Have you used any kind of herbicides including lawn weed and feed this spring? If so that may have been the culprit and not RRD. And check with your neighbors too. I had one plant affected by round-up that my neighbor had sprayed. It can drift a long ways on a breeze and then land in one spot and not affect anything else around it.

Is this RRD or is it just very ambitious growth on KO rose? I discovered lots of it yesterday when deadheading after the first lush bloom of the spring. Roses were planted a little over a year ago. I didn't have any problems last year, but I don't recall the new growth being this red.

Patty, new growth in cool weather is often unusually red. Currently I have some shoots on 'Savoy Hotel' that scared me by coming up beet red, and they are still solid red a month later, but everything else is normal.

Although the color looks OK, the skinny, curly growth on your shoot is concerning, as are the very long, red sepals, if I am reading that right. Could we have a clearer shot of the flower bud? If normal flowers open, that would be a good sign.

Thanks so much for the response. I took two more pics of the buds. I am in north Louisiana so my cool is probably not the same as yours...but we have had an unusually cool spring. Lows this week have been down into the 40s twice.

Second pic of buds.
Thanks for your input!

That looks like normal new growth to me. All new growth starts out small and closed up looking like that whether it's red or not. RRD growth is usually much more deformed looking. Watch it and see how the leaves open, grow out and turn green as they mature.

Thanks for the encouragement, Seil. I do hope you are right!

After I read your responses, I dug the bag with the disposed rose out of the trash. I put the sunny ko in a pot isolated from the rest of the roses. Michaelg and Seil, you are right. The plant's young red and thorny growths now are green. Thank you so much for helping me saved the KO. I guess I freaked out. Thanks again.

Kousa, that plant looks great. Yay.

Patty, the flower bud looks normal. Upper leaves with only one leaflet are also normal on KO. I am still concerned about that ribbonlike, curly stuff in the first picture. Has any herbicide been used around this plant? Keep close watch and come back with pictures if you see any more strange growth.

Michaelg,
I guess it is possible that a herbcide affected it. My husband put out some weed and feed in another part of the yard and sprayed some Roundup on other parts of the property, not near the roses. He always uses a grounder when he sprays to prevent drift. Also, I live in an agricultural area and although there are no fields adjacent to our property, planes do fly over all the time on the way to and from the ag airports. So there is always a possibility, even if not a probability. After reading more about RRD I think I am safe in that there is a lot of this red growth and RRD develops slowly. Also, there have been no documented outbreaks of it in Louisiana. I will keep watching and thanks so much for your help! I am glad that someone suggested posting pictures!