Question
QUESTION: i live in Montreal. I have several hybrid tea roses. They have been doing fine until this year . This year they are hardly bloomimg.If there is one or two  flower, it is the size of a wild rose with 4 petals on it. I am not sure what's wrong.A local nursury said that it is stunted growth. Please help.


rosa multiflora   ANSWER: Roses develop flower buds and if in the spring they get a cold snap, then the buds are either damaged or killed. Another reason why they are not putting out normal growth is because they have reverted to the understock. Hybrid teas are budded onto a hardy understock which makes them go through cold winters easily than if they were on their own roots. If the top modern rose is killed by a nasty winter, then that allows the understock to take over. Understock is usually a wild rose and can be single white or shades of pink. Dig down alongside of the rose bush and if you see the new growth coming from below the canes of the top rose, then that is what has happened and the top rose is dead and will not grow back again. there is no such thing as "stunted growth" in roses. Unusual growth is always caused by something. Here is a picture of an understock rose called rosa multiflora which is used a lot in Canada. Hope you can see it clearly as my photo is rather small.


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QUESTION: thank you,  but the new growth is not coming from below the bud union.The odd flower that bloomed is the same type e.g. hybrid-tea and not like the picture you have sent. It still looks like a hybrid-tea rose but very very small ~ 1" in size. The nursery's suggestion is that I should remove extra soil that I have been adding to the plant for winter protection. Usually I do not remove it, I just push it away  about 12" from the plant. They say that my plant is not able to breath because  of this extra soil around it.  I will appreciate your answer. Thanks.

Answer
The only other suggestion I can make about why the flowers are so small, is that there could be a rose gall that is strangling the cane that the small flower is on.They are about the size of a pea to the size of a golf ball. They can range from near the base of the bush to the top of the bush.The flower is stunted because it isn't getting nutrients up the cane. Roses do not suffocate because the soil is high around the base. Many people leave the winter mound or as you do just scarp a little of it away. I plant my roses 8 inches below the soil level because of very strong winds off the sea and I have never had a problem. If the flowers are the same colour then it is something plugging the cane it is on. Look carefully to check for galls and if that isn't the problem, I would cut the cane back well below the poor looking bloom and see if when it flowers again, the bloom is normal. Please keep in touch, I would like to hear the outcome.