Anything visible “inside”?

In answer to your last question, I believe no.

@rifis If you mean underneath the leaf, that looks pristine. No aphids and no discoloration.

Maybe some trace mineral deficiency likeboron?

Could some pesticide have accidentally sprayed onto those leaves? They look like they were very healthy before the wilted.

I thought pesticide too. Or just that something got sprayed on the leaves that the plant did NOT like. Cleaner? Bug spray? Grease?

There is no way pesticides got into that garden. I do use Espoma "Rose Tone" organic fertilizer once a year.

What is interesting is that the leaves look incredibly vibrant and have a very healthy color. The many curls in each leaf are the only abnormality.

Is this something new this year? Some roses such as Nahema have holly-like leaves.

Typically poor turgor means needs water.

has the water effect been there 10 years .... is it mostly the leaves above such??

A while back I came across a post by StrawChicago in HMF: https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=99.744145

There she listed over-fertilization may cause leaves to curl down. She also has alkaline soil like you.

My Roald Dahl, and to a mild degree Vanessa Bell, have leaves that curl downward ever since I planted them from bare roots, but I have attributed to their genetics because if you look at David Austin's catalog carefully, the picture of Roald Dahl also showed leaves curling downward. However, if this is a new phenomenon for your rose bush, and it has been around for a number of years, the cause is probably not its inherent genetics. Another suggestion is to do a soil test to see if anything is abnormal and needs to be replaced.

@ken_adrian I believe this rose was underwatered every year until this year, when an automatic drip system was installed in that small garden area.

what i was getting at.. did you do any excavation to place the water feature in front of the rose ..

if you worked the soil.. perhaps you did some root damage???

ken

Is the surface of the leaves clean and green? Sometimes powdery mildew can cause leaves to curl that way.

@ken_adrian It is possible some root damage happened, but I believe this plant has been curling its leaves like this for a long time.

@seil Yes, the surface of the leaves are absolutely pristine, both front and back, vibrant and glossy.

Do you know the name of this rose?

@Vaporvac No idea I am sorry. I remember the rose is red and white and very fragrant.

If it's double Delight, its leaves seem normal in pics and not at all curly like yours.

@Vaporvac The only leaves I could find online for Double Delight look fairly ordinary and straight? I think you are right my rose is Double Delight.

the fragrance from DD is even more impressive than its ever changing coloration ...

it was my absolute fave.. back in the day ...

an truth to this supposition??? .... i always speculated.. this was pre WWW.. that the as the cream bud opened ... humidity caused it to change to the red colors.. and then fade away ... pretty exciting transition considering the very short life span of an individual flower ...

ken

the other color changer that i really enjoyed was ballerina ... a potentially large bush ... with multi colored single petal flowers ... the display was very cool. with flowers.. as they aged .. ranging from opening white.. to red at the end ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=rose+ballerina&iax=images&ia=images

i would call this one more of a shrub rose .. using the term lightly ... as compared to DD which was more of a hybrid T type.. individual cut flower display ..

when it blooms.. i hope you resurrect this post and show us a pic ...

ken

Rose plant require scheduled fertilization. Let's say if you apply generic fertilizers with 46% Nitrogen, 32% potash, Magnesium 12% and other trace minerals. You cannot apply weekly fertilizers like Mono Super Phosphate and Potassium nitrate. Over fertilizing the plant shows symptoms of leaf curl and never ever use Compost for Rose's. After hard pruning scheduled feeding should be done with high precision. Leaves had to be sprayed with water otherwise floating sediments and dust can invite spider mites. Using wrong soil medium can also cause leaf curls. Worst enemy is the leaf curl Virus and it's very rare in rose plants.

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay

searching for an answer to your rose leaf curl. May be needs water if underwatered-wilting? Also, can be an insect, virus or fungus.

where are you located? Location would help to identify issue. What was your weather at that time? Hot, humid in the CA bay area? San Fransisco?

Did you find the answer to what it is?

thank you. Kitty

I noticed Kitty6aNY that this thread is 2 years old... Not sure if you seen that....

Jim,

Yes, I wonder if she found the answer. I have been researching rise curling keaves. & found hers was unusual.

@Kittysrosegarden At this point I assume this is genetic because it always happens and the plant has compost on the surface of the soil and is fed well enough.

