Question
I planted a yellow rose bush next to my extablished red bush. About 3 ft apart. Now my yellow roses are a rosy red with 1 branch still yellow. What happened? I am redoing my rose bed and want to plant more roses of different colors. What do I need to do to maintain each rose bushes color? I would like a variety of colors.  I think I'll start a 2nd bed this year. I would like a white rose, but will other color roses (or flowers) effect the whites color? Thank you.  Charlotte

Answer
Roses are like humans and have bloodlines. Somewhere in the back of the yellow rose there was a red one and part of it has what they call "sported" back to the red. The other thing that might have happened is that the understock of the rose has thrown up a sucker. If that is the case the flowers will not be double only semi double. As you can see the colour change isn't catching but due to either a sucker or a sporting. Go ahead and plant more roses as they will not be effected. To see if it is a sucker (the red canes) dig down along side of the rose bush and see if the cane is growing below the graft (the large bump at the base). If it is, then yank it off and the rose will return to producing yellow flowers. Hope this helps. Lynnette