It really is going to depend on what rose it is. It would also help a lot to know where you live or at least what zone you are in.

Have you seen it bloom yet? What color are the blooms? If they are a dark red with only a few petals, and it only blooms once in the spring, it could be just the root stock, Dr. Huey, taking over from a previous rose and may not be worth saving.

We really would need more information and more pictures, blooms, leaves and thorns, to be able to tell you what to do with it.

They are pink roses with many petals. The stems are thornless. There were not many blooms last year..only a handful

They are pink roses with many petals. The stems are thornless. There were not many blooms last year..only a handful

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it doesn't really look like a rose to me. The leaves are wrong, and roses are rarely that bushy.

Cutting it down is probably a good idea. However, depending on what it is, it may not bloom for a couple of years afterwards, or it may be something that isn't easily trained to a trellis.

Can you get some pictures of the leaves? that might help us ID it for you. At least we can verify if it's a rose or not.

Here is a blown up picture of the leaves on the left side of the original pic. It does not look like a rose bush to me either.

Jackie

Agreed, Jackie. It looks more like a flowering shrub of some kind. Which is probably why it's thornless.

Looks like honeysuckle (Lonicera) branches in the second photo. In your first photo, I'm seeing rose branches with leaves near the roof of the bay windows as well as rose branches without leaves near the top of the nearest post that holds the trellis, some of which can been seen near the top of that post in the second photo. Leafless rose branches spotted near the curve of the gutter downspout & possibly extending above the roof line. The honeysuckle has oblong pairs of leaves at intervals along the stems. The rose has the twiggier, more jagged stems. Hard to see the base of the trellis from your shot, but best guess is the rose is near the center & the honeysuckle planted by the driveway end of the trellis. You can trace a branch of each down to the base to determine which is which. Photos of the base of the plants & close-ups of the rose & (possibly) honeysuckle stems would help with identification of each. When did the rose bloom last year, did it have fragrance, how large were the flowers & were they in clusters? Anything else you remember about what grows on your trellis?

Close-ups & any details of blooming you recall will help with ID's. Once you have an idea of who you have there, an informed way forward will be easier to find.

This post was edited by vasue on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 17:59

Here are 3 pics of the 3 species in the mess...I assume they are rose, some type of hedge junk, and honeysuckle.

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I guess best thing to do is just cut the honeysuckle and hedge out and see whats left?

The honeysuckle is, indeed, growing from the base of the trellis near the driveway. The blooms were pinned had a very nice smell to them. I do NJ it real any clusters of blooms, but there were not many.

This post was edited by SharpTJ on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 15:38

Assuming you're not being rushed, perhaps holding out till others find time to respond may be a good idea. Since the landscaping was awesome, perhaps the honeysuckle is a well-behaved one intentionally planted there to add its fragrance & evergreen nature. ID's for the bush or young tree might be found on other forums that concentrate on those. Will take a close look at your photos when time allows. Congrats on approaching this issue in a thoughtful way!

I agree that there might be a rose tangled up in there somewhere. If it was mine, I would wait until Spring, when all three (or more?) plants will leaf out and/or bloom.

Then you will better be able to tell them apart, and if you post pics of the rose blooms on here, you will get good advice as to what kind it is, and how to care for it.

As the plants are probably dormant now, I don't see any downside to waiting.

Jackie

In northern VA, honeysuckle is evergreen. I can spray it with Round-Up in winter without damaging the shrubs it tries to invade. If you definitely want to kill the honeysuckle, you could spray it now.

Wait until it blooms so you can see what is rose and what isn't ... then select the oldest (usually darker, rougher bark) shoots and prune them off close to the ground. Prune half the newer (smoother, greener or reddish bark) ones to about 3 feet above ground and leave the rest alone.

Next year, during rose pruning season, you'll have a better idea of what it needs to stay in shape.

You need a better trellis, too.