As my username says I am in the San Francisco Bay Area and it is zone 9b here. It is a very Mediterranean climate.

Kitty6aNY, oh ok.... I have never seen leaf curling yet here in Pa. Have you seen it in New York? Kitty6aNY? Maybe sometimes its a genetic climate thing for some roses??? Besides being insects, etc...

Interesting westes Zone 9b California SF Bay...

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay

Very i tetesting! I searched every type of leaf curl issue and could not find leaves as green as yours curling down like that-almost folding. Do you have many other roses & do tgey not have this leaf curl? And does your leaf curl roses bloom well?

As far as muching goes: You can try amending the soil. it certainly will improve over time a roses performance, slowly put nutrients into the soil, feeding the soil, as it decomposes help w/ drainage & nutrients fir the soil. It will help rose roots to better take in nutrients. . You also can first anend the soil around that rose…. add Properly Aged Cow Manure, peat moss, bone meal, micorrhizae, worm castings, & better soil. Creat ”living soil.” Any or all of these anendments will improve the soil and regular fertilizer will do the trick. Liquid fish fertilizer after all these amendments is an organic way to go that helps the rose immediately. I like Heirloom Roses Founders Fish fertilzer.

Bone Meal breaks up the soil for better drainiage.

Cow Manure has NPK in it & sulfur, manesiummagnesium, calcium and micronutrients. Cow manure really breaks down the soil, adds nutrients to soil, and has sulfur which adds acidity to your akaline clay soil balancing the PH. You need a 6-6.5 PH. you can test your soil before & after amending-wait a month to let it break down some then test it. It is recommended to test soil twice a year to see if its good for your roses.

To add any of these amendments/fertilizers be sure to read /follow instructions on labels.

Aged Cow manure can be used as a top dressing. Be sure it has been proprly aged so it will not burn roses roots & put it on top about 2 inches of soil, not touching roots at all. I use cow manure every year-love it!

Magnesium or calcium deficiency can produce leaves cupped downward, too. Using a balanced fertikizer and livibg soil can cotrect these deficiencies.

Best wishes gardening! Have fun!

@Kittysrosegarden I have many other roses, but this one is the only one with this issue. This rose with the leaf curl looks very healthy and blooms reasonably well.

Animal manure above the soil is a bad practice. You will lose the nitrogen as ammonia is lost to the atmosphere. You need to mix the manure into the soil quickly to avoid those nitrogen losses. See Google best practices for animal farm manure management, and there are large volumes written on this issue in various guides for farm management.

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay Yes, Mix the manure in! Interesting…. do your other rosrs are thriving and it blooms well. Thank you.

@Kittysrosegarden My other roses do poorly. They live on top of an extensive system of tree roots of huge trees, like Redwoods that are now 50+ years old and probably 150+ tall. I probably need to feed them more often than I have time to do.

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay

Sorry , I missed your response. If possible, the roses need moved to better soil where they have root room to grow, not crowded by tree roots, for best results. Potting them, if you don’t have ground space, is a good alternative. That new potting soil would replenish all of them. Prune them back, first, for transplanting. Dig 1 foot away from roots & pull up the root balls. You dont need to get all the rose roots-1 ft is enough. Then add liquid fertiluzers when in pots monthly. I suggest Fish fertilizer (Heirloom Roses Founders Fish Fertilizer has good NPK which they would love. ) Just some food for thought if you are able to improve their growing situation.

Happy Gardening!

@westes Zone 9b California SF Bay

Do you yave 100 roses or 100 plants? I only fertilize my roses & hydrangeas. (hydrangeas get it only once a season. My flowers get good soil-no fertilizers unless tgeu get run off fertilizer from roses. Lol

I have 120 roses. I fertilize them in 2 hrs. w/ fish fertilizer once a month.

When I do granular-Rose Tone another day, it takes 1 hr. -I just pour out of cup ( don’t work into soil to save time.) I water good after. (Later days I work into soil if I have time. ) If you have lots of roses you can just sprinkle it on ground area-throw it out. Save time.

When I lived in southern CA my roses easily well and I used a ”once a season granulat time- release product,” sprinkled out. Done quickly. I think adding fish fertilizer & Rose Tone once would have even helped more.

For saving time-granular time rekease is an option.

Best Wishes Gardening!

@Kittysrosegarden 100 plants.