Question
Hello!  I have three rose bushes and one of them are knockout roses, one is Christian Dior, and the last one is supposed to be a light yellow rose.  My knockout rose bush does not have any growth near the bottom, but blooms and has beautiful roses near the top, but no leaves or anything below the top. What is going on with my rose bush?  Will the other rose bushes also be infected? What can I do at this point?

Thank you!

Answer
If the rose leaves have not fallen onto the ground at the base of the rose and if it looks like there are small stubs where the leaves are supposed to be, then there is some type of animal eating the leaves off. Rabbits and squirrels are fond of roses. Even underground pests such as moles will eat the rose leaves. Look and see if there is any evidence at all of leaves that might have grown and been eaten off. I doubt your rose is infected with any disease so the other roses are safe. The last thing I can suggest is that if it was grafted, the bud union was  somehow weak or damaged and you are getting a strange looking rose. Sometimes the use of weed killers on a lawn will drift and if a rose catches the chemical that will alter how it grows. Anyhow I think it would be wise to cut it back to about 8 inches and force it to re-grow again and maybe that will jolt it into making leaves. If nothing works with your rose then it is defected and I would throw it out and buy  new one to replace it. It is not rare for a rose to be defected and grow in a strange way.