I bought two this year for pots either side of a gate. They are from David Austin directly. They have grafted a long standard cane onto an established rootstock, then they have been budded at the top with 4 buds spread all round, from the top bud to the 4th is about 6" down the cane - each has sprouted 3 stems so there are 12 coming out of the various buds at the top. They are (relatively) newly budded, you can still see the flaps in the bark from the T buds. If yours are like that, you will see no gnarly union at the top, they look just like they are its own buds. I was very impressed with them, seen them with one maybe two buds usually not this many!! My only issue with them so far is that they don't seem to have disbudded the standard cane that well, there are a few buds swelling - easy to pinch out though. I think one bud with three shoots, like a normal grafted rose would look kind of uneven at first, presume they will come right after a while. The only thing with mine though was that they were bare roots collected from the nursery, I always wonder if they are a little less vicious with the pruning when they are collected. These just looked like nicely pruned roses!!

Natural, it's hard to say, because there are some fungal diseases (botrytis) and/or insects (thrips) that can cause those brown edges, but my money is on the heat. A lot of my roses are getting those crispy edges too. And particularly the paler colored ones. See if moving them to a spot that gets some shade during the hottest part of the day helps. Now, how tall are the tree roses? Is it the standard size tree rose with a 36" trunk or the smaller ones with the 18" trunk? It's hard to judge their height from your pictures. Mine is like 6 feet tall now between the pot, the trunk and then the rose bush on top and there is no way I can protect the graft at the top of the plant that high up by packing it with mulch. On a tree rose, besides the root ball in the pot, you have to protect the graft area where the rose and the tree trunk are connected. If that graft dies your rose will die. If you have a garage or shed they should go in there. I pack the graft with crumpled newspapers, then wrap the whole rose, trunk and all, with burlap then put one of those big brown paper leaf bags over the top of it and it goes into the shed up on a pot trolley. Be sure to leave yourself some way to get water into the pot. It should be watered once a month throughout the winter.

Thanks so much for the input. I guess it only makes sence that the union would be at the base, as it is on the other roses. So, trying to winter that will be a problem. Will it be OK inside or should I farm it out to someone with a garage or better yet a green house for the winter? The soil is so incredibly hard, it doesn't hold moisture and is almost like cement. I think I will re pot it and give it a better environment, a good soil mixed with some compost. Should I keep the same sized pot or could it stand to go up a size? I really want this plant to not only make it, but thrive, but being one who has never had a tree rose before, I am not sure the proper care they need. Maybe they like poor soil??? Thanks for the input so far.

It absolutely could be one of the issues (although I must also be doing other things wrong ...) These are double potted, but the outer pots aren’t that much bigger, and with most-day full sun, the roots could very well be uncomfortable. And what’s worse, I question my drainage. I feel like it takes too long. I need to start writing things down bc I don’t remember what I put over the holes. Bit of an update - I decided that there were enough new budlets sprouting that I didn’t need to look at the roots - I wonder if that was a good decision? I gave one of them a pretty good cut. Maybe too good? Now it’s not doing anything. The few budlets I left on don’t seem to be getting bigger. Little bit of a nail-biter here. The other that I haven’t pruned yet also has many budlets. Maybe I will go a little easier on it and see if it makes a difference. Meanwhile I will try to get hold of a good book with pictures. I don’t know from canker. I am glad though that your Firefighter is doing so well!!! Soon I am going to have a bunch of little own-rooters, if all goes well. Not to sell of course, I assume there is a patent. And I have 2 or 3 feet of cuttings still in a vase. One feels guilty just chucking them.