Is it in lots of sun? Does it get fed regularly? Roses are greedy feeders and they like a lot of water in the spring and summer. Is it a hybrid tea? You say it has long canes - is it a climber? If it makes it through the winter I would feed it and water it and see what happens. Denise

LOL, for a minute I thought this post was referring to my age! :)
I have a couple of old roses that belonged to my great-aunt and were neglected for many years. They still bloom every year and occasionally I throw some rose food their way. They have lasted this long without my help, so I don't want to overdo. They seem quite hardy.
The antique/heirloom roses I purchased several years ago have done quite well here, but I do mulch them and am careful to water well in summer. Have just had my first successful rooted cutting from one of them! Yay! I have been terrible at rooting roses until now. Would like to get rooted cuttings from the very old ones. . .stay tuned.
Amy, good luck with yours!

There's a climbing rose bush on the side of my porch that was here when we moved in. It sounds a lot like yours, Amy. In this case, it seems to live in spite of its conditions! Planted in shade, in poor soil, and it gives me beautiful blooms every year. It has long canes that work it's way into my porch, and way up toward the roof. I water it with that Sea Magic, and occasionally throw aged horse manure from the barn around it. I feel terrible about the hard soil it's growing in, and wonder if maybe a ground cover would help. The last couple of years the leaves have been more sparse. Any advice given to you will be eagerly awaited by me, lol.

{{gwi:558857}}

Minuet, that yellow rose is beautiful! I'm interested in this too. I have planted a couple of old roses in the hopes that they'd be lower maintenance. They are finally starting to grow and looking pretty good. Had some nice blooms on one of them this last fall. I planted them on the edge of some sparse woods. So far I'm doing good to keep weeds yanked up from around them and give them some manure each spring and some mulch for the hot summer months.

Long canes could also be bourbon variety.

Carla