Hi Jonathan

It would help to have a picture, because it depends on what the red rose part looks like. If it's a darkish red rose with not that many petals, and your rose is grafted, odds are it's a rootstock rose called Dr. Huey showing itself. On the surface you're right that a bonus bloom can sound good, but you don't want the rootstock to overpower the rose that you want. If it's Dr. Huey, you want to rip off the entire cane that has the wrong red rose at the base of the plant where it's growing below the graft (that is the start of the rose you want). You rip rather than cut it off so that you disrupt that growing part and discourage this rootstock growth.

There's also a slimmer possibility that this is what's called a "sport" which is a spontaneous adaptation of the original rose, or a reversion to a related rose in the same heritage of its breeding. If this were the case, odds are that the bloom would look similar shape just a different color. That's why I think this is likely to be a rootstock, but we can't tell without a picture.

Hope this helps - it's a common occurrence in grafted roses, but it is indeed a surprise when it occurs.

Cynthia

i tried to upload a photo but it wouldn't work. i'll try again.

Thanks for the picture! Offhand, that looks consistent with what Dr. Huey looks like in hot weather, though it can be darker in cool weather. I'm not the greatest at rose ID so I'll let others chime in with opinions, but you're right that it looks very little like the pink rose. Do you know what this rose is, and if it's a grafted rose? If it was bought at a department store or potted in most garden centers, it's likely to be grafted. It might be handy to see the base of the rose where the cane that's blooming red is coming from, but my guess is it's Dr. Huey and should go if you want to maintain the pink rose.

There's nothing all that urgent about getting the Dr. Huey cane ripped off if indeed that's what it is, but I wouldn't let it go too late into the season. You'll probably also want to trim back the dead cane I can see to the lower left of the photo at some point, back to the point where the cane is green.

Cynthia

thanks for your help. on closer inspection the red and pink blooms seem to be coming from the same vine. We'll tackle the dead vines soon! Thanks again.

Hmm, we must have cross posted. The second photo has those rose forms looking more similar and the red rose seems to have more petals than Dr. Huey. It might be a sport after all. Knowing what the pink rose is might help us narrow that down for sports. Also, there's a possibility that there's more than one rose growing in a pot if it's an own root rose (again, it depends on where you bought it whether it's grafted or own root). Sometimes people put several cuttings into a pot for growing own-root roses and there may be room for cuttings to get mixed up.

All in all, I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to deal with this till we hear from others. You can prune out all those dead canes in the second photo though at any point.

Cynthia

The pink rose is a "double bubble" according to the stick that my wife left in the ground. she is the rose 'enthusiast' but on vacation at the moment. the rose was bought at a garden center called Mahoneys (probably just a Boston area company).

Ah, that helps a lot Jonathan. Double Bubble is a miniature rose, which in my experience isn't grafted, so forget what I said about Dr. Huey. I'd guess that this is a separate rose in the pot, since very often miniature roses are grown from several cuttings to make them look fuller.

So you were right in the first place - this is a bonus rose most likely! Your wife can decide if she wants to leave it there or gently try to dig up and separate the two roses. Some folks do that for their minis that have several plants involved, but I tend to kill them if I do that and instead leave them alone if it looks like they play well together.

Looks like fun!

Cynthia

It looks a lot like Bubble Double. Which is a rose I've always wanted to see more photos of this rose. It is a sport of double pink knockout. Created with gamma irradiation. Could be a flower a new color double knockout

I think this is bubble Double not Double Bubble and that is a sport of a sport of Double Red Knock Out. I think your red rose is a reversion back to the original DKO. It happens. I have an Appleblossom Flower Carpet that reverts back to the original red Flower Carpet all the time.