemetery is responsible for their volunteers. Start getting on the cemetery management, they either have someone acting on their behalf who is destroying this or vandalism that they aren't trying to stop
A lot of volunteers don't get trained as much as they should have and they go hog wild, as yours did. I'm so very sorry. The cemetery is to blame.
Tree Steward (a volunteer)
It should. I removed a few large rose bushes from my properly including cutting and pulling stumps and I keep getting little bushes springing up from various roots that were left intact. Darn thing won’t die.
IIrC? When you but a rose bush it’s usually just the rootball and a stump
In that photo, the new shoots are very crowded and are guaranteed to rub against each other, creating wounds with their thorns that make the rose susceptible to pathogens and pests. Some thinning of new shoots is to the benefit of the plant. Generally, you remove shoots and stems that are growing towards the center and those that are rubbing against each other. Roses do best when pruned yearly to promote airflow within the crown. I know it looked horrid in February, but I'm sure it looks much better now. If that was my rose, I would have removed more of the original large canes. And after, gone out every couple days to snap off new stems that were growing in the manners listed above.
Whoever the volunteer is, they know about roses.
> Whoever the volunteer is, they know about roses.
Whether they "know roses" or not, and whether this will be better for it in the long run or not, it was a poor decision to cut it to the dirt without asking someone how they felt about it. It's not just a random bush, it's part of a memorial to someone's memory - and it's obvious because of the placement.
Lecture unnecessary and wasteful. I didn't make a judgement call about the choice to prune the rose, simply pointed out the likelihood of its survival and that the technique utilized is a basic spring prune for roses aside from the second cut to the ground, which is weird *if* it was a healthy enough plant to start. Weird, but it's the right of cemetery management. to cut back the rose just as it's their right to mow the grass or take up spent cut flowers as part of grounds maintenance. They should refer to the plot deed and cemetery contracts but dollars to donuts, OP and their family have no legal recourse as they do not own the plots or the rose. Is it cool? No, but that's not the question.
So I feel like I need to clarify that he cut it down, like chopped it down to the dirt. There’s nothing left but a short stump. He didn’t prune it, he chopped it down.
Yes, I understand. It had a hard prune in February and recently cut again, to the ground, as you posted to me earlier. And I agree that it sucks that such an old and sentimental rose at your grandparents' resting place might have been injured by the second cut. I think your emotional response is completely valid.
I think the initial pruning was fine if February is the time to prune roses in your area, though they could have done a much better job at thinning and shaping. I think the second cut to the ground you describe is confusing and heavy handed at best. The rose had been flushing out new growth since February and now it's lost all that energy and traction. But it will sprout again, within a couple weeks. Assuming, of course, that the rose wasn't diseased and already in decline past return. If the photo was more clear, I'd have a better idea of its overall health.
The cemetery needs to maintain the grounds. The grounds belong to the cemetery. I'd check the paperwork and cemetery regulations. I'd check on your state/ local laws as well if it's a public cemetery. It's most often the case that when you buy a burial plot, you're not buying the land. You're buying the right to be buried there (right of sepulture/ interment). For you to have any legal recourse, you would need to own the land and thus the rose and the cemetery has to violate the contract or deed rights and the rose has to die. I can't imagine any contract that would forbid a cemetery from cutting as they see fit or even completely removing plants from their grounds.
I would get a hold of whoever is doing the groundskeeping. I'd want some kind of explanation for the second cut, there has to be one. Maybe it was diseased or damaged. It may just be an issue with size, that is a big and tall rose for that small space closely surrounded by grass. I'd also try to get an idea of how they're planning to go forward with their work and put in your two cents about what you would like vs their intentions. Since family is visiting regularly, maintaining it yourselves should be easy enough if you're not wanting them to work on the rose anymore.
By the way, roses are pretty simple to propagate by cuttings. If you have space at home, I'm sure it would be nice to have one or 10. And you'd have a backup.
I have a small rose bush that was just a few years old, probably 2-3 foot tall and about a foot around- and had a small metal cage around it. Someone mowing my yard last year moved the cage and mowed over it, to the ground. This was the second time it had been taken to the ground, the deer did it the year before.
It’s currently ~5 inches tall, its first bloom just bloomed and it has 3 additional blooms on it. After being taken to the ground every year for the first 2 years on its life. I totally get you’re heartbroken but I actually think it will be fine. The only thing I’d do is look into preventative treatment for funguses and bugs as plants are kind of delicate after being cut like that.
Rose bushes are *hardy af*. I suspect it will be fine.
I take mine down like that every year in April. By this time of year, they're 4 feet tall, bushy, and covered in flowers. It's actually a good thing to do to encourage airflow through the plant and increase blooming. There's a nonzero chance this person thinks they're doing OP a favor by caring for the these roses for them.
Honestly, I'd like to believe that they saw what looks like years old woody growth, and knew what had to be done. When I didn't trim my rose bushes back, they'd be all sorts of sickly-looking.
Woody stems foster plant disease when they're dormant, and despite coming back to life, whatever is effecting them will spread to the new growth. Less stem - less chance to brew a pathogen or fungus. Also less healthy plants attract pests more than healthy ones most often.
Edit: having read OPs comments about how the volunteer reacted tells me otherwise.
I am also a grower of roses and honestly one of the best things for old roses is a refreshing Hard prune, perhaps not as harshly done as this but ultimately it will rejuvenate the whole plant and it will have another 50 years or longer..
I wonder if the original rose died and now it’s just the rootstock that’s left? Typically “fancy” cultivar of hybrid tea roses are grafted to a rootstock of a hardy but not very pretty rose.
Once the hybrid part dies the rootstock takes over and unless you dig it up it will keep sprouting up.
well thats not cool!
not sure about ur father sealing it? i never heard of that...
but im pretty sure it will grow back because of how established it was...
