Question
Hello.
Yes, has been covered every year. Very vigorous growth every year, (even this spring, early summer)beeeeeeutiful continual salmon colored buds & long lasting petals on 12-18" stems, watered weekly,fertilized every 6 wks. w Bayer Rose & flower & rarely powdered for aphids. No disease noted. Just old & reverted to Dr. Huey?
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Followup To

Question -
Hello. I have a Maria Stern Dr. Brownell Sub Zero Rose purchased & planted in 1999. Until today, every year it had the most beautiful lt. orange-peach color petals. Today, several buds have opened, only to be smaller in size with yellow stamens & are a medium red. What happened? Did the plant revert back to it's parent? I did not prune differently than any of the other years. Thank you for the reply.

Answer -
Most roses are budded on to an understock to give them more vigor. Sometimes after a nasty cold winter, or even if the rose bush is under watered, diseased or just becomes frail, the understock will take over. What you descibe is a well known understock called Dr. Huey whiuch is a very vigorous red  Some of Dr. Brownells roses, although they are called Sub Zero roses, are really not all that hardy. So it is nothing that you have done it is just the rose itself that has died back. If you like the rose I would get another but make sure that you protect it for the winter.

Answer
Because Dr. Huey is very vigorous, that would be why you got the good growth this spring. Here is a website with many pictures of Dr. Huey on it for you.
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?i=A1550&tab=10
Why a rose suddenly dies is still a mystery. Your rose doesn't sound old enough to die from old age. If the rose was fertilized too late in the summer ( anytime after the end of July) so that the winter cold killed the canes because they weren't hardened off yet is often a reason for sudden death. The other can be a warm spell in the spring and then a cold one, this can easily kill a rose off. Also strong winter winds that rock a rose bush will do the rose in. I had a couple just up and die on me this year and it was because we had a mild then cold spring.