I live in the coastal area of VA. I moved to an old farmhouse and have some very interesting and old vegeation on the property. I'm havimg thr soil tested and will report back of the infomation is helpful.

I am an ametuer gardener and that is putting it kindly. Landscaping and working soil/plants are intuitive for me though and I'm confident I can follow directions well :)

This rose bush could be 30 years old. I let it go this Spring/Summer because the blooms were so incredible and just wrangled it in a bit with the existing chicken wire. We are starting to have brisk nights and I womder how I should plan for the Winter and next Spring. It gets 3-4 hours of direct light another 4 partial light in the a.m. Watered 2x week.

Can anyone ID this monster?

Is there any saving it? I would enjoy starting over, I just want to make sure I would regret digging it up!

Where to cut and when?

Recommemd fertilizer ornsoil mod after major cutting?

Obvioisly I would like it to bloom lower to the ground, stay off the house and lose/replace the chicken wire if possible.

There is some new growth from the ground, but most shoots up from knobs off the old growth.

You can prune off dead wood any time of year. To tell if a cane is alive or not snip a couple inches off the tip of the cane and look at the inside. If it's a greenish white color and looks moist it's alive. If it's brown or tan snip off a little further down and check. Keep doing this down the cane until you see that clear, healthy center. Clean up those broken canes at the base. You want clean cuts that you can seal with glue or nail polish so pests and diseases can't get in. Make your cuts at about a 45 degree angle just above a leaf node if possible. Otherwise I would not prune it any further now. Roses store their energy to come out of winter in the canes. Early spring is the best time to do any kind of hard pruning on a rose. When it comes out of dormancy it will be raring to grow and will fill back out quickly.

When it blooms next spring get clear close up pictures of the buds, half open blooms and fully open blooms as well as the leaves, canes, thorns and whole bush. Then we might be able to ID it for you.

I know that it was widely loved and that several plants on the eastern shore were so good that cuttings from them became passalong roses
(one is even in Knoxville, were it's known by the owner by the name of the original owner out on the eastern shore.)

It might be Sombreuil, though.

BTW, pull the weed trees at the base. Otherwise the maple will be taller than the rose before you know it.