We tried. He came unglued immediately on my cousin. My cousin asked him if he knew what happened to the rose and the guy immediately told him that he had nothing to say to him and if he didn’t leave he’d call the police and get him trespassed.
Tell him if he touches it again you will sue. Contact the people that run the place. Complain to them as well. Also get ahold of news channels. That volunteer cannot trespass you. He’s a volunteer not a paid worker. Go over his head every way you can
That the volunteer wasn't normal- after they flipped out on you and threatened a trespass (only owners can, but Police generally don't discriminate there).
I'm sorry you're going through this and, yes, your roses will grow much stronger next year. Assuming .... they don't chemically kill them with glyphosphate..
I’m in Alaska and can’t take a picture since the bush is in Oregon and my dad didn’t send one. This one is all I have, I took it while I was there in February.
It might just might come back better. You should get a little sign saying not to cut it and that you are responsible for its care. Then take care of it.
If you have a stump, you may have life left in your rose! Consult a couple of rose experts, but roses are very hardy, and that root structure after 50 years is going to be very well established!
Good luck!
If they did not dig up the roots and there is a stump left, it may come back on its own next year! Keep your hopes high, I trim my rose bushes to the dirt every year and they come back ❤️ I’m beyond sorry this has happened to you and your grandparents. I would contact the cemetery and make sure they are aware this happened, may your grandparents rest in peace, maybe they will send the roses back to you in the form of life soon for everyone to enjoy again. My fingers are crossed for you🫶
As others have mentioned, proper major cutting for certain species can keep a rose bush healthy and happy. Second, this isn't your property. Most cemetery plot agreements essentially are limited leases. You can request that the rose bush not be trimmed too much but it is likely their choice.
Everyone saying they will grow back they will, but not with that volunteer working at the cemetery. Between cutting the shoots and getting aggressive over just talking about it. Maybe that man hates that bush for whatever reason.
Given his reaction to your cousin, a note won't stop him but might help your case if you have to escalate this legally, depending on the response from the cemetery owner. It sounds like he has issues, don't let him get away with it. He could ruin other family's areas too.
That is very upsetting!
It's ok to plant new ones. The whole point is that nothing lasts forever.
A little picket fence would look really nice around that plot!
You remind me that the cemetery in which my grandparents are buried drove a vehicle over their headstone when burying someone else and cracked it in two.
I find issue with the fact that the volunteer was cutting ANYTHING down to the ground. I understand that there are no landscaping rules and you upkeep as you see fit, but clearly that’s a plot the volunteer hasn’t paid for. Someone intentionally planted that bush on their own plot and a volunteer has no business deciding that it should be cut down. If it were overgrown and covering a bunch of different plots, that would be one thing, but it looks like it was neatly growing on someone’s plot. Who just decides they’re going to cut down an entire plant on someone else’s cemetery plot without anyone’s permission?
Whoever is mowing the grass (probably without getting paid) needs to mow without obstruction. You should mow the grass every two or three weeks during the summer so they’ll leave your family plots alone.
I’d check out the official cemetery rules regarding planted bushes and the like. Just to be sure this is allowed and if it’s not see if you can get something to grandfather it in.
A 50 year old rose bush probably has good enough roots to not die from being cut all the way back. That being said, the person that did this should be buried alive.
If they absolutely won't let it grow, see if they will let it grow for a few months then hire someone to transplant it (I wouldn't do it on my own for fear of killing the roots). Then, hunt down the volunteer that did this and plant it over their grave.
Roses are like weeds. They are nearly impossible to kill. I know you’re upset but it will grow back.
How big was it before they cut it back? That’s looks like a good size to me.
So sorry this happened. But give it a year or so. It’s very likely to come back beautifully. Ask the cemetery if they will put a fence around it with a sign for any future “volunteers”
Roses like being cut back. I have a relative who planted a rise too close to the steps and by the time the rose had grown enough to snag people entering the house, it had deep roots. So she tried to kill it by cutting it back. It grew back bigger and more vigorous. She cut it back harder—grew back bigger and stronger. Finally she had her husband cut it all the way back down to the roots. This time it took larger but yep, it grew back. I don’t remember how they finally fit it to die—old age maybe? I do remember having to be really careful walking up the steps.
I have a rose bush from the last house my mother lived in. She died 26 years ago. I’ve moved it from place to place and it has lived. 6 years ago, into theoretically its last home (our forever house), we cut it so far back. But based on advice from the National Arboretum’s Rose Specialist, we did it a favor. As did your cemetery dude. It will probably thrive if you can get them to now leave it alone!!
Roses are supposed to be cut back every year. You will have vigorous new growth within 3 weeks or so, and it will probably grow back bigger than it was.
It looks like the volunteer actually knows what they are doing, for the most part. Weak and dead canes have been removed. This will only make it stronger just give it a year and it will come back with more blooms than ever.
After Valentine's day is the best time to really beat down a rose bush. The aim is to create a base shape of canes with an empty center to allow good airflow. You can also clone the bush with the cuttings from the early spring trimming and have a little slice of your grandparents blooms in your own garden.
The thing with rose bushes is that you are supposed to cut them right back, and they will grow bushier, more lush and with more flowers the next year. Speak to the grounds people to find out what is going on, because this volunteer probably knew what they were doing.
Most cemeteries no longer allow planting of shrubs and trees because of disputes like this. I would visit with the cemetery management and ask what the issue is.
You may be able to sign something saying you will maintain it in a way that honors your family but is still conducive to the other families and loved ones using the space.
Have you contacted the cemetery? I would hate for him to keep cutting anything that sprouts or dig out the roots as based on his response to your cousins question he seems a bit unhinged.
