It is either herbicide damage or Rose Rosette Disease, which is an incurable, fatal, and contagious virus (or virus-like) disease. In the latter case the plant needs to be removed immediately.

Is it on more than one plant?

Did it appear fairly suddenly on new growth all over the plant, or did it begin with one weird shoot and spread over a period of weeks to new growth elsewhere on the plant?

The stringy-leaf look I associate with herbicide of the type applied to turf, but that's not determinative.

It is on more than one plant. It doesn't affect the entire plant. Just a cane or side shoot here or there.

Rose Rosette Disease is what I found on the internet, but it didn't look completely like that. However, at least as far as I could find, there is a shortage of quality photos of rose disease on the Internet.

I think you might have hit it with herbicide. I know people here are going to groan, but when life gets crazy, you do what ya gotta do. My rose beds have seen a little Round-Up this year. And, as I think about it, the roses most affected are where the most weeds were and the roses least affected had very few weeds around them.

Thanks!

Could chili thrips possibly be the problem? I seem to remember last year someone posting a pic somewhat like your first one (and like an odd growth on one of my roses--which is why I read the post closely), and someone from Florida responded that that looked identical to the kind of damage chili thrips cause in Florida.

Another possibility? Let's see if some chili thrip experts show up.

Kate

If it is widespread, that suggests herbicide. RRD begins on one shoot, usually takes weeks to spread through the plant or to other plants.

Roses are extremely susceptible to herbicide. Maybe just a drop could cause damage, and it takes a year or so so outgrow substantial Roundup damage.

Add "Peck" to your Rosette Disease web search.

It does look like herbicide damage, with RRD there usually is an abundance of thorns.

Do you really live in Mayberry? I didn't really think there was such a place except on TV. Tell Andy and the gang I said hi....LOL!

Go to Ann Peck's RRD webpage for information regarding the disease. You can e-mail her at abpeck@att.net
She's possibly the leading authority on RRD in the country. If not she's pretty darn close to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: RRD webbook

haha.. I live in Mt Airy, NC which is the place Andy Griffith was born and grew up. The "town" Mayberry was based on his hometown of Mt Airy. It blows my mind. We have tourists. Tons of them. We're just a little town in NC. Yes, we have a jail, Snappy Lunch, and the original Floyd's Barber Shop are still here. :-)

Thanks for the link to Ann Peck's page. The link to the only picture she has is broken. Still, from the description, I'd be hard pressed to say my plants are that deformed. Shew... thankfully.. Rose Rosette Disease sounds terrible.

There are dozens of pictures in Ann's document and only a few have broken links. Explore.

It can start off like yours and the symptoms get worse.
Was any herbicide sprayed in the area that may have drifted onto the roses? Herbicide drift symptoms are similar to RRD but the bush will out grow it eventually. RRD just get worse and the bush can be a source for it to spread to other roses if the tiny mites which carry it happen to be there. The mites are wingless and airborne, traveling on a breeze or wind and dropping whereever they happen to land. Check upwind for an infected plant especially a wild multiflora bush.

OK, I didn't notice the article went past the first page. However, on the first few pages, if you click on the pictures to see the bigger version, the links were broken.

To the best of my knowledge chili thrips are only known to be in Florida at this time.

As soon as I saw the wrinkled, stunted leaves in the first photo, I thought you were dealing with herbicide damage. In my experience, if I have to stand and wonder and check the reference materials, it hasn't turned out to be RRD. Once you've seen RRD in person, you'll never mistake it for anything else.

When you use Round-Up in your beds around your roses, keep the pressure in your sprayer REALLY low ... just a few pumps -- only enough to get the spray out the end of the nozzle. This forms a very coarse spray which is much less likely to drift. Put your nozzle directly over the weed, spray a teeny spray, and hope you didn't get any chemical anywhere else. When I'm spraying in my beds, I wear flip flops so my feet can instantly feel if I have drift. Last suggestion, do it in the early morning before the breezes come up. If the tree leaves are blowing, put your sprayer away.

If the weeds are grasses, you can use a selective herbicide called Ornamec. It is labeled to be used over the top of most broadleaf crops ... including roses. It takes up to two weeks to work, but it will kill Bermuda and crabgrass without harming your roses. (Don't use Ornamec near daylilies.)

This should help you get most of the weeds in your beds. Using herbicide in such a surgical way has the added benefit of not stirring up the soil and exposing more weed seeds that would sprout and perpetuate the problem. You still have to pull any weeds that are under or in contact with your roses.

Connie

I love the Andy Griffith show. Hubby and I still crack up over Barney..over and over again..same shows..still hilarious