Maybe it's going dormant?
Is it late enough in the year for that?

Jeri

Not sure what it is, but, it's not going dormant yet.

JIM

Was it recently transplanted or dried out? I have never seen healthy green leaves drop except in response to severe heat/moisture stress, as when a small potted rose is shipped in hot summer weather. Your plant will probably refoliate starting in two weeks, but it's a bad situation, given the season of the year and a severe climate.

Nope, it's not going dormant yet as my other roses are still green and growing (and blooming!). It was transplanted late this spring, but it has been struggling all summer with the tender foliage problem. I don't know what to do. It has been very cool here for the past several weeks, so it can't be due to heat. I haven't watered it in weeks, either, but the ground around it is very cool and sufficiently damp.

I think I already have a few roses going dormant due to the cooler weather--some of our maple trees are also dropping their leaves, which are yellow and red. This is actually a good thing--these are the smart ones that know how to prepare for winter--unlike the ones that stay green right into the hard freezes.

Well-- floribundas don't go dormant until the growth tips freeze at around 27 degrees and the ground cools to 40. Modern bush roses are not truly deciduous and they don't respond much to changes in the length of days.

If you are sure the roots are wet, I guess there is nothing to do but hope.

I grow roses of all types, not just modern florabundas and HTs, though I do grow a lot of them too. The Red Fairy seemed to be yellowing up--it is a polyantha. I think The Fairy also drops its leaves when the weather gets a bit colder.

I have only one rose that goes dormant here in LaLa Land -- R. arkansana.
It's dropping leaves, and the hips are ripening.
Perhaps, if Heaven is kind, that means an early winter.

Jeri in SoCalif