Rabbits or deer. Search GW using the box at the top of every page. Search - home made deer repellent. Make one of the receipts, it works great. Must reapply every 4-6 wks or after rain/over head sprinkling.

whoops sorry petzold but I forgot to leave an important detail in that the tree rose is up high on an elevated deck... No deer would ever dare come close...and hurray for human decks scaring away rabbit fiends from my baby rose bands... Only an elevated deck is ever a safe haven from Bambi and Monster Rabbit... I am still thinking either a voracious big insect but I thought grasshoppers don't come out yet, and I'm not sure if a leafhopper can consume an entire bud within 4 hours time?, my BF thinks it must be a bird and that no leafcutter bee can fly off with a 2/3" bud, that it is too heavy, unlike a quarter-sized leaf cutting... And why those two small buds? I don't see any other leave "stalks" besides those 2 flower stalks being "cut"...Has anyone ever witnessed a leafcutter bee in action? what could be stealing my baby buds?
P.S. I am finding a new bug problem as well... I found a spiral cluster of very black crusty looking too tiny to photograph type of bugs on some leaves of my tree rose... (color of black sesame seeds but a fraction of the size)... I tried wiping and squishing them into a napkin, eeeeew, I could feel their brittle shells smushing, IIIIICK! What are those? I am assuming that the other slight brown markings on the tips of my leaves are from thripes. AAAGH! my organic insectide which I sprayed 3x today! no thanks to rain, does not seem to be doing a very good job... Help!

Do you have squirrels in your yard? If so they could be the ones eating your buds. I have a problem every spring with the fuzzy tailed rats eating buds and new growth off my roses. I use ro-pel to keep them at bay.

I haven't seen squirrels in my yard ever, thank goodness but I always see fat rabbits in my neighbor's yards staring at a distance, probably drooling over memories of the Lincoln that they devoured one "glorious night"... GGGGRRRRRR! If there were squirrels, I'm almost certain they'd be unable to get to my tree rose.... but speaking of which I do! need to worry about any possible squirrels clambering down into my regular rose garden lot... I think I better arm myself with that ro-pel for the "just-in-case"....

In the meantime, any Sherlock Holmes out here in terms of what those black beaded insects are? They're the tiny size of spider mites with rounded shells, but they're black! I've always thought spider mites were more visible (similar to aphids)...but not black-beaded colored... Rats! if it keeps raining I may have to resort to a stronger organic spray... (sigh) just when I thought my once pristine roses were free from insects, suddenly I get this huge outbreak with the damp weather... I think I need to revisit the Organics forum....