Checked on my Westerland climbing rose today, and I couldn't believe what I saw.

Absolutely NO dieback. None. I mean, there were little red buds all the way to the end of each cane, no matter how small.

Last year this rose died back to the ground and I had virtually no flowers last summer. Okay, the overall lack of sun and heat had something to do with that. Westerland is supposed to be a super-vigorous hardy rose and this is its "leap" year.

I'm crossing my fingers on Friday when it gets c-c-c-cold.