Not enough/too much water/sun
Too hot/too cold
Insects/mildew ...
Too many buds for the plant to support
A photo would help.

My grandad said when you dead head go to the first true leaves, thats 5 leaves rather than the 3 just behind the flower, he reconned it kept the bush balanced and encouraged repeat flowering......

don't know what others think, we only have climbers here, they don't like the soil or windy conditions.....

The deadheading part is fine Pamg. The shrivelled buds are sometimes on sprays with other developed buds or by themselves.

I'm sorry Urbanite, no pics I'm afraid as I've already cut them off. However, other than the shrivelled buds, the plants are healthy and flowering.

Sounds a bit more like powdery mildew. If you're happy to go the 'napalm-in-the-morning' route then use the current version of Roseclear. If you don't want to add to the toxic wastelands, prune out the affected areas and check out the RHS website for rose care (or treat yourself to Dr Hessayon's Rose Expert book - 20 years on and still a best seller)

Thanks for trying Urbanite, but I've Google powdery mildew and it definitely isn't that. Apart from the shrivelled buds, the rest of the plants are healthy. (Sigh). I'll have to wait to see I get any more and take a pic I suppose.

Hi Waddy, you aren't that far from me in West yorkshire, and I think it's probably caused by the cold wet summer we've had up here, this sort of weather causes balling of the buds, especially if they're in a quite shady position as well, the buds are prevented from opening by a mycelium which forms on the inside of the buds, and causes them to go hard, and unable to open, so they go brown and drop off, there isn't a lot you can do about it, except take them off as if you were dead heading, and hope for better weather when the next buds form, Derek.

Hi Derek, I've a feeling that you are probably right. I'm not sure whereabouts in Cheshire you are, but you have no doubt been having similar weather to us, anything but a real summer for the most part. I am hoping for a better summer next year.

Hi Waddy, I'm in that part of Cheshire that sticks into Lancashire, West Yorkshire, and Derbyshire, so yes we've had a lousy summer too, but apparently the jet stream is going to move further north next month, so we 'MIGHT' get some decent weather in august and september, fingers crossed, it would be great if we could get a summer with several weeks of sunshine, I think the best time for sunshine in the north this year, is tea time or later, no use whatsoever, but we can live in hope, { and die in despair}, there's always next year, Derek.

Another example of the North/South divide - the folks in Kent, Surrey etc complaining of no rain, us 'up north' complaining about too much of the stuff. (I'm including Leicestershire in 'up North' because I don't come from here, just live here - someone has to! - got home from cricket match this evening and was able to wring the water out of my waterproof jacket)

The rain forecast for today arrived just after lunchtime. The temperatures have dropped. Derek, we've had little rain here, but we've had a lot of dry days with winds. Like you, the best part of the day has been in the evening, too late to really enjoy.
Sorry about your jacket Urbanite, and your cricket match.
Here's hoping next year's summer makes up for this year.

Here's hoping... Think we've been saying that since 1977 haven't we?