Question
Our Don Juan Rose is producing an abundance of fragrant, deep red roses.  This morning I noticed that several of the suckers that we didn't timely prune have snow white roses and rose buds!  Is this unusual?  We live in Florida, the plant gets afternoon sun, fertilizer and grows almost overnight (hence the unpruned suckers).  Thank you!

Answer
All roses are budded onto what is called an understock rose. This means that there is another rose roots doing the work of growing the top part. Sometimes a sucker takes off from the understaock and then flowers a different colour. You must take this wild rose off or it will in a few years take over your Don Juan. Dig alongside of where the white rose is coming from. If possible, yank downwards to tear the cane off. The rose will then form a scab and no other sucker will grow from that area. If you can't yank it off, cut it off as close as you can to where it is growing from. Next spring just keep an eye out in case it starts to grow again. This is not unusual for a rose especially climbers.