diseases – Ever-Blooming Roses

download After relocating to Myrtle Beach from Pennsylvania in recent weeks, today I was finally afforded the opportunity to choose a rose for my new balcony. It certainly was difficult surrendering my gorgeous rose garden in Pennsylvania, but I suppose a balcony at the beach will make up for such a loss! 😉 Because my balcony faces North and only gets direct morning sunlight verses seemingly endless hours of afternoon and evening sun, I needed to research roses that can handle some shade in addition to a very hot and humid climate. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, I needed a disease-resistant rose since I am figuring roses in a humid climate will be prone to black spot among other diseases. And, just for kicks and giggles, it would be a big bonus if it were fragrant too. After some perusing through print and online catalogs, I finally decided to order a David Austin English rose known as ‘The Alnwick Rose’. This pink beauty has 120 petals and met all my requirements! I am hopeful it will perform well and thrive in my new container garden on a balcony at the beach!

Here are more pictures of The Alnwick Rose:

Do you know the difference between black spot and downy mildew? I am just now realizing I’ve been battling downy mildew. So not cool!

Rose Growing Tips

Blackspot

I get emails from many rose growers in spring and fall who think they have blackspot. Many of them have been treating for this disease and don’t understand why the fungicides they are using are not working. In most cases I find they have misdiagnosed their problem and what they actually have is downy mildew.

I will talk about how to control both diseases in future blogs, but for today let’s focus on what they look like.

blackspot1 Advanced stages of blackspot

Blackspot (Diplocarpon rosae) starts as a small black spot/spots on otherwise green healthy leaves. As the disease progresses, the leaves get more spots and the green tissue begins to be replaced with yellow. Usually within two weeks of infection the leaves will begin to fall and the entire plant may be defoliated. Left untreated the plant will try to put forth new…

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