Seven of my ‘Smokin’ Hot’ hybrid tea rose blooms have buds coming out of the middle of the flower. All of these flowers are from the same cane which shot up from the very bottom of rose bush. I have never seen any other roses do this before.
I cut off these seven strange roses to the next five leaves. My question is whether I should remove the entire cane?
This is a genetic mutation called flower proliferation. The cause is not known; it can be triggered by late frost, insect damage, extreme heat, or sometimes by a virus. If your rose does this each year, it might be due to a virus. Usually, in roses, the next set of flowers that develops will not have this odd formation of buds inside it. If it does, you can prune back that shoot (the way you already did). This information from the Royal Horticultural Society explains the phenomenon. Local gardening expert Ciscoe Morris has this to say about flower proliferation:
“The condition is not caused by a disease, so if the affected flowers look bad, simply prune them off. The next flush of flowers that take their place should be normal. There really is nothing to worry about, however, so if any of the multiple-blooming roses look really cool, don’t be in a hurry to remove them.”
A related flower anomaly that can affect roses is phyllody, in which leaf-like structures appear in place of flower organs. When phyllody occurs repeatedly in roses, it can be a sign of disease.