Now she has 2 wickedly thorny heavy red canes popping out of the first flush growth. I have checked, double checked, triple checked and the canes are above the graft (CA here so the graft is planted above ground) Well above the graft by a few inches.

Does this sound right for this rose?

Also, a neighbor has a rose he planted to protect a new fence from graffiti or fruit pickers. He made a few cuttings of a different rose, shoved them in the ground and pretty much let them be. They are now long octopus canes loaded with flowers on the ends. We were talking about them the other day and noticed how smooth the canes were with few thorns (thorns were the goal) He does not know the name, looks like Mermaid to me, would the smooth canes be because it is new? He offered me some cuttings.

Thanks

The Stormy Weather first canes have a few thorns, nothing too big...the new canes have thorns and so many prickles that they look like velcro. Holy cow! good thing I wanted a climber for the back side of a grape arbor I plant to build (that ought too give critters a second thought on eating grapes)

Wonder if the maybe mermaid is fairly low thorns because they are just cane cuttings?

Going to have the camera out there