Are you a rose expert?

I had/have 3 different rose bushes planted in front of my house. If you know my history, I plant roses every year and every year they die. Well, I decided to give up. Today I went out and bought day lillies to plant in their place. Thats something I can grow. I get all ready to dig out these 3 rose plants and look what I find....



each one of them is showing signs of life! A couple days ago there was nothing. Even as I started to cut down some of the stems, they were dry and brittle... dead, to my eyes... until I saw this.

Now, I know a rose plant should be a lot farther in growth in mid-May than this. My mini-roses, which I can grow, are going crazy with lots of leaves and showing signs of buds.

Are these things trying to tell me that they want to live?