I appreciate your input. I am at work, and hope this message goes through. These roses are about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I seldom prune them. The new canes have the dark red color, then turn grey as they get older. They tend to be rather ruddy, and have few if any thorns. A man told me once that I was not pruning my trees correctly, because my pruning was not right up next to the tree. He said that if I left a couple of inches, the part of the cane that was left would die off, and fall taking a plug from inside the tree with it, then that inside part would have to heal. I wondered if that was happening here. The roses could have fungus because I don't spray that much, but I have never seen this before and have 260 rose bushes. I see no sign of gall around the crown. We have cicadas galore, and there is a tree sort of north west of these roses. The cicadas could get into the roses. Barbara, I am considering sending the picture to our Rose Society President, but thought I would ask here first. Ann, you think it is stem gall, then? You know most of these pictures are from the ground. I have begun pruning the rose, and agree that it would be nice to let it come up from the ground first. Anita, that is interesting to me because about 4 years ago or more I pulled out 2 Betty Priors that I thought had gall on their stems. I know more now, and am more hesitant, but I think that the "no known pathogen" is interesting. Berndoodle, the sections that I have shown are where I have pruned large canes, I think. It is not a spontaneous occurrence on the rose. I cannot be positive, but the rose is large, and I have let it go. When some canes get in my way, I cut them off, but normally I don't prune it. I really think these spots are from pruning. For what it's worth last year was horrible for my roses. We had unseasonably hot weather in January, Feb, and March. Then I don't remember when, but we had single digit weather for quite a while. The roses were more than budding, some were quite advanced with the pulp completely in the canes. The sudden shock of the freezing weather created a great deal of damage. Must go now, but thanks for your input. I would like any other suggestions you might have. I have also thought of trying to send this picture to Mark Chamblee since he sells the Basye roses. Sammy

I grew it years ago but lost it. I haven't seen much discussion of it here or on the OGR forum. I suggest you contact Antique Rose Emporium, since that's the only place I've ever seen it being sold and ask them. They got it from the breeder, I think. Here is a link that might be useful: ARE

I've never been able to get Cool Roses to repond to either my phone calls or e-mails, so I don't know exactly what's up with that. I have also never been able to get a response to my question as to whether their rootstock is clean or not either. I believe they are still in business though. As far as other nurseries go that are known to graft on fortuniana, I have no recommendations, at least in what can be considered Central Florida. You may be able to read between the lines here. Becnel Roses is out of business now. I used to get nice roses from them. The best thing we can do is obtain virus free fortuniana as a stock plant, and practice grafting. Sandy

You're welcome Sammy. You have to remember that any breeder of any type of plant can primarily only breed for resistance to the pressures of his/her climate. Visalia didn't have extreme disease pressures for decades. Mr. Moore selected his seedlings based upon health (where he was), ease of rooting, vigor and ease of growth own root, attractive appearance then any special characteristics he sought. These included stripes, mossing, decorative sepals like crested mosses and eventually the Halo trait. A very oft repeated admonishment was, "Create a good plant first. It's always easy to hang a pretty flower on it later." He played with many species, most often utilizing them with his brood of favored miniature breeders. Those he created with the above characteristics firmly in mind. Even with all that said, diseases mutated, climates changed and the rose continued to change the rules on him. He created a striped Rugosa hybrid with ruffled flowers he sent to Week's for evaluation. He was surprised to hear their reports that it was plagued by rust as that wasn't an issue in Visalia. The rose didn't demonstrate that issue there for several more years when there was appropriate weather to encourage the disease. It was very much the same situation reported about Joseph Pernet-Ducher when, about his Pernetianas, he was asked, "But, what about the black spot?" He responded, "WHAT black spot?" They didn't black spot where he developed and grew them. Black spot was really only an issue in the nursery, where thousands of small potted roses were grown, crowded in nursery flats on the tables, and then, usually only very early and very late in the year. Out in the open, or grown in pots with more beneficial spacing, even with the constant overhead irrigation, black spot was seldom an issue. When he raised roses which demonstrated unacceptable disease issues for him, he discarded them. His initial Bracteata hybrids can be plagued by rust in climates which foster the disease, but for him, there, they were clean. Out of Yesteryear, Star Dust and Out of the Night remain the healthiest of the bunch, followed by Pink Powderpuff, an amazing and truly beautiful climber. When I moved into a milder, damper climate, I found many of my favored breeders were no longer as healthy as I'd always found them. I polled other breeders, nursery owners and rose growers whose opinions I respect for suggestions of what to use instead. Mr. Moore's Cal Poly and Magic Wand were unanimous suggestions on every list. Both have been as healthy here as Strawn's Pink Petticoat. Of course, YMMV due to many factors and depending upon what diseases you're considering. In my climate, Linda Campbell is extremely healthy, but in higher disease pressure areas, she can develop slight mildew on new growth and a little black spot on her lower leaves. His My Stars has been reported to be very healthy everywhere I've heard people speak of it. It's half Playboy and half Basye's Legacy, and completely thornless. Legacy has been able to provide the rust resistance Playboy completely lacks in these parts. Resistance is honestly a very mixed bag. Dr. Buck bred for arctic hardiness as well as health, yet some of the many dozens of his roses I grew in my old Newhall garden were regularly ill from disease. A favorite I grew was Wandrin' Wind. I found the plant to be of exceptional beauty, and it completely defoliated from rust twice a year, as did most of the Morden series for me. Only a small handful of Hybrid Rugosas are worth growing in much of Southern California, mostly because of heavy rust infection. Healthy roses remain very climate specific. Kim