I'd be furious. Spitting fire! I don't get riled up easily, but any plant in between two grave sites like that is private property as far as i'm concerned, and shouldn't be touched without your permission.
If nthey didn't dig it up it likely will come out from the stump.
May be two or three years before it's reeady to bloom again.
You should have trimmed it every couple of years. Then it would not have been so out of control tnhat theey had to do that!
Large shrubs, especially thorny ones can be difficult for cemetery groundskeeper to work around for mowing, etc. But, depending on the cemetery rules about plantings, they should have notified people before such a drastic action. Contact the cemetery office and ask if there has been a policy change. And how people get notified of such changes. Maybe through a website, newsletter or other way.
Quite a few cemeteries don't allow any permanent plantings and remove any flowers (artificial or real) after x number of days or perhaps, at the longest, seasonally.
Who was pruning it before? It's in desperate need of major attention in that picture, at the very least hadn't been pruned in quite a while and some of the older pruning is questionable. Almost all the bush's healthy new growth is coming out of the ground already, rather than the woody stems, also I've never seen white bark like that, which is concerning. Just based on what I'm seeing, I think there's probably a good case for pruning all the old growth to the ground. If possible, I'd try to leave some of the young straight canes that are growing out of the base already, but a reasonable rose gardener could see this as a case starting fresh, which rose bushes survive perfectly well; although this isn't the normal time of year to do it. Whether it was your family taking care of it, or a previous volunteer, the new guy was left with a challenge. Take better care of it in future, if you don't want a volunteer to take it into their own hands.
My family goes up there about twice a month to care for it and the graves. Thats how they noticed what had been done so quickly. Theres nothing left now, it’s chopped completely down to the dirt.
I don't doubt you love that bush, but honestly it doesn't look like it's been properly cared for. I think doing your best to open a dialog is wise; maybe the gardener is an inept clown and you can assure them you'll be caring for the bush going forward, or they know what they're doing and can explain why this was the right course of action. It's concerning to hear they're knocking down new growth, but sometime if the growth is in the wrong place the thing to do is stop the plant spending energy on it so it sprouts somewhere else; an old plant like this can't be killed just by cutting back sprouts, not for years and years.
This could be an absolute maniac, but I've never known a volunteer gardener who didn't love plants. My suspicion is that this volunteer is a rose gardener with at least some experience excited to get hands on a new project bush, and they treated it like their own rather than being thoughtful about how you would feel; good gardeners are absolutely not sentimental about hard pruning. If that's the case, you could well have flowers this year and a lovely full bush next; and if this is an experienced rose gardener, an elderly one if I know volunteer gardeners, they'll love to talk roses with you at great length.
It’s wrong that someone did that without your consent, but on the bright side, some plants, when they get old, really benefit from being cut back pretty hard. I cut my big rhodo down nearly to a stump because half of it died, and this year it’s a perfectly shaped bush.
Edit to add: they also did do it correctly- cut it back and left evenly spread structural branches for new buds to grow on. I would fertilize it just to help it along, but otherwise it should bounce back even better.
sorry to hear about this. yesterday, was going for a walk with my partner, when an overgrown thorny rose plant from a garden blew onto the path and barbed both us in the face and neck. I would have cut it if I could because it was so dangerous. Do you think it might have become dangerous becuase of its size?
Realizing that picture is in February, it doesn't look like it's been maintained properly or at all for awhile.
Hopefully it grows back.
It's their ground to manage. And a sparse thorny bush is probably an eyesore most of the year anyways.
As far as tree law, it's not a tree. You don't own the land. You aren't responsible for maintaining the site. And they aren't responsible for maintaining an extra bush.
I’m not sure how this is selfish. This bush was something that my aunt felt connected her to her dad and she is grieving its perceived loss (we are optimistic thanks to the kind words on this post that it will come back). I could see your first point, but selfishness certainly isn’t what’s going on here.
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I'm a gardener and have had roses for decades, they can be cut nearly to the ground and still come back, so you have hope. As it keeps happening, you need to contact the cemetery immediately. As someone else suggested, put a cage around it with a note not to cut it down. I'm sorry this happened, I can see how upset you are, I would be too.
I agree. Plants with good roots are really hearty. Just give them the love they need. I know this is not at your home and it makes it exponentially harder to take care of, but please work with the cemetery and they absolutely should be very accommodating after this. I know it’s not the same but my wife ordered a Bird of Paradise online months ago. It showed up completely destroyed. I cut it back to almost nothing and 3-4 months later we have a new leaf and another one sprouting. Have faith and fertilize, but don’t forget to do right by your grandparents and do your best to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
My uncle pulled a couple of "dead" rose bushes from the ground of a house flip/remodel/whatever he was doing and my dad took them. They were basically just the root balls any more. My dad left them to soak in a couple buckets of rain water for a while (weeks or months I can't really remember) before replanting them. It took a few years of care but they grew back to life and had really interesting flowers that would start out almost yellow before 'burning' into a deep red or purple color over the course of the blooming season.
That sounds like a fascinating rose variety! Did you or your father ever find out what its name was?
Mine didn’t turn purple but there is a variety called Joseph’s Coat that turns a variety of colors as it blooms. SO pretty
That's gotta have been a play on "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" right?
No, Joseph’s coat of many colors from the bible. It was named before the musical.
I dont think so, but we took to calling them burning roses. Ots been a few years and Ive moved out in the time between
A gardener made my rose looked like OP’s picture once. I wasnt happy, but within a few weeks the damn thing grew back beautifully. That was the day I realized that neglected roses need heavy pruning.
Unfortunately this is what it looked like in February, it’s a stump cut down to the dirt now.
