The strangest thing that happened to me was that Colette-- 100% blackspot-free without spraying for maybe seven years-- got terrible (100%) blackspot on the damaged growth. That part I understand, except it's puzzling how the spores so quickly got all over a big plant that had never shown symptoms. Then new basals, which should not have been affected by the freeze, grew up through the mess, and their leaves all got blackspot. Eventually I defoliated the plant competely and took the occasion to remove the old canes, so now it is leafing out on the green canes with, so far, nothing more than the usual cercospora spots.

One possibility is that it has lost its immunity owing to the coincidental arrival of a new race of blackspot.

The other is that some weird transference of the freeze shock affected the subsequent new growth and its foliage even months after the freeze. How could that happen?

Those basals started two or three weeks after the freeze and grew normally to 6-8' length. As soon as we started getting spatters of rain in June, their leaves started blackspotting.

Michael, my sister grows Colette here in MD and it is always covered in BSed leaves or nakked. Every time you mentioned you Clette is healthy I was wondering, how come it can be so differnt.
I noticed before that there are some roses that can stay pretty healthy for several years and then suddenly get BS so bad that it is almost impossible to get rid of it.
Examples of such roses in my garden were Baby Love, Sunsprite, Rio Samba, Midas Touch. I don't grow them anymore, it was impossible to keep them clean after that.

Ann, my roses recovered quite fast after the spring damage. Only Tess of Dubreville (sp?) still can't recover until now. I water my roses deeply 3-4 times per week. I know your theory about winter hardiness and watering, but somehow I don't think it is applicable to my garden/climate. I tried in the past not to water at the end of summer and lost more canes then usual during the following winter.
Olga

I think the more new growth at the time of the freeze, the worse the damage was. Because the spring was so warm, so early, I had a lot of new growth, buds and even blooms.

Yesterday I just finished cutting off dead growth from my miniature gardenias. I thought they were done for. But they've come back and I even had some blooms. Although they are now half the size they were before the freeze.

It's weird, because these plants can take these temps and lower in the winter, but the tender new growth made them vulnerable.

The change in Colette outlines my worry that some of these formerly strong roses may come out of this quite a bit weaker and/or more susceptible to fungal problems in the future.
Olga,
I'm not sure what it's going to take to restrengthen our roses. I think there are things we wish we knew on a class by class basis. But the more I search what's written about roses for the past two centuries (thank you Google), the less seems to have been written down. I just don't think that in 200 years that every year, roses made it through winter and spring freezes without damage. I'd guess that not everyone moved their roses to greenhouses every winter.
But there's not that much info out there. Climate info is there. But fitting rose info onto a climate grid is harder.

My chinas and teas that came through their first winter in my garden were significantly damaged by the Easter freeze...are only now really putting out new growth to any degree.

Robert

My roses did not suffer much aside from the bud freeze. My hydrangeas did have buds frozen. I have not noticed any non normal diseases, the BS I have, I believe to be normal. I have mild PM on Hippolyte.
The roses are doing well if the danged beetles would die.

Carla

What Olga said about Colette suggests I just got a new race of blackspot in the garden. I had heard somebody else say her Colette got BS, but I wondered if it was just cercospora. Olga of course knows the difference.

Here's my favorite story about races of blackspot. At the no-spray Red Cross garden, they planted Baby Love, "the most disease-resistant rose in the world." It was perfect for three or four years, so they planted another one 50 yards away, not touching another rose. Then the original one suddenly got virulent BS and defoliated completely within about a month-- I watched this happen. So they had to remove the bad plant, but the second one has gone for years without catching the demon strain, last time I looked, anyway. Sooner or later a gardener will carry it over there on his hands, assuming some of it is on the first BL's neighbors.

My Sