Possibly powdery mildew?

Powdery mildew is very unlikely at this time of year. Any chance of a photo? Gray colored canes at the base are often a sign they are dead, dying or no longer able to produce leaves and flowers.

Either that or they are turning grey because they are mature canes with woody outsides. We can't tell what kind of grey it is or the reason without pictures of what you mean.

Cynthia

These are the drift rose bushes with the grey canes. They are popcorn. I am in zone 7b. Thank you so much for your time.

There appears to be some dead wood on the gray colored canes so I would just remove them at the base. The rest look perfectly healthy

FWIW. powdery mildew is almost always a foliar issue. It tends not to grow on anything woody. And in most of the country, it is a late season problem, occurring in late summer and into fall.

I agree with Judi, my drift roses get what certainly appears to be powdery mildew in early spring every year. I have not noticed it affecting the canes as much as the leaves and small outer branches. Every year I ignore it, and when the temperatures go up the roses look great again.

If you rub the cane between your fingers, does white stuff come off?

There doesn't seem to be anything on the leaves and nothing comes off the wood when I touch it.

Oh that’s helpful info! That doesn’t sound like my powdery mildew then.

Trim out any obvious deadwood and leave it. I once had a rather good photo of numerous rose canes...and the multiplicity of different colours of stem -think it might have been on the Trevor White Old Fashioned Roses site (UK). Ranging from deepest plum, silvery grays, to almost luminous viridian green, it was an eye-opener to me that roses have variety, colour and beauty even at their most sere. Wait and see.

Found it, Cindy

https://www.trevorwhiteroses.co.uk/bare-essentials/

That was a very interesting article and thank you so much for the photo. Hansa is the exact color of the canes on my bushes, along with the alglia.