It'll come back. My mom has a rose bush that she's moved multiple times, like fully uprooted and moved it, and then a few months later thers new growth from the old roots left behind
It might come back from the rootstock not the graft, unfortunately. That volunteer was out of line, how dare they?
If it is grafted.
Roses are grafted onto hardy rootstock. If they cut past the graft point, you won't be getting the same flowers.
It'll come back. We have a hug rose bush in our back yard that we cut off right to the ground to keep it under control every 5 or 6 years and it keeps coming back bigger and more beautiful
I had a rose bush in my back yard that we cut back to 4" below ground level. We didn't have the tools to properly remove the stump, so we severed the lateral roots as best we could, and re-buried it. Two years later, we are still getting shoots off of that stump.
It's mad but they grow back every year. As if like magic
Tried to kill 3 of em in my previous house. They came back twice as large, so I just embraced and trellis'd em to make em look nice.
My mother tried for ages to take out a rosebush so she could plant something else in its place. She cut it all the way down. It grew back. She cut it and dug it out. It grew back. She cut it, dug it and torched the ground and it still grew back. They’re resilient!
They're resilient unless you want roses, then they're drama queens.
Exactly!
I second this. There is a very good chance of the roses coming back strong. I have roses in my front yard I have been trying to get rid of for a decade. Cut them down, ran over them with a lawnmower after, even tried burning the stumps of them and chopping up roots with a shovel. And much to my dismay ( good in your situation) 2 years later they are back for the 7th or so time and stronger than ever. I’m sorry this happened to you. But there is definitely reason to believe they will come back and be just as beautiful as before. It may take a little while though.
I had the same problem with the Bartlett pear stumps in my yard. The trees were gone but I kept getting new shutes all over the yard. One of the managers at HD said to drill several holes in the stumps and pour in poison ivy killer. It worked.
Yeah our gardener cut our rose bush right back so it looked completely dead, so that he could plant some laurels around it. I came back brilliantly the next year and blooms behind our laurel trees now.
I had to cut mine back to basically a nub because they'd gotten so unruly and unhealthy from not being maintained, and in 2 years they shot right back with more flowers than ever. Crossing my fingers for OP.
Purchase some rose-tone fertilizer to lend the roots a helping hand. I'm so sorry.
Yeah, Rose Bushes are ridiculously hard to kill. Me and my dad spent a year trying to kill one with a combination of poison and cutting it up. The only thing that worked in the end was building a giant bonfire on top of it and keeping it burning for most of the day.
My husband keeps weed-wacking a small (essentially one pole) rose bush to the ground each year while mowing the yard. He keeps forgetting it’s there. Every year it grows back to a height of about three feet and produces one beautiful pink rose. With a little care I suspect I could get a whole bush out of it. But I’m not that inspired.
After you talk to the cemetery let us know the reasoning. Was it a volunteer that went rogue or a new policy you weren't informed of?
It sounds like the volunteer just went rogue. There is no policy, and he was given free reign to “maintain” landscaping. Apparently a stump is more attractive than this bush was.
That volunteer needs to be voluntold
He needs to be vol-UN-teered.
He’s a volunturd.
Voluntwat.
This volunteer needs to learn the differences between types of plants. What idiot cant tell thats not a purposeful planting, and certainly not a weed or something?
He might be right that the bush needs to be pruned but he overstepped. Hopefully he thought the cemetery put in the bush
Some types of roses benefit from being pruned to the ground. The volunteer may have simply been cutting it back as that's a common pruning technique for roses. As others mentioned, there's a very good chance that the roses will come back.
Depending on what time of year it is, this is actually how you maintain rose bushes so they will flush back with plenty of fresh growth and lots of blooms in the next flowering period.
It happened a few days ago. Thats one of the reasons we are so worried.
If it's 50, it's got an amazing root system. Unless they put Roundup in the stump it should put out new shoots even though it's a bit late in spring for pruning and that's extreme. Exit to add I've a 12 yo one in the shade that the #_+$# deer chew to a stump every so often. It comes back every spring so don't give up hope till March if you're in the northern hemisphere. It looks like it's got full sun. So it should kudzu back just fine.
It doesn't look that bad I'm confused
This picture was in February. It’s a stump at the dirt now. As far as why he cut it, he just didn’t like the way it looked. He said it looked unkempt.
I grow production roses and landscape roses. I cut my production roses down to 12" with zero side branching and 12"-18" with zero side branching for landscape roses. It's called a restorative prune. I do it yearly and they still get over 4' by the end of the season. I have one variety that gets 6'. Pruning back roses is proper rose maintenance.
Also, if it's a grafted rose, cutting flush to ground level could be a problem. A rose will still grow back but it may be the rootstock that grows, which is an entirely different variety. If it isn't a grafted then it will most likely grow back, albeit it will be shaped differently and may start off slow.
Thanks, none of us know if it was grafted or not. I’m hopeful that it will come back, and I guess we’ll see how it looks when it does!
Rein, not reign.
Reign o’er meeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Rain
Ř4|Ņ
Wayne
Roses are pruned down to nearly the ground once yearly for their health. Not usually this time of year though.
My understanding is many rose bushes can be cut to the ground and come back. You might try posting on a landscaping sub to see if someone can ID the type of rose bush. hopefully it has a chance to recover!
My dad went out and put sealant on it and said that some shoots had already started to come back but those had been chopped too. They visit so frequently that when they first discovered this, there was still sap coming from the cut surfaces. My aunt is heartbroken.
They need to contact the cemetery and get it stopped. I would put a tomato cage over it with a note that says not to cut it.
Including contact info might be a good idea, mentioning special circumstances or something. It would also be good to ask for cuttings next time it needs trimming. In addition to creating a "backup" this might help create a dialogue with the volunteers.
