Question
I have three bushes on is a purple tiger rose, white and red traditional roses. All last year my purple tiger did not grow in after winter, i do live in wyoming at a altitude of 5500 ft, but late fall it started growing back then this year it came in pretty good. My white roses last year grew big withe healty stems and leaves but no buds. And my red one was fantastic with buds bigger then soft balls. but this year all three of them has not buded at all as for all my friends bushes has beautiful bud and blooms. Maybe the lilac bush that's 2 foot away from the red bush has something to do with. if its the ph how can i check the ph. Or what else could be the problem? Also they get plenty of sun light in the morning until say 1 or 2 in the afternoon and they get plenty of water but not to much. Can you please help me figure the problem? Thank you for your time

Matthew

Answer
Normally a rose bush will bloom but some only bloom a little and other produce a lot of flowers. Here are some reason why a rose doesn't make flower buds.
If the pH of the soil is too low or even too high, the roots will have trouble taking up enough nutrients to bloom.
The rose bush is not getting enough sun as most roses will need at least 6 hours.
The rose is not getting enough water or it is getting too much water.
If a rose is getting too much fertilizer that is high in nitrogen, it will make new growth at the expense of flowers. nutrients. It isn't getting enough fertilizer that is high in potassium.
The flower buds were killed in the winter or by a late frost.
Some roses won't bloom until they have reached a certain height.
Also a rose needs enough foliage to support the flowers so if they can't make that amount of leaves then they won't bloom.
Some type of animal is nipping the buds off and eating them such as deer or rabbits.
The fact that a rose next to another rose is blooming well, doesn't mean that the other one should.  Rose bushes can be totally different in their ways of growing.
If the lilac tree is doing well, I wonder if that indicates that the soil is very alkaline as lilacs love an alkaline type soil. And as you have said, the roots may be taking up the nutrients and so the rose bushes are starved.
I would give the roses some tomato fertilizer enough for a mature tomato plant as that is high in potassium and then no more fertilizer of any kind until they flower. Sometimes even giving them a little prune back activates them.