Help, help, help!!! Rose bush near death after heat wave!

Hi! I'm not a very experienced gardener, though I'm working at it! I bought either a shrub rose or a ground cover rose, I'm not sure which, from Jackson and Perkins 3 years ago and planted it in a large container. It grew well but never flowered until this spring. In mid-June, I was thrilled to see it growing like crazy all over a trellis I had put up and little pink roses finally blooming all over it! Then I went away for a week and it didn't rain. There was a mini-heatwave (I live in NYC) and the weather was almost 100 degrees for two days. When I got back, it was practically dead. I almost cried. It went from gorgeous to dried up and dying in a week. (I had someone looking after my apt. but she didn't water it.)

I immediately watered it like crazy and gave it fertilizer. I took all the dried up leaves off of it.

Two weeks later, i's a little tiny bit better - there are some new shoots coming up. But it still doesn't look that great, let me tell you!

I have it in my yard, which gets partial sun. It's in an area where it gets the most sun, but I know it isn't optimum. But it was thriving before.

I've had some problem with blackspot and have been spraying it - that was mostly gone before this happened. I saw a little bit of it yesterday and sprayed it again. But the main problem is it bouncing back from being dehydrated!

Please help! What can I do to help it? Is there a chance it will bounce back this season, or did I just ruin that?!!! I am determined to nurse it back to its former condition, or better!!! (I've been berating myself for not preventing this from happening!)

Thank you!

If there are new shoots coming up then it's still alive, just be patient with it and it'll come back. It will take time though before it gets back to its former glory. Also, in your eagerness to help it recover from dehydration, make sure you don't overwater it. Now that it's lost a lot of its foliage, it's not going to go through water as fast as it did before so it'll be easy to overwater it and that'll kill it just as surely as letting it dry up for too long. I also wouldn't fertilize it until it recovers a bit--best not to fertilize things that are under stress.

Thank you! It actually is starting to look up a bit - they are definitely new shoots coming up. That's good advice about the water, because it's true - I have an urge to water it all the time! (but I haven't and won't.)

The poor thing. I'm just cursing myself!

Another question: should I cut off any dead branches? There are some that are definitely all dried up.

Thanks!

It won't hurt anything to leave them there for a while--it's always possible some of them might not actually be dead and might sprout new leaves.

I will just add this--when a plant is stressed it's usually not a good time to give it fertilizer, just water. I've used Super Thrive for years and it works wonders for stressed plants. It's not a fertilizer but a mix of vitamins and plant hormones. Sounds like your rose will recover. It probably won't look as good this year as it did but it should bounce back by next year. I've had roses practically come back from the dead--they're pretty tough. Good luck with your rose--it sounds like a beautiful plant.

As the Rose is in a container, is there any chance that you could move it to a more shaded area next year, as regards you pruning this distressed Rose, I would agree with the others and don't prune right now, I bet some of the dead looking stems will eventually make new growth as the season goes on, as others have said, the plant needs more time to recover and it takes longer than a few weeks.
Roses are normally pruned either autumn or spring, some people just give a little tidying in winter to remove any broken or deceased stems, then in spring, they do a proper prune as by then the new tiny buds have developed on the stems and these guide you where to make the cuts, (Normally you cut just below an outward facing bud so the new growth grows out the way and allows air to circulate through the shrub and this helps prevent Grey mold etc. At spring pruning, this is the time to feed your roses /all other plants too, as they have rested over the winter and now need a good kick start for all that lovely new growth and flower it has to make.
IF you feed too late in the growing season you may encourage a lot of nice lush new shoots but they will not have tome to harden for the autumn and winter cold / freeze etc might kill this off causing much the same effect as you had with heat stroke.
Take it easy, plants in tubs / pots need a lot more water than plants in the soil, BUT you need to learn what amount of water is enough, so stick your fingers into the top 2 inches and feel IF this is damp or dry, then you will know to water or not.

There are feeds just for Roses but to be honest unless you have lots of these plants just use a multi purpose feed or Fish /bone and blood mix you buy ready mixed in small packets from garden store. use as directed, too much will also kill your plants.
Hope all this helps you understand how plants grow, suffer or reasons for stress, and how gardening is a patient past time.
Good Luck, WeeNel.

Patience to all!

When Mother Nature attacks with either too much heat or rain- a small amounts of careful pruning (to re-vigorate the roots) and a dose of fertilizer (remember, more is not better-use amounts as directed for plants) will usually bring your plants & shrubs back to life!

When one variety of rose (or any plant) does not survive-do not give up- try others!

There are many new cultivars every year- each is more heat/disease tolerant-experiment-

share with neighbors and friends-have a plant exchange-

Happy gardening!