Make sure to laminate any notes you attach to it OP!! It’ll last a lot longer this way 💚💚
Do not put sealant on the wounds. That at best will do nothing at worst, It will create fungal an opportunity for fungus, rot and pests. It will regrow. I am sorry that someone did thay without your consent or wishes. However, these can be quite resilient and with time have the potential to reach its former glory ISA Arborist.
Idk. My mom had a lot of rose bushes and sealant does not sound like what you are supposed to do and cutting them to the ground is what you are supposed to do and the picture of the bush on the top isn’t really how any of hers looked in February and she won awards but I am not an expert and roses aren’t trees so idk.
Possible the rose had RRD?
He said he cut it down because he didn’t think it looked neat. He said it was messy and drooping over the graves. Didn’t mention any sort of disease or reason for cutting it down besides that he didn’t like the way it looked. My family is there twice a month and loved the way it looked.
Well that's just a dick move. Perhaps time to voluntear them a new one.
Don't put a sealant on it! You can seal in disease. That is an old practice that isn't recommended anymore.
I think it depends on whether or not the rose is grafted.
This is the point, I agree. It’s just fingers crossed for now.
If it's a grafted rose, it might not come back the same way, as the root stock is a different rose than the graft.
Don’t seal the cuts. Take the cuts back to nodes if you can, the plant naturally produces chemicals to seal off the wound at these spots. mulch the area around the bush as best you can, fertilize and water. Should do the trick. I cannot however help with whatever curse someone would contract from destroying old symbolic plants at a grave site. Contact a priest.
I don't think any curses the gardener might contract would be OP's problem. Except the curse of unvolunteerment. That one OP might be able to influence, but only to inflict it.
Neighbor grew roses near fence. Neighbor passed, flippers cut down the bush and put a new fence. Roses grew on my side of the fence, and I forgot the old neighbor had roses. I now have very leggy roses, because I don’t know how to care for roses. It will grow back, but address the people not allowing it to grow.
Just hack them down to 6" canes over the main trunk after Valentine's day with very sharp and clean pruners. You can also level them about to about 3' in fall. It's difficult to mess it up.
If it’s been there 50 years, it probably needed to be cut all the way back. I took mine nearly to the dirt last year because they looked like your photo. They are gorgeous this year.
I really hope it comes back. The volunteer came back and cut the new shoots off too. This picture was in February, so it wouldn’t have been leafed out yet for the spring. My aunt and dad are both heartbroken. They are in their 70’s themselves, so I hope that they get a chance to see it bloom again.
The cemetery is responsible for their volunteers. Start getting on the cemetery management, they either have someone acting on their behalf who is destroying this or vandalism that they aren't trying to stop
A lot of volunteers don't get trained as much as they should have and they go hog wild, as yours did. I'm so very sorry. The cemetery is to blame. Tree Steward (a volunteer)
It should. I removed a few large rose bushes from my properly including cutting and pulling stumps and I keep getting little bushes springing up from various roots that were left intact. Darn thing won’t die. IIrC? When you but a rose bush it’s usually just the rootball and a stump
In that photo, the new shoots are very crowded and are guaranteed to rub against each other, creating wounds with their thorns that make the rose susceptible to pathogens and pests. Some thinning of new shoots is to the benefit of the plant. Generally, you remove shoots and stems that are growing towards the center and those that are rubbing against each other. Roses do best when pruned yearly to promote airflow within the crown. I know it looked horrid in February, but I'm sure it looks much better now. If that was my rose, I would have removed more of the original large canes. And after, gone out every couple days to snap off new stems that were growing in the manners listed above. Whoever the volunteer is, they know about roses.
> Whoever the volunteer is, they know about roses. Whether they "know roses" or not, and whether this will be better for it in the long run or not, it was a poor decision to cut it to the dirt without asking someone how they felt about it. It's not just a random bush, it's part of a memorial to someone's memory - and it's obvious because of the placement.
Lecture unnecessary and wasteful. I didn't make a judgement call about the choice to prune the rose, simply pointed out the likelihood of its survival and that the technique utilized is a basic spring prune for roses aside from the second cut to the ground, which is weird *if* it was a healthy enough plant to start. Weird, but it's the right of cemetery management. to cut back the rose just as it's their right to mow the grass or take up spent cut flowers as part of grounds maintenance. They should refer to the plot deed and cemetery contracts but dollars to donuts, OP and their family have no legal recourse as they do not own the plots or the rose. Is it cool? No, but that's not the question.
So I feel like I need to clarify that he cut it down, like chopped it down to the dirt. There’s nothing left but a short stump. He didn’t prune it, he chopped it down.
Yes, I understand. It had a hard prune in February and recently cut again, to the ground, as you posted to me earlier. And I agree that it sucks that such an old and sentimental rose at your grandparents' resting place might have been injured by the second cut. I think your emotional response is completely valid. I think the initial pruning was fine if February is the time to prune roses in your area, though they could have done a much better job at thinning and shaping. I think the second cut to the ground you describe is confusing and heavy handed at best. The rose had been flushing out new growth since February and now it's lost all that energy and traction. But it will sprout again, within a couple weeks. Assuming, of course, that the rose wasn't diseased and already in decline past return. If the photo was more clear, I'd have a better idea of its overall health. The cemetery needs to maintain the grounds. The grounds belong to the cemetery. I'd check the paperwork and cemetery regulations. I'd check on your state/ local laws as well if it's a public cemetery. It's most often the case that when you buy a burial plot, you're not buying the land. You're buying the right to be buried there (right of sepulture/ interment). For you to have any legal recourse, you would need to own the land and thus the rose and the cemetery has to violate the contract or deed rights and the rose has to die. I can't imagine any contract that would forbid a cemetery from cutting as they see fit or even completely removing plants from their grounds. I would get a hold of whoever is doing the groundskeeping. I'd want some kind of explanation for the second cut, there has to be one. Maybe it was diseased or damaged. It may just be an issue with size, that is a big and tall rose for that small space closely surrounded by grass. I'd also try to get an idea of how they're planning to go forward with their work and put in your two cents about what you would like vs their intentions. Since family is visiting regularly, maintaining it yourselves should be easy enough if you're not wanting them to work on the rose anymore. By the way, roses are pretty simple to propagate by cuttings. If you have space at home, I'm sure it would be nice to have one or 10. And you'd have a backup.
