WHat can cause this to happen? It only gave me one rose this year and the rest is foliage!! HELP!!! Do I trim all the way back??

This could happen if you use a fertilizer with a high nitrogen content, but it's more likely a reaction to the drought or to overzealous pruning. Ideally, you shouldn't do any trimming at all. Those leaves are useful in keeping the rose healthy and happy.

My roses have produced far fewer blooms this year because it's been too hot and I can't water them enough to make up for the lack of moisture in winter and spring. My clematises also bloomed much less than in other years, but it was a case of overly severe pruning in their case.

Same here, Zuzu. Of course, I pushed my roses into summer dormancy because of the drought and I expected to have no blooms during the summer months. It's starting to cool off, so I am dead heading and removing hips to get a last flush.

Mark, you said you were growing most of your roses in large containers in another post. How long has it been since you have changed the soil in those containers ?

All fertilizers, both organic and chemical, are essentially salts. For organics, the bacteria have to break them down into a form that the rose can take up as food through reverse osmosis. Chemical fertilizers are more immediate, but they are also salts. Over time, in a container grown rose, there can be significant salt build up that can impact the performance of the plant because there is no way to really leach out the salt build up.

I agree with Zuzu in that I think it is the impact of the drought that is the most significant factor in the performance of our roses this year.

Smiles,
Lyn

Thank you guys do input really appreciate it!! I think I'll leave it alone and see what happens!

Probably the best solution. If it's producing healthy foliage, it's not suffering. Maybe it will bloom in October. I usually get a nice flush of blooms then.