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Don't see your zone so this may not be good advice for you.

I cut especially long stems when deadheading hybrid teas to encourage side growth. With this one, here in zone 9, I wouldn't hesitate to take at least 1/2 its height off. To the first out-facing leaf-group pointing the direction I want it to grow. That might mean 2/3s taken off. Not that this will guarantee a new cane but that it will force side growth lower that what is there now. Cutting that radically may delay the next flush. Bella'roma is a vigorous grower here.

If that seems too drastic you could cut back each of the 3 branches (looks like) of the two canes. That reduces the height by ? 14 inches ? Remember to find an outward point leaf-group.

My Bella is only a year old. Maybe she is one who likes to be tall and thin?

How old is this rose? What/how often are you feeding it? Since it's planted in the rain shadow of the house, how much supplemental irrigation is it receiving? Sorry for the interrogation, but there are lots of factors at play here.

Your plant seems rather young...for the rest of this season I'd let it do it's own thing. But come next spring as it just start to break dormancy, I'd cut off 2/3rds of the long basals. Some roses are naturally upright/skinny, but you should still get some better branching.

I live in zone 5A and this is the 2nd year I had the rose. I feed it Bayer All-In-One Rose & Flower Care according to the directions on the bottle. I water the roses about 2 gallons a water every 2 weeks when it is warm. The rose bush did have 2 other canes about that tall earlier in June but they got knocked off by gutter overflow when one of my downspouts was clogged. Thanks for all the advice so far!

If the plant lost two canes two weeks ago I'd just wait for the plant to replace them. While you can sometimes push basal breaks by pruning, that was just done by the gutter overflow. You just need to be patient.

So that explains the growth low down on the rose. When I see lots of growth that goes nowhere my thoughts turn to rose midge. So I'm happy you happened to mention the lost canes. So I'll just add that if your rose is grafted be sure that you buried the graft about 4 inches or more under the soil. This helps to keep your rose from dying in winter. Bella Roma should be crown hardy for you just not cane hardy.

OP, is it ok if I ask afollow up question on your thread?

irisgal when you say "outward point leaf Group" what does that mean? Sorry I'm still very new

Some control of rose midge can be obtained by trapping them with blue cups covered with canola oil. They are weak flyers and get stuck to the cups. Short canes attacked by midge usually won't grow, so I prune they off at the bud union.

Kali, just in case she does not see your question. It refers to a set of leaves. So you find a set of leaves on the cane that point in the direction that you would like a branch to grow. Right in the nook where the leaf set is connected to the cane on the top side. That is where there are growth nodes that can grow into branches. A rose likes too start new growth from right below where you cut/prune. As that is where the rose will concentrate its growth hormones.

Where I live there are an abundance of cane borers. If these are active in your area it is best to place a drop of regular elmers glue on the cut surface. It helps to keep them out of the rose canes.

Two gallons of water every two weeks doesn't seem like much to me, but I don't know how much supplemental rain you get.

Thanks patty!! That really helps and I'll be excited to try this :)

As a general pruning rule:

If you cut off side growth the cane gets higher.

If you cut a long cane down it makes the plant put out side growth. Of course the side growth will form a cane and grow tall. Then bloom. It may make several canes out of that one cut.

Thanks for the advice. As far as watering, not sure how much supplemental rain they get. They must get some, because my other roses look good. I know the amount of the water depends on the location, but what is a general rule of thumb for how much you should water rose bushes?

How stiff are its canes? Perhaps you could stake them so that they're angling outward, giving a sort of V-shape. If you can get them to about 45 degrees in gradual steps, that should cause new shoots coming up along those canes.

:-)

~Christopher

Patti gave the explanation for outward pointing leaf set/grp. Here's a picture with outward (side) facings circled. It's a wonderfully easy way to keep a rose from suffering from ingrown leaf mess (?) !. Smart pruning.