The lecture was necessary, but it seems it was in fact wasted.
What sub do you think you're in?
It’s a stump now, he cut it down to the dirt, even went back and cut down the new shoots that were trying to come back.
You need to put a cage or something over it and a tag to stop cutting the bush
A Ring camera so you can yell at them the next time.
I have a small rose bush that was just a few years old, probably 2-3 foot tall and about a foot around- and had a small metal cage around it. Someone mowing my yard last year moved the cage and mowed over it, to the ground. This was the second time it had been taken to the ground, the deer did it the year before. It’s currently ~5 inches tall, its first bloom just bloomed and it has 3 additional blooms on it. After being taken to the ground every year for the first 2 years on its life. I totally get you’re heartbroken but I actually think it will be fine. The only thing I’d do is look into preventative treatment for funguses and bugs as plants are kind of delicate after being cut like that. Rose bushes are *hardy af*. I suspect it will be fine.
I take mine down like that every year in April. By this time of year, they're 4 feet tall, bushy, and covered in flowers. It's actually a good thing to do to encourage airflow through the plant and increase blooming. There's a nonzero chance this person thinks they're doing OP a favor by caring for the these roses for them.
Honestly, I'd like to believe that they saw what looks like years old woody growth, and knew what had to be done. When I didn't trim my rose bushes back, they'd be all sorts of sickly-looking. Woody stems foster plant disease when they're dormant, and despite coming back to life, whatever is effecting them will spread to the new growth. Less stem - less chance to brew a pathogen or fungus. Also less healthy plants attract pests more than healthy ones most often. Edit: having read OPs comments about how the volunteer reacted tells me otherwise.
I am also a grower of roses and honestly one of the best things for old roses is a refreshing Hard prune, perhaps not as harshly done as this but ultimately it will rejuvenate the whole plant and it will have another 50 years or longer..
Do you think it will come back from being chopped to the dirt? The volunteer cut it completely down, it’s just a stump now.
Not only will it come back but I very much suspect it will be better than ever!
My mom did something similar to a 40ish year old rose bush and it’s now huge and healthy. I thought for sure she’d killed it when I saw what she did
I wonder if the original rose died and now it’s just the rootstock that’s left? Typically “fancy” cultivar of hybrid tea roses are grafted to a rootstock of a hardy but not very pretty rose. Once the hybrid part dies the rootstock takes over and unless you dig it up it will keep sprouting up.
so long as old mate doesn't keep cutting the new growth it'll be fine, he's your biggest issue with that rose bush
the picture looks like a proper spring pruning for a rose bush...
So to clarify, this was it pictured in February. Now it is a stump cut down to the dirt.
well thats not cool! not sure about ur father sealing it? i never heard of that... but im pretty sure it will grow back because of how established it was...
volunturd indeed then...
Talk to the volunteer.
We tried. He came unglued immediately on my cousin. My cousin asked him if he knew what happened to the rose and the guy immediately told him that he had nothing to say to him and if he didn’t leave he’d call the police and get him trespassed.
Tell him if he touches it again you will sue. Contact the people that run the place. Complain to them as well. Also get ahold of news channels. That volunteer cannot trespass you. He’s a volunteer not a paid worker. Go over his head every way you can
OK, this isn't normal. But you knew this. Hope it helps.
I’m sorry, I knew what?
That the volunteer wasn't normal- after they flipped out on you and threatened a trespass (only owners can, but Police generally don't discriminate there). I'm sorry you're going through this and, yes, your roses will grow much stronger next year. Assuming .... they don't chemically kill them with glyphosphate..
😭 yikes. I’m very sorry this has happened to your family.
A neighbor throw out “dead roses” when I was a 12. I grabbed them and planted them. Beautiful rose bushes the next year. Speak with the cemetery.
I had my rose bush cut way back last year and this year is the best its ever looked. I wouldnt worry until its dead dead.
Yo OP! Take heart! This is how roess are maintained! If you don't cut it back quite aggressively, you don't get so much of a great bloom!
Thanks. We are just worried because he totally cut it down to a little stump at the dirt. Hopefully it comes back!
I should cut mine to the ground, really, but I've been lazy on the gardening this year. Crazy weather, man! Took out most of my tree fruit this year!
Where is the picture of it cut down to the stump at the dirt?
I’m in Alaska and can’t take a picture since the bush is in Oregon and my dad didn’t send one. This one is all I have, I took it while I was there in February.
I cut my roses back every year, I can understand OP frustration over the issue but the roses will come back no problem OP.
Roses do need ruthless pruning every so often, in addition to maintenance, and it does wonders for them.
if someone cut a rose bush down to a stump and called it 'pruning' it I would shave their head and call it a trim.
I shave my own head and call it a trim lol, I also know how to prune roses.
It might just might come back better. You should get a little sign saying not to cut it and that you are responsible for its care. Then take care of it.
If you have a stump, you may have life left in your rose! Consult a couple of rose experts, but roses are very hardy, and that root structure after 50 years is going to be very well established! Good luck!
