Question
I have a huge Constance Spry. It is now about six years old. The shrub is healthy and vigorous, but in all those years it has had only two or three blooms. It is in fairly full sun, up against the back of the house. It takes up a lot of room in my small garden and frankly, I am thinking of yanking it if it doesn't produce blooms. I have never pruned it, except to remove dead wood. I thought that the problem might be my climate (Montreal, Quebec) and that the old wood was always winter killed. However, this year we had about seven feet of snow and the rose was completely covered. All the old wood survived, but still no flowers. Any idea?

Answer
As you know this rose blooms on second year wood once a year. The problem could be that your zone is the limits it can survive in. And on top of all that it is known as a finicky rose so growing it in a boarder line zone will also probably cause problems. Although the old wood can survive, the flower buds could be frozen and that of course would kill any blooms.