Straw - thank you!!! I always thought it was from cold weather since it only happens in the spring.

Sharon - thanks for asking this important question!

It's looks like rose canker to me It is usually cause by a wound on the cane allowing the fungus a path in. I saw it a lot when I lived in north central Florida in the spring time. Our winter there would fluctuate causing the roses to break dormancy and then be injury by the next hard freeze.

I have tried saving bushes by removing the canker but I found I had a better survival rate by doing nothing.

Some say it can be spread by not cleaning your shears between cuts. I'd suspect this is the case if you see it first on cut end of canes.

ValRose - so what happens when you do nothing? I can't bear to leave them on the canes. So, does the blackness travel down the cane and that cane dies? My thoughts are always that it would travel down the cane and ruin the graft. What actually happens when you do nothing? Do the canes heal?

The canes may heal if the blackness doesn't encircle the cane. Conventional wisdom says cut it off. I found aggressive cutting seemed to be doing more damage than the canker.

This was in Florida dealing with Teas and Chinas on their own roots. Your climate and the varieties you grow may be completely different.

I only grow own root roses so I can't tell you what happened if it infects the graft but that doesn't sound like a good outcome for the plant.

Thanks, ValRose! Something to think on, that's for sure. :)