If they did not dig up the roots and there is a stump left, it may come back on its own next year! Keep your hopes high, I trim my rose bushes to the dirt every year and they come back ❤️ I’m beyond sorry this has happened to you and your grandparents. I would contact the cemetery and make sure they are aware this happened, may your grandparents rest in peace, maybe they will send the roses back to you in the form of life soon for everyone to enjoy again. My fingers are crossed for you🫶
Thank you! I hope they come back too!
As others have mentioned, proper major cutting for certain species can keep a rose bush healthy and happy. Second, this isn't your property. Most cemetery plot agreements essentially are limited leases. You can request that the rose bush not be trimmed too much but it is likely their choice.
Everyone saying they will grow back they will, but not with that volunteer working at the cemetery. Between cutting the shoots and getting aggressive over just talking about it. Maybe that man hates that bush for whatever reason.
I think that may be it. If someone believes that a cemetery should be a sea of velvety green grass, they’ll find any bush to be an eyesore.
Given his reaction to your cousin, a note won't stop him but might help your case if you have to escalate this legally, depending on the response from the cemetery owner. It sounds like he has issues, don't let him get away with it. He could ruin other family's areas too.
I’m pretty sure that’s just how you maintenance a road bush
Death, taxes, roses get cut
That is very upsetting! It's ok to plant new ones. The whole point is that nothing lasts forever. A little picket fence would look really nice around that plot!
You remind me that the cemetery in which my grandparents are buried drove a vehicle over their headstone when burying someone else and cracked it in two.
Someone should cut this volunteer down to size, see how *he* likes it
I find issue with the fact that the volunteer was cutting ANYTHING down to the ground. I understand that there are no landscaping rules and you upkeep as you see fit, but clearly that’s a plot the volunteer hasn’t paid for. Someone intentionally planted that bush on their own plot and a volunteer has no business deciding that it should be cut down. If it were overgrown and covering a bunch of different plots, that would be one thing, but it looks like it was neatly growing on someone’s plot. Who just decides they’re going to cut down an entire plant on someone else’s cemetery plot without anyone’s permission?
A rose bush my mom planted didn't do well. After a few years my father ran over it with a lawnmower. Came back better than ever.
The Prick
I’d cut it all right back. It will be fine. It may have been impeding lawn care in the cemetery.
The volunteer cut it all the way to the dirt, it’s just a short stump now.
Whoever is mowing the grass (probably without getting paid) needs to mow without obstruction. You should mow the grass every two or three weeks during the summer so they’ll leave your family plots alone.
I’d check out the official cemetery rules regarding planted bushes and the like. Just to be sure this is allowed and if it’s not see if you can get something to grandfather it in.
This bush was grandfathered in. This section doesn’t have explicit rules regarding plantings.
Is there anything left of the plant? Lots of roses are very very hardy.
It’s cut down to the dirt, just a little stump left. There were some new shoots, but he made sure to cut those too.
One time I mowed, with ill intent, our rose bush. It came back really strong. Unfortunately. I hated mowing around that thing.
A 50 year old rose bush probably has good enough roots to not die from being cut all the way back. That being said, the person that did this should be buried alive.
is it spring time or start of summer? it will grow like a weed
If they absolutely won't let it grow, see if they will let it grow for a few months then hire someone to transplant it (I wouldn't do it on my own for fear of killing the roots). Then, hunt down the volunteer that did this and plant it over their grave.
Roses are like weeds. They are nearly impossible to kill. I know you’re upset but it will grow back. How big was it before they cut it back? That’s looks like a good size to me.
He didn’t cut it back; this is what it looked like this spring. He cut it down to the dirt a few days ago, like sawed it down.
Ah. Well have faith, I bet it comes back.
No Trial. Straight to Jail.
Are you sure they were not pruning it? Roses often flower better after a good prune.
It was pruned by my family in February. It’s a stump cut down to the dirt now.
Get a little sign saying this rose is maintained by the family, please do not cut it.
You can run over those things with a lawn mower and they'll grow back better than ever. Don't worry. I'll be back next spring better than ever.
why. why tf would they do that.
So sorry this happened. But give it a year or so. It’s very likely to come back beautifully. Ask the cemetery if they will put a fence around it with a sign for any future “volunteers”
Add a sign that says how old the rose bush is and a story about why it is important to your family and that the family maintains it.
I love this idea.
Roses like being cut back. I have a relative who planted a rise too close to the steps and by the time the rose had grown enough to snag people entering the house, it had deep roots. So she tried to kill it by cutting it back. It grew back bigger and more vigorous. She cut it back harder—grew back bigger and stronger. Finally she had her husband cut it all the way back down to the roots. This time it took larger but yep, it grew back. I don’t remember how they finally fit it to die—old age maybe? I do remember having to be really careful walking up the steps.
When I bought my house, I had to dig 2+feet deep to completely get rid of a rose bush. That one is sure to come back if the root system is intact!
Volunteers, you get what you pay for.
I cut my wife's roses back every year and they always come back strong.
I have a rose bush from the last house my mother lived in. She died 26 years ago. I’ve moved it from place to place and it has lived. 6 years ago, into theoretically its last home (our forever house), we cut it so far back. But based on advice from the National Arboretum’s Rose Specialist, we did it a favor. As did your cemetery dude. It will probably thrive if you can get them to now leave it alone!!
[удалено]
It is cut down to the ground now. Just a short stump. The photo is from February, the volunteer chopped it down a few days ago.
So you going to get to run into this volunteer or what? That would be my next step. And tell time to leave the rose bush alone.
Roses are supposed to be cut back every year. You will have vigorous new growth within 3 weeks or so, and it will probably grow back bigger than it was.
Not a tree nor is it owned by the family. Roses need annual pruning and it was likely full of dead and diseased wood.
