I had the same problem with James Galway this year. I wanna say it was spider mites but not to sure as all the leaves had fell off, it happened really fast. One minute it was doing fine with tons of buds then the next it was looking like the roses in your picture.

Where do you live?

Hi Vaporac, I'm in Chicago Zone 5B. Could I have underwatered during our recent extreme heat wave?

I have never had extreme heat do that unless I had a plant that was extremely underwatered. Usually we have so much rain in the spring that even if we go through dry period the roots have enough moisture to tap. I would imagine that is you're okay in that regard since these are older roses. I also don't see any evidence of spider might damage on these particular Leaves. I know I have Midge on my brain, I am wondering If that is midge damage I see in some of the developing shoots. It looks like burnt matches where a bud should grow. If it is that, It would cause developing buds to dry up or fall over as in your pictures. Do you have any other pictures? What are they doing now that you have cut everything off?

Hi. Work got in the way. Here are some photos of the roses now; I removed all the rest of the dried up, unopened buds just now.

I’m guessing they are fried. Hopefully they will recover and put on another show. That said, I saw the first Japanese Bettles (actually 3!) on a bloom of the knockout this morning. That’s about 2 weeks earlier than last year, given today is only 6.18. I’m not ready for them :(

So strange. Did you have a lot of rain? It almost looks like balling. I'm also wondering if there's any chance it's something the yard people applied.

No, we did not have much rain the whole month of May…. it feels like we go from 60 to 90F in no time. I have bever seen this before.

It looks like rose blight. Its a fungal infection of the plant..

Thank you for that suggestion. That is not something I have come across in my personal roses so it's good to be aware of it.

Hi Orion, how do you treat rose blight?

Do you see a grey fuzzy/ powdery,appearance on the affected buds at the base? If you do, then its likely the blight. Try cleaning your rose shears with alcohol before and after snipping to the first or second completely healthy node area. Make sure the rose bush has adequate ventilation around it. Humid, wet conditions can cause it.. try neem oil spray or concentrated neem oil dabbed onto the fresh cut area. Make sure to bag ,seal and dispose the affected cut portions. Usually well fertilized and well ventilated bushes are able to fight it better. Hopefully dry summer will help..

And thanks for the heads up about those pesky JB’s... i will start checking on my roses and cherries..they are my nemesis...

My rose has bounced back and once again budded, will be interesting to see if it will actually bloom this time.

For starters, 'Rose blight" is a generic term and does not describe a specific disease. The roses in these photos do not display any of the common rose diseases such as Blackspot or Mildew.

In fact, that foliage looks quite healthy. The only issue with the foliage is shown in the first photo, which demonstrates what Rose Slug/Sawfly (Hymenoptera) damage looks like. Sawfly larva are small green worms that live on the underside of the leaves and eat away at the soft tissue, leaving a network of barren veins. Odds are these have already fed, pupated and fledged, so don't be surprised if you don't find any worms.

A sudden change in temperature can certainly result in damage to developing buds, especially if the plants are not well hydrated. Its a reasonable assumption that the damage you've shown here could have been caused by water stress. However, I would be interested in knowing what kind of "weed treatment" your lawn service provider used. Roses are extremely susceptible to herbicides, so the overly casual application of a weed control product that gets spray or dust onto the roses will certainly cause damage. However, herbicide damage is usually manifested by wilting and curling leaves and distorted new growth. It would be unusual to see flower bud damage like this from weed killer drift.