Possibly the Rose Stem Girdler, which makes swellings on woody stems. The larvae make spiral tunnels under the bark in the swollen area, killing everything above the swelling. It is common in Minnesota, especially on rugosas.

Polar Joy does like to make suckers. I keep them cut off as they grow quickly and can pull nutrients from the main standard. Mine grows in a half barrel. Although the leaves have turned a lighter green, non have yellowed or wilted.
The hybridizer is Bailey Nursery, located in your state.
You might contact them to see if this is a problem they can help you with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bailey Nursery contact info.

That said, Karl, it makes a spectacular shrub. I have 3, two standards and a shrub. The shrub is the winner though it takes up a lot of real estate.
Steve.

Garystpaul,
Is this a Standard (tree rose)?

It looks like there is one main stem supporting all that growth.

Tree roses are usually grafted on a certain variety of Rugosa, and if it is suckering it is basically killing off the top growth so it can be a normal rose with bushy growth from the ground up.

If it is own root, which is possible with 'Polar Joy', I suspect the same.

It is try to be a bush instead of a tree.

The solution may be to get the sucker removed, and wait until spring to see what happens. If you start removing branches on top, it'll put out new growth just before it should be going dormant and that could be detrimental to a stressed rose going into winter.

The best way to remove the sucker would be to remove the soil around the sucker so that you have a hole about the size of your fist. You'll need a little soil removed from below the sucker too. Put your thumb on top of the sucker with your fingers wrapped around the stem, right where the sucker is originating from, quickly push down with your thumb and hopefully the stem will pull out the root eye with it. If not cut out a little of the area where it came from. Then recover with soil and water it in.

Hope I explained that clearly.

Rob
BC:)

With all respect to BC, I have never seen a sucker kill a rose. When a thicket of suckers grows around a rugosa, the original plant is just fine. Probably some injury has befallen the standard or the main branches. It will grow out from that point and be OK, or else the sucker is the future of this plant. Inspect the trunk carefully.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google search

Check two things. First, did it go dry during a heat wave? I see tons of greenery around the plant, and that seems unlikely. But you'll never know until you stick your fingers in the soil 6 inches down. Second, do you have ground burrowing rodents like gophers or voles? Looks like underground damage to the roots to me.

But Cass, if the roots were destroyed by varmints, would the sucker be flourishing? Certainly worth checking, though.

Thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions.

michaelg: your response seems closest to what has happened: the standard shows signs of girdling and consequent dessication, while the sucker continues to thrive.

karl: I have contacted Bailey's (thank you for the contact info); the nursery that sold it to me will replace it, which I will do in spring. according to others, it will need a full season to prepare for our winter. My neighbor's PJ has been in place three years now.

elks: I suspect I could let the sucker grow into a new standard (these are OR, not grafts, of course) or let it become a shrub. My initial attraction to the plant was as a standard and I'll try to find a good one when the time comes.

BC and berndooldle (Cass?): we've had an unusual summer here in St. PaulÂvery droughty, but a July without a single 90 or + temp. I've been scrupulous about watering, which I do deeply with buckets from a rain barrel; a check of the soil revealed no dryness in the first foot of soil. I don't believe it's a cultural problem; the rose has been more than adequately mulched as well.

This is a disappointment, but we gardeners are used to failures. I will begin again next spring. Meanwhile: (1) I have the sucker to play with; and (2) if any of you, or others, have further suggestions, please know they are welcome.

Best regards, Gary

If it is the rose stem girdler, you need to bag or burn the girdled section(s) to prevent the larvae from maturing and reproducing. Peeling a vertical strip of bark from a swollen section would make the girdling (if any) obvious.

I guess the presence of the RSG would be an argument for shrubs over tree roses.

Just getting back to Michael about varmint damage. In my experience, they can start on one side of the plant's roots, which can result in odd damage to the plant canopy at first. Suckering growth is the result of the extreme stress of the damage. They don't always get the suckers first.

I have no experience with Rose stem girdler and don't know what their damage is like. They must be pretty evil if they can penetrate a barky cane.

Gary,
It shouldn't be too difficult to make that new cane a standard. I could have done that with one of mine. That might be even easier than trying to make the original standard thrive.
Steve.

Steve: do you think so? OK, I'll leave the sucker be, so to speak, and see what's there in the spring. I just checked out my neighbor's PJ and, man, is it thriving. Beautifully branched and sporting a goodly number of late-season flowers. Mine would have been quite nice against the sedum 'purple emperor' below it (sigh).

Gary,
I guess my only question is how Bailey's (here in Canada, T&T Seeds) got Polar Joy to cane in one spot as if it were budded normally. Not being a nurseryman, I can only imagine that the cane was pruned at the desired height to encourage new ones, much as rose farmers cut back their grafted stock in the field in June to encourage bushiness at the expense of flowers, which they do not care about.
Comments anyone?
Steve.

It's not uncommon or difficult for amateurs to produce self-standards. You just select a strong basal shoot and rip out competing basals. Then you ream out the budeyes on the standard except for a few at the top. Future basals from the crown or roots have to be treated like undesirable suckers. I haven't done this, but I've seen a couple.

Sorry about your Polar Joy Gary. Quite shocking when you find something like this. It's like WHAT THE????

Kinda neat you make another tree/standard with Michaelgs info, very interesting. Silver lining? A little one?

Allison

What is interesting about Polar Joy is that it is not budded, not grafted. It is Polar Joy from the tips of its roots to the tips of its canes.