If these are from near the crown, they would be called basal canes rather than suckers, and they are good. If they are some distance from the center, they would be called suckers, and there is potentially a problem of the rose developing into a thicket that would be hard to maintain; however, the John Cabots I've observed did not do that.

Like Michael said, this is a good thing! You need to have the rose produce new canes from the ground from time to time to renew the plant. As canes age they will produce fewer blooms. By having new canes come up you can occasionally cut out a few of the oldest canes and continue to rejuvenate the bush.

Thanks, Micheal and seil. The ones I'm worried about are about a foot or two distant from the main body of the rose,so I don't call them basals for this reason. What puzzles me is that this rose seems to really "want" to behave this way. It started doing this a couple years ago: sending out shoots under the mulch. At first I removed them, worried that it was some disease or something; later, in hopes of encouraging the rose to get taller...Anyway,this year I fertilized with alfalfa meal. Many of my roses grew with dramatic enthusiasm; JCabot didn't get a lot taller, but DID put out a lot of these basal/suckers. So now I'm wondering if maybe I should just let it do as it wants...

I would just remove them if they are encroaching on other plants or threatening to build a thicket such that you can't reach into the center.

OK; thanks!By the way, do you think there's any chance of at least some of them having roots of their own? If so,I could dig 'em up and plant them elsewhere...

Own-root suckers grow up from a shallow horizontal fleshy root. If it is stems growing horizontally from the crown and turning up, you could call them offsets. If you sever near the crown and leave in place for a couple of months, suckers will develop more fine roots and be transplantable. Offsets may do so, or may fail. Put a rock over the horizontal part of the offset to stabilize it while it roots. Older offsets probably have some roots. I have propagated several roses from offsets.

If there are no roots on the "runner", you could put a partial cut in the underground part. Some suggest putting a small twig in the cut to prevent it from closing. Roots should form from the cut.

Thanks, Henry, sounds like a really helpful tip. This should be a slicing angled cut rather than a cross-cut.

Yes, Micheal! what you describe as offsets is what I'm talking about.Thank you for the tip, Henry. I will try this come fall; for now, too hot and DRY...bart