Those are ants. They are not eating your rose. You either have a beetle, caterpillar, katydid or other grasshopper eating your rose bud, causing it to "bleed" sap. There is sugar in that sap and the ants are drawn to the sugar in the sap. Aphids and other sucking insects concentrate the sugar in the sap when they eat it and they release "honey dew" which is stronger sugar water. That also attracts ants, but they are not eating your rose. Something else is. The ants are eating the bleeding, sugary sap.

Oh wow..I guess the question is what do I do to prevent?

If it were me, Rekha, I'd blast the buds with water.

Thanks Jeri, all got a water blast. Many of my roses are being actively eaten by something, how do I identify what is causing the damage? I found tiny green things that the water dislocated, small white flecks of something a nd this...

Look at the lower bud to the left of the open bloom, in the lower section of your photo. That bud has also been gnawed on. It appears to me to be some sort of caterpillar damage. Take a look at these images and see if you agree. Then, decide whether you wish to actually use any pesticides to control them or not. The beetle looks like a Cucumber Beetle. They eat stamen and anthers from the center of the bloom.

Roseseek...million thanks, I would never have found the issues. I dondont usually use any , but all my roses are affected...any organic measures I can take?

Various things are affecting my roses now, mildew being a big one on SdlM and some other roses, but I also have lots of aphids and bugs of various kinds. Other than squishing the aphids when I feel like it I don't do anything. Actually I should add, when the little black bugs are all over my light-colored roses, I carry a plastic bowl filled with water and some dishwashing liquid and tap the rose blooms over the bowl so the critters fall in. I don't know that it puts much of a dent in the bug population, but it relieves stress and frustration, and gives me that illusory feeling of being in control.

Rekha, I'm sorry that your roses are being affected so badly. I know I'd be out there with a flashlight at night picking off the caterpillars. At least they're easy to spot!

You're welcome! I'm not sure the second batch of photos are the same issue. They seem more thrip issues to me, but it's difficult to tell much. IF you want to spray anything, BT, Bacillus thuringiensis, is often advertised as "caterpillar killer". It's an organic bacteria. Spinosad is another organic (depending upon how it's manufactured) bacteria which is useful as a pesticide in "organic" applications. Then, there is also Pyrethrum, an extract from Chrysanthemums, which poisons insects instead of either eating them (as BT does) or causing them to die of nervous exhaustion, as Spinosad does. Of course, beneficial insects are more susceptible to pesticides than harmful ones and ALL insecticides, including organic ones, can harm and/or kill beneficial insects. You could also keep searching for the caterpillars and then try to discover what they are larvae for, then find a decoy or predator for that pest. OR, this IS "Spring" when insect eggs hatch and the cycle of life begins. You may (or may not) have further generations of them if your heat starts fairly soon, so by doing nothing, perhaps birds will continue helping you keep the plants clean? It's entirely possible you haven't been able to find the culprit because some bird has eaten him (them) between his eating your buds and your looking for him. Not spraying helps keep the birds vacuuming your plants.

The next set of pics are from neighboring plants. Looks like I have a whole bunch of issues :(

I have had a lot of grasshopper damage this spring. I rather expected it, given the totallity of our winter and spring.

Honestly -- I don't worry about it too much. I'm not showing roses, so a little imperfection doesn't bother me all that much.

Thanks all...its just a lot to take in as most of my roses were planted last year and this is the first spring. A couple of plants all the buds are destroyed, should I cut them off?

I am going to put myself a glass of red wine and try to overcome my type a personality that wants to fix every problem.

The heat will start pretty soon, do some of these issues decrease or increase?

Thanks, Jin!