I, too, found the yellow spongie stuff on an old tree stump this AM. It wasn't there yesterday, so popped up overnight. It is spread out like an irregular pancake. I'm wondering why it's there in the first place, and if it should be destroyed. An earlier poster has said not to worry about it. It is rather interesting!

You made a mistake by cutting them back last fall. In your zone you should not prune your roses in the fall. Wait until spring. The roses store nutrients in the canes and you cut that supply off when you pruned them. That being said, last year was a particularly bad winter and you probably would have lost most of the cane anyway. Nothing you can do about that. We all started out with shorter than normal roses this spring. They'll need time to recuperate and rebuild their structures. Knowing what roses you have will also help us to determine how large and bushy you can expect them to get. Roses can take from 3 to 5 years to fully mature so be patient. As for the puckered leaves we really would need to see a photo of them to be able to diagnose what's going on. Why are you using the Bioneem oil? Do you have a bug infestation? If not then you don't need it. If you do not have a specific insect that you have correctly identified and are using the correct product for that bug, you could be killing off beneficial insects instead. That could set you up for an even worse problem later on. Only use insecticide when you have a bug, know exactly what bug it is and determine the correct insecticide to use for that bug. Not all insecticides work on all bugs. For now I would keep them well watered and fertilize them following the instructions on the fertilizer carefully and be patient.

I love lilacs, but I don't have a place for any bushes that need sun. Instead, I have been boldly lingering at others properties and burying my face in the flowers with a silly smile on my face. Please enjoy and post a picture when it blooms! Ken, those bushes can barely hold those blooms! What a great Spring display.

Hi Sara, Boy it's so hard to recommend a rose sometimes. This relentless ridiculous humidity and heat has not been good for the garden. You did ask about the Veranda series. I just don't know what to say. Maybe they have not been fed well enough I don't really know. I can say that in high humidity the blooms are about the size of quarters if that. Since spring it has been humid and I've have not seen a bloom on Jolie that has not bull headed. Now she is only 2 years old. But I well be extremely surprised if she makes it to year three. Even thou I love my Cream Veranda, I don't believe she is that great in humidity. Great bush but the flowers are beginning to bother me. The same goes for Floral Fairy Tale. I now have 2 different FFT's. My original which behaves like Cream Veranda and the FFT not from Roses Unlimited. The RU rose may turn out to be a better rose but have not had it long enough to know yet. So far it is healthy with a much larger flower. I do believe that the Verandas would do very well in drier heat. I can recommend Golden Fairy Tale it is healthy. Not perfect but pretty darn good and flowers well. The others did not flower all that well for me but were healthy. I had them for 3 years shovel pruned in the fourth. This does not include FFT as it never did fit the style of fairy tale series. I am extremely happy with South Africa and Sunny Sky. If Plum Perfect makes it thru winter it is a winner here. Savannah is looking very vigorous and flowering a lot in it's first year but has anthracnose. Maybe that is my fault I don't know. The roses have been covered in dew all night every night for 2 months now. I'm very happy with Flamenco Rosita very healthy in its 2nd year. Nice sized blooms this year not huge but nice and unaffected by the humidity and heat. I have many more Kordes that are too young to comment on yet. Good luck in your search. I don't know about you but my energy is only going so far these days. I do have many other roses that are doing very well. Just not as double as you were asking about.