Well, I would probably cut the spent flowers off right below the point where they come together or possibly not at all, but it would be helpful to know what variety of rose this is. I have an Iceberg rose that I basically ignore as far as dead-heading goes and it has excellent repeat bloom without my interference. Definitely take off those suckers - they are most likely below the graft.

queen, the rosebush came with the house, so i don;t know the variety. the blooms are in a cluster, rather than one big bloom by itself. thanks for your guidance :)

My pleasure! Good luck, and you might try posting on the rose forum under the "name that rose" thread to see if anyone can identify it.

I live in a development in northwest Tucson with a yard surrounded by a 5-foot block wall and a metal gate covered with a heavy security mesh with coarse gravel up to the bottom of the gate. I have 20-some David Austin roses in raised beds as well as a 4'x8' square foot garden raised bed with vegies and lots of basil. I planted a new rose in March, it had tripled in size and had started to bloom. Two days ago I found two 6-7" leafless canes and a raised pile of dirt where the rose bush had been. There was a similar pile of dirt in the basil but no missing plants. Someone suggested "gophers". I've lived in Tucson since 1981 and never knew gophers to be a problem here but I purchased two sound-producing stakes and drove them into the two affected areas. Yesterday morning the stakes were "chirping" and all seemed well, but by late yesterday afternoon a second rose bush planted 15 months ago was gone except for a 1" and a 2" remnant of cane. The soil didn't appear disturbed and there wasn't so much as a leaf or piece of cane anywhere in the vicinity of this bed. I've had a sleepless night worrying how to prevent any more roses from disappearing. Help sincerely appreciated!!!

I am so sorry about your roses, noradella! It has to be something that burrows or that can climb over your wall, so my top suspects would be ground squirrels and gophers, but you're right, they are not exactly indigenous to the area. I wonder if a rabbit has somehow gotten in? Do you have any neighbors with a rat terrier type of dog that you could borrow for a late afternoon/early evening sojourn in your garden? I bet something like a Jack Russell would find the culprit real quick!

Meantime, I would buy some chicken wire or hardware cloth and some 3 foot rebar to cage the remaining plants that are important to you. Also, if one of the caged plants gets munched and nothing has dug under it, you know it's ground squirrels as they climb and if it's dug under, start hunting for the rabbit. Hope you get it figured out and don't have to lose more plants!