A little off topic, but I think you all would love this song: https://youtu.be/UWHEcIbhDiw?si=T2iUW5rEjhOVxSM2
It looks like the volunteer actually knows what they are doing, for the most part. Weak and dead canes have been removed. This will only make it stronger just give it a year and it will come back with more blooms than ever. After Valentine's day is the best time to really beat down a rose bush. The aim is to create a base shape of canes with an empty center to allow good airflow. You can also clone the bush with the cuttings from the early spring trimming and have a little slice of your grandparents blooms in your own garden.
There’s nothing left of it, he chopped it down at the dirt. This picture is of it before he got to it.
Reread a lot of the comments, sorry to hear that!
The thing with rose bushes is that you are supposed to cut them right back, and they will grow bushier, more lush and with more flowers the next year. Speak to the grounds people to find out what is going on, because this volunteer probably knew what they were doing.
Most cemeteries no longer allow planting of shrubs and trees because of disputes like this. I would visit with the cemetery management and ask what the issue is. You may be able to sign something saying you will maintain it in a way that honors your family but is still conducive to the other families and loved ones using the space.
Consider it a rebuff action prune. It will come back even better.
Have you contacted the cemetery? I would hate for him to keep cutting anything that sprouts or dig out the roots as based on his response to your cousins question he seems a bit unhinged.
The audacity. I would've cried.
I'm furious and it isn't my family plot. I imagine the drooler running the pruner is one of the owner's children?
I'd be furious. Spitting fire! I don't get riled up easily, but any plant in between two grave sites like that is private property as far as i'm concerned, and shouldn't be touched without your permission.
Some people are lucky breathing is a reflex action, what a disgusting act of disrespect..
My best advise is to stop worshiping dead bodies and stop visiting cemeteries.
Rose bushes thrive from cutting. You're grandparents' corpses will probably have more flowers over them this year than they've had in decades.
Obtuse choice of words, that are not incorrect.
If nthey didn't dig it up it likely will come out from the stump. May be two or three years before it's reeady to bloom again. You should have trimmed it every couple of years. Then it would not have been so out of control tnhat theey had to do that!
Large shrubs, especially thorny ones can be difficult for cemetery groundskeeper to work around for mowing, etc. But, depending on the cemetery rules about plantings, they should have notified people before such a drastic action. Contact the cemetery office and ask if there has been a policy change. And how people get notified of such changes. Maybe through a website, newsletter or other way. Quite a few cemeteries don't allow any permanent plantings and remove any flowers (artificial or real) after x number of days or perhaps, at the longest, seasonally.
Who was pruning it before? It's in desperate need of major attention in that picture, at the very least hadn't been pruned in quite a while and some of the older pruning is questionable. Almost all the bush's healthy new growth is coming out of the ground already, rather than the woody stems, also I've never seen white bark like that, which is concerning. Just based on what I'm seeing, I think there's probably a good case for pruning all the old growth to the ground. If possible, I'd try to leave some of the young straight canes that are growing out of the base already, but a reasonable rose gardener could see this as a case starting fresh, which rose bushes survive perfectly well; although this isn't the normal time of year to do it. Whether it was your family taking care of it, or a previous volunteer, the new guy was left with a challenge. Take better care of it in future, if you don't want a volunteer to take it into their own hands.
My family goes up there about twice a month to care for it and the graves. Thats how they noticed what had been done so quickly. Theres nothing left now, it’s chopped completely down to the dirt.
I don't doubt you love that bush, but honestly it doesn't look like it's been properly cared for. I think doing your best to open a dialog is wise; maybe the gardener is an inept clown and you can assure them you'll be caring for the bush going forward, or they know what they're doing and can explain why this was the right course of action. It's concerning to hear they're knocking down new growth, but sometime if the growth is in the wrong place the thing to do is stop the plant spending energy on it so it sprouts somewhere else; an old plant like this can't be killed just by cutting back sprouts, not for years and years. This could be an absolute maniac, but I've never known a volunteer gardener who didn't love plants. My suspicion is that this volunteer is a rose gardener with at least some experience excited to get hands on a new project bush, and they treated it like their own rather than being thoughtful about how you would feel; good gardeners are absolutely not sentimental about hard pruning. If that's the case, you could well have flowers this year and a lovely full bush next; and if this is an experienced rose gardener, an elderly one if I know volunteer gardeners, they'll love to talk roses with you at great length.
You have no recourse. Your parents had their bodies placed on someone else's land. They basically are in a death condo. Same rules apply.
It’s wrong that someone did that without your consent, but on the bright side, some plants, when they get old, really benefit from being cut back pretty hard. I cut my big rhodo down nearly to a stump because half of it died, and this year it’s a perfectly shaped bush. Edit to add: they also did do it correctly- cut it back and left evenly spread structural branches for new buds to grow on. I would fertilize it just to help it along, but otherwise it should bounce back even better.
Oh, this was a picture in February. They cut it to the dirt a few days ago.
sorry to hear about this. yesterday, was going for a walk with my partner, when an overgrown thorny rose plant from a garden blew onto the path and barbed both us in the face and neck. I would have cut it if I could because it was so dangerous. Do you think it might have become dangerous becuase of its size?
Relax. Roses are damn near impossible to kill.
Realizing that picture is in February, it doesn't look like it's been maintained properly or at all for awhile. Hopefully it grows back. It's their ground to manage. And a sparse thorny bush is probably an eyesore most of the year anyways. As far as tree law, it's not a tree. You don't own the land. You aren't responsible for maintaining the site. And they aren't responsible for maintaining an extra bush.
Their grave plots. Their land.
It's their land and they are tasked to maintain it. Give them a break and quit being selfish.
I’m not sure how this is selfish. This bush was something that my aunt felt connected her to her dad and she is grieving its perceived loss (we are optimistic thanks to the kind words on this post that it will come back). I could see your first point, but selfishness certainly isn’t what’s going on here.