I have read several times that roses may be susceptible to BS when they are young, but as they go into their 2nd or 3rd year, they become resistant. It may be too early to judge Brite Eye's BS resistance.

Cheers,
Michelle

Brite Eyes is ½ Abraham Darby which is a well known not resistant to BS rose... Just because the rose is hybridized by Radler doesn't mean it is infallible...

Well indeed but... it IS marketed as "disease resistant". I did LOADS of research both online and locally to try and discover which roses might work for a newbie in a bad BS zone, and this one looked promising. Not only the "official" reputation, but also a large nursery I spoke to in this region when I was trying to find it last year recommended it for that reason.

BTW, this is the info on the starroses page "The most blackspot resistance climber we have ever introduced! Brite Eyes(TM) is another breaktrough rose bred by the famous Knock Out® Breeder, William Radler. It has an amazing salmon pink color and a pleasing fragrance. The compact growth habit makes it perfect for smaller gardens. The first of many winter hardy and disease resistant climbers we will introduce in the coming years."

But, it would appear that for whatever reason it's not as disease-resistant as its KO cousins. I can understand a marketing department wanting to jump on the KO bandwagon, but if a plant piggybacks on that reputation and then DOESN'T do well... I wonder how that will play out? ::muses:

In any case, my primary goal right now is to try and get it through its first year and hope that it starts to cope. All suggestions to nurse it along welcome!

Once a week of the bayer should be enough. Hopefully it will get more resistant as it gets older. I'd switch to the Bayer Disease Control so you aren't spraying an insecticide too though.

I'm with athenainwi, you need to switch to Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs Concentrate. The hose end product you are using has a lower percent of the fungicide you need, and insecticides that you don't need. I have found in the past that hose end sprayers for fungicides are not as effective as pump sprayers, which provide a finer spray and better coating. Apply once a week (I think buford recommended this in another post).

Hello Divamum - My Brite Eyes climber will be 3 years old this summer and I haven't have any problems with BS, but I do spray with the Bayer Disease Control about every 7-10 days. Last year this climber started putting out some some really nice growth and I was really pleased since it was small when I planted it the year before.

My main gripe is that the darn Japanese beetles absolutely love the blooms on this rose. They ignored the other roses close by and would feast on this rose's blooms. They seem drawn to this particular rose for some reason.

Once you get the BS under control, you will love the blooms on this rose. They're a peachy pink with a yellow eye.

The canes are so sturdy I don't even have to use a trellis; it is more of a self-supporting pillar rose. I took this pic on Sunday. I should mention also that I'm in Zone 5 and I didn't do any winter protection and this rose did not suffer very much cane dieback, which is a big plus. There's a lot of new growth at the bottom, which you can't see because it's hidden by other plants.

Here's a pic of how sturdy this rose's canes are. I think you'll love this rose once you get the BS under control; it's one of my favorites.
-Terry

{{gwi:280095}}

You should spray every seven to ten days, rain or shine. Once the spray has dried, no amount of rain will wash it off.

Terry, I love all the columbines in your garden! Is that a lilac in the back?

Cheers,
Michelle

Hello Michelle - yes; I think it is a Korean lilac bush. They're not supposed to get very big. This is actually the first year it has had very good blooms. I bought is about 5 years ago as a quart size and it is finally producing a lot of blossoms, which are a very pretty fosted pink color. I have a pink clematis planted right behind it. I'm over run with clematis; I have a couple of mother plants that have mixed and they produce babies everywhere, so I transplant them all over the yard. Never know what colors their babies will be..I get white, lavender, pink, etc. Weirdest thing.

I planted a couple of columbines a few years back and they mass produce by seeds also. Plant one; get many. Colorado is a great place to grow columbines. I'll bet you have quite a few also.
Smiles,
Terry

Thanks all. After hitting quite a few different local nurseries, I FINALLY found the Advanced Rose Disease y'all recommend; it was hard to find, though (everywhere had the all in one and the hose sprayer one, but the rose disease version was not so readily available...)

I guess I'll still give it the full week since the last spraying, thus it'll now be next week before I can give it another dose. It's allegedly warming up and drying out for a few days, although if the temps start to go up the humidity can't be far behind, so I don't imagine that'll give the poor little guys much of a respite! They're still putting out new growth so they seem to be coping (more or less) but they really had it BAD compared to the other roses.

In any case, thanks again!

Thanks for the info, Terri. I obviously need dwarf lilacs! :-) And more columbines! Wow.

Good luck with the Brite Eyes, DivaMum.

Cheers,
Michelle

Update on this (just in case somebody searches it):

A couple of weeks on in the ground, higher temps and two applications of Bayer later and Brite Eyes is blooming its fool head off. Very pretty flowers that read as a sort of variegated salmon rather than two distinct colours of yellow and pink. Delicate but lovely scent.

And now that it has finally stopped raining (for the time being, anyway!) it is throwing off the blackspot - rather like my New Dawn, it's getting a bit, but shrugging it off. TONS of new growth, which is a pleasant surprise since I had to pull off so many leaves when I got it I was concerned it might not survive!

It seems to particularly welcome good circulation - I have two, planted in very different parts of the yard, and the one that's got more airspace around it seems to be growing faster and blooming more (they both get good sun). FWIW.

In any case, my initial concerns and disappointment seem to have been unfounded, so I figured I should say so!! :)