Question
I've been rose gardening for 20 years and I've never seen this. I have a huge Betty Boop floribunda approx. 10-11' tall.Last year I noticed one stem way up top that looked weird-covered in thorns,too many buds bright red but couldn't really reach it so I left it there. This season, it had its usual huge flush of gorgeous blooms and since then about thirty of these weird stems described above have arrived. Some have weirdly curling stems. When they bloom, the crowded buds open sickly and brownish. What could they be? Is it curable? Thank you in advance. Also, I have been cutting back the ones I can reach. Is this correct?

Answer
Please don't use the clippers you cut the sick rose with on anything else until you have disinfected them. Your Betty Boop has got Rose Rosette which is caused by a virus spread by mites and is highly infectious. The plant should be burned and maybe the mites haven't got to the other roses. You can plant another rose in the space if you make sure that there isn't even a leaf let of the sick rose. Here is a website that will tell you all about your problem plus will have photos so you can definitely identify that it is Rose Rosette. The second site tells what you can do to try and save the rose if the disease isn't too advanced. Nothing is so upsetting in a garden then a plant doing well that has to be taken out. Hope this helps.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_diseases_pests_diseases/article/0,,HGTV_3579_1978073...
http://froebuck.home.texas.net/newpage2.htm