Rosesnpot, thanks for your response. I am hoping it is just too much water. Jeri, I don't have a scanner. I have a very old computer. I have had it for years. It has windows 95. Every time it breaks, and I hope I will get a new one my husband fixes it. Can you make a Jpg from a CD? I have my pictures put on disk. I don't even have a clue on how to make jpg. What is it? A new computer and digital camera would make it alot easier to view and post on GW. Thanks for your suggestion! Ann C.

townhouserOnt - I have had the same query and have found a great plant...Garden Chives or Allium schoenoprasum. Not only does it come quickly in the spring, bloom in just a week from now, or so, and not get ratty or invasive, has lovely pink-rose-colored2" balls of flowers (of course in the Allium Family), and it repels insects that may want a bite of your roses. They are a pretty perennial plant, and you can eat them to your heart's content (no spraying needed), and you're doing your part in the IPM management of your garden! Roses can also get bare around ground level during the season, and I have found they mask this area and look great all year. Hope this helps you in making your choice. Best, PP

I have been trying to grow a desert rose for many years now. When I first got it the pot was too small so I repotted it, but I used regular soil and was very tricky to water it just enough to keep it between brown tipped leaves and yellow leaves. I finally read up and repotted it into cactus/succulent potting mix. When I had pulled it out of the old pot I was amazed it was still alive because it had only 2 or 3 small roots coming off the big ball, and it surely had root rot. There was not much at stake so I washed it in water and actually sprayed it very hard with the hose nozzle to clean off the black stuff. Back to the new pot and soil, it started to grow very fast but the leaves will not get dark green, they look pale. The soil was miracle grow and I'm wondering if it has the wrong fertilizer in it? Also even though it drain much better than before, I think I'd like to pot it again with a good amount of sand added to the succulant soil so it drains even better. Oh, I did pull it out of the new soil once to see how the root rot was doing and it had grown new roots like crazy! I couldn't believe how fast the new roots grew! So what do you think I should do? Add sand because I feel it is still holds too much water, and what about the pale green? It used to have dark green leaves. It has only bloomed once in many years, sometimes I just can't give up on a living plant no matter how bad it looks. Thanks, Tony

It may not have been anything you did or didn't do. As you said, roses do not like to be inside. Try putting a saucer of water next to them, not under them, to raise the humidity around them. And get some additional light. And fluorescent lamp will do. Don't fertilize them any more now until the start to leaf out again. No guarantee on any of this but it could help. If you get more like this next season try sinking the pots into the soil for the winter. They may do better just going dormant outside.