Plant in bud rocketed skywards (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
china rose
'plant' is the definition.
The answer is an example.
'bud rocketed skywards' is the wordplay.
'bud' becomes 'china' (I've seen this before).
'rocketed skywards' becomes 'rose' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'china'+'rose'='CHINA ROSE'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for china rose that I've seen before include "shrub" , "Flower" .)