These were to be a purple rose bush for the memory of a dear mother that loved roses died from Alzheimer's. Year one, did amazing, year 2 had to fight the deer off and kept getting eaten to the nub and had guards put up to keep deer away and it did okay for the rest of the year but not great. End of last season it had one HUGE red leaved burst on one stem. This year it has two of them and looks pretty bleak. Should we dig this up and put it to rest, continue to wait and see and is it safe to plant another rose bush here if this one is removed? Thanks.

I don't see anything that looks like rose rosette disease to me.

Lucy68 said: I don't see anything that looks like rose rosette disease to me.

That's a relief, I suppose. All i know about roses is what google says ha ha. I Just noticed the red leaves and tons of thornes.

The foliage is a bit distorted. Might someone have possibly sprayed Round Up or other herbicides nearby? The prickly shoot appears to have been 'chomped' as if deer are still nibbling. It's not rabbits, squirrels or rats as their gnawing teeth meet in a 45 degree angle and produce 45 degree cuts. Deer, horses and cows bite and rip so the cut is uneven. Something is amiss, but what is difficult to determine at this point. It wouldn't be "bad roses", simply roses which something has happened to. Perhaps those narrowed, distorted leaves might be due to thrips?

roseseek said: The foliage is a bit distorted. Might someone have possibly sprayed Round Up or other herbicides nearby? The prickly shoot appears to have been 'chomped' as if deer are still nibbling. It's not rabbits, squirrels or rats as their gnawing teeth meet in a 45 degree angle and produce 45 degree cuts. Deer, horses and cows bite and rip so the cut is uneven. Something is amiss, but what is difficult to determine at this point. It wouldn't be "bad roses", simply roses which something has happened to. Perhaps those narrowed, distorted leaves might be due to thrips?

Thanks for the input. No herbicides on the property and no visible insects but they are near a creek and treeline so there are abundant critters of all sorts. I'm okay with letting it do its thing and hope for the best, my concern was if it was something that could possibly spread to to other vegetation.

Thrips and spider mites sucking the sap from the foliage can distort it as is seen in your photos. They can also cause the "burnished" appearance of the distorted foliage. You might try using a water wand and washing off the undersides of the foliage, all of the foliage, to see if that helps alleviate a bit of it. Should you see more distorted growth, particularly the "witches broom" growth, it will be time to act...