Well, it´s dead. But some plants in the same container seem to be doing OK, which have obviously had the same conditions. We can only really guess at the reason, could even be some obscure infection, or no real reason at all, but like other folks say, your soil does look a bit suspect. There are as many favourite soil mixes as there are growers, and I have now firmly settled on a well-draining gritty mix with a good proportion of limestone for my desert cacti, with just a little organic material. I totally avoid soggy peat, which means any commercial ´cactus mix´, as they are invariably full of peat or even worse - ´forest product´- read sawdust. A gritty mix in unglazed terra cotta pots will set you up. Err on the dry side rather than overwater - it is quite difficult to kill a cactus through underwatering. They are succulents - they will store water when it rains heavily, then be well able to survive drought conditions for weeks or even months.

Jena, my Perle d’Or did the bud drop thing it’s first year, the whole year. A lot of my roses also had chlorosis, including Perle d’Or, even though they were getting regular Magnesium-sulfate and I was alternating between Miracle Grown and a seaweed fertilizer, all in the hopes of curing them of chlorosis. Mostly it was the Polyanthas and Multifloras that had this problem. Finally I sent in a sample for a soil test. I had plenty of all the minerals and nutrients except for Nitrogen (which I already knew since its obviously devoid of any organics and so I was fertilizing) and absolutely zero Manganese (Mn) detected. Once I put a teaspoon of Manganese Sulfate dissolved in a gallon of water on each rose last fall the chlorosis completely disappeared and Perle d’Or stopped dropping buds. I will now do this once or twice a year; not too often since Mn is a minor nutrient and too much can be toxic. The Miracle grow I was using did have trace Mn, but somehow it wasn’t enough. I wonder if my soil was just binding it up? This just demonstrates that bud drop could be due to lack of an essential nutrient. It might not necessarily be Manganese for you. But since you mention the Kellogg soil might not be that great, I would give it a nice dilute liquid fertilizer once a week and see if it cures it.

Rae Anna, I do have the issue of thrips in certain roses, and have battled them for years. The worst affected roses in my garden are Evelyn, The Prince, Augusta Luise (a little), and occasionally a couple of other roses. Here are some things I've found out over the years: by the time you have thrips infection symptoms, it's too late. The tiny insects are inside the buds and blooms. They use rasping mouthparts to suck juices from the rose, and leave the ugly brown areas behind as the result. Spraying on surface acting insecticides, whether organic (like Spinosad) or non-organic, doesn't work. You have to use a systemic that gets inside the rose before the buds are made by the plant. What works for me is Bonide Granular Systemic Insecticide (on Amazon, and Walmart carries it, too). It has the ingredient: imidacloprid. This is a synthetic insecticide, but it works. I apply the suggested amount around only the susceptible roses and scratch and water it in. I do this at least 30 days before buds are formed (early spring). I had just a tiny bit of thrips in maybe three of the seven or so roses I treated. I don't think any so called organic treatment can get rid of thrips. It's a choice I've made, and I certainly have many beneficial insects and pollinators each year that are not affected. Often thrips will come around a second time later in the season. Prepare for this by doing the early spring routine. Good luck. I hope CeresMer reads this--I don't want to write it out again--ha. Diane

its not uncommon for plants to shed the oldest leaves in fall.. as light levels wane ... can you tell if they were the oldest leaves? ken