Question
Hello! I have four 1-year old Iceberg Rose bushes.  They had been doing great until just this week. They had all bloomed beautifully and were full of open white roses.  Normally, when the rose has seen its life cycle, the petals slowly fall off (still white). Never do they get all dried and crispy. Last week, from one day to the next, about 95% of all the open rose turned brown, crispy, and died.  The leaves of the bushes are all still very green and nice and do not look wilted. Additionally, there are a few areas where new growth is coming in. However the mass simultaneous death of all the roses themselves is what concerns me.

There are some that have a moldy-ness to them, kind of like a black powdery mold.  

And finally, the only other variable I should mention is that I live in Los Angeles (in the valley, not by the ocean) and we were recently put into mandatory water conservation where we can only water with sprinklers on Mon & Thurs whereas before we used the sprinklers daily.

The weather has been mild over the last few weeks (low 70's) with a thick marine layer.

Could the weather be doing it? Could it be the watering schedule change? Or could it be a disease?  I'm desperate to find a solution, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advanced!

Answer
A one year old rose has not put it's roots down deep enough to go through any hot weather or lack of water. It needs a lot of water. The crisp texture of the petals is because they are starved for moisture and so have died and fallen off. The mould is caused when water gets onto the flowers and stays too long or even humid conditions will cause the problem. Both are really not serious. The ideal way to water when you are restricted is to make a bowl at the base of the rose bush and fill it up about three times. Never mind the area around the bush as you are only interested in getting the water to the roots and because they are young bushes the roots won't be down deep. Because the feeder roots are near the top and the rest of the roots are mainly anchors, just giving the little feeder roots enough water will make sure the roses do well. If possible, try not to get water on the flowers, plus placing a mulch all around the base of the rose bushes gives the roses what they really like and that is cool and damp soil on their roots and keeps the water from evaporating. When conditions are difficult for roses, giving them a chemical fertilizer is not a wisdom as the roots are usually under  a little stress. Try something organic such as fish fertilizer as the roots can take that up easier and it also helps the bacteria in the soil do their job of breaking down nutrients so the feeder roots can use them.