Think you're right about the insect damage Jim. Yeah, I got a little carried away with the Rose RX. I am in Post Falls Idaho where we have all 4 seasons in one day ( wish i could take credit for coming up with that line ) It has been so cold and bleak, but in the last half hour against the weatherman's prediction, the sun is out and I see the honey bees have started work. Dingo, it's a combination of ailments, the leaves and buds were alive but showing streaks of black, also under attack from definite leaf hopper and thrip activity . Not the characteristic midge blackened growth of last year, but I am destroying anything remotely suspicious. On Autumn Damask , the new baby buds are yellowing and falling into my hand at a touch. Alchymist had some purple spots, maybe chemical burn, Madame Hardy was near perfect all last year, it was a grisly sight of black rot along the stems and lots of sickly leaves this morning that got trimmed away. Tomorrow i may be able to get some good pictures of the black plague.Roses in the garden on other side of the house are clean fortunately. I won't be surprised if you advise i leave them alone and they will recover.

Over-fertilization: wilting, leaves curl down, plus brown burns at tip. Decade ago when my toddler sprinkled too much NPK 10-10-10 granules on my tomatoes, we got fat tomato worms for the first time ever (excess nitrogen & phosphorus attract pests). We had 1/10 the amount of fruits, plus leaves look like below: Too acidic: TOP LEAVES CURL UP. Tiny & pale and thinner leaves, bronzy leaves. Fungus: blackspots & rust & mildew. See below my Mustead Wood when I put too much acidic pine bark and acidic gypsum: Too alkaline: Pale upper branches. Note iron deficiency in upper leaves, plus zinc deficiency in older leaves (blotchy yellow) of below pic. Too alkaline with upper leaves twisted like witches broom (boron def). Too alkaline, iron def: pale UPPER leaves with green veins. See below with both iron (pale leaves) and copper deficiency (brown & dry spots) Too alkaline, zinc def: Short plants with a reduction in internodes length and leaf size. Leaf edges may be distorted or puckered and yellowing between the leaf veins, see below: Too alkaline, copper def: crinkled leaves, young leaves are dark green but twisted or misshapen, often with brown, dry spots. See below: U. of Colorado best describes zinc deficiency: "Plants tend to be stunted due to a shortening of the internodes. Leaves show a general yellowing of the upper foliage with a browning or bronzing of the older or lower leaves. The leaves of zinc-deficient typically have a crinkled appearance. A general downward curl of the leaves also will occur and flowering will be poor." Potassium def: Less blooms, balling, thin & weak stems, and blackspots, plus lowest leaves have yellow edges, then progressing to brown edge. Below is potassium deficiency in Teasing Georgia since I put too much lime in the pot. Too much calcium induces potassium deficiency. I reversed it with high-potassium fertilizer, note below new growth is normal: Calcium def: less petals, stunt growth & tip die-back & wilting top shoot, see below wilted shoot on Abraham Darby in 92 F, the growth is too fast, but there's not enough calcium. SOLUBLE calcium is known to help plants to cope with heat. Note below: young leaves are distorted, with curled margins and tip or with brown spots. Calcium def. is caused by low pH, below happened after a day of heavy acidic rain, then high temp: Nitrogen def: small leaves & pale LOWEST leaves, see below progression of nitrogen def: Sulfur def: below entire plant is pale & stunt growth. gypsum has 21% sulfur for growth: Too alkaline will result in newest leaves being pale (iron deficiency with green veins, but pale background). Older leaves become blotchy pale (zinc def.). To correct too alkaline, sulfur at 30% or gypsum (calcium sulfate with 21% sulfur) gives fastest deep-green leaves. Also high nitrogen fertilizer like MG-soluble for plants NPK 24-8-16 will make leaves dark-green instantly (but higher in salt with potassium chloride or muriate of potash). MG-soluble for roses 18-24-16 also work in deep-green leaves since it's more acidic, plus less salt with sulfate of potash.

Hi Lilyfinch, The underside of the leaves had no orange patches. Those pictures above are from my Munstead Wood of David Austin (this is a baby plant in the ground for just over 2 months), Anna's Promise, Iceberg and Livin' Easy. Here is a picture of the underside: This is really puzzling. About the rabbits: Bobbex-R (formulated for rabbits because there is the regular Bobbex which is for deer) is effective. I get it on Amazon.com as I did not find it locally. I use a concentrated solution and diluted 14 oz in 1 gallon of water. I thought may be the regular spraying has affected the roses... However, Bobbex maintained that it should be harmless. I also use Plantskydd granules, which is made of bovine blood. However, you have to be careful and not put too much too close to the roses, because the bovine blood has high concentration of nitrogen - the roses may get nitrogen overdose.

There are different schools of thought on how to prepare the ground for roses. If you are amending the soil in the entire bed, then consider layering the manure mixed with soil towards the bottom, and putting a layer of unamended soil above it, so the roots of the roses you are planting won't be directly in contact with the manure. If you amend the planting hole, you could dig it extra deep and wide, and put a couple of shovels full of composted manure at the bottom of the hole, capping it with plain soil so the rose roots don't directly touch it. Alternatively, some people dont' amend their planting holes at all on the grounds that roses with rich planting holes can end up treating the hole like a pot, and not expanding their roots out into the surrounding soil. You do you -- there is no single way to do this successfully. My main message would be: don't put compost directly against the roots of a newly planted rose.