How frustrating for you, Nik. The first blooms are always so exciting. It makes sense, though, that the sudden change in temperature would make the roses behave oddly. Must have been a shock to the system for them, just as it is for humans.

Ingrid

I get that on a lot of my roses. Sometimes I get bullheads. Ugly but fascinating.

Here is some from a few years ago:

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Vegetative centers -- I usually call that 'proliferation'. I had not heard your term before. They can happen for all sorts of reasons. I once had a Souvenir de la Malmaison that proliferated all season long, each and every rose. I got rid of it.

Buford, I did not know that was called a bullhead. I see it once in a while. It fills me with regret, a wasted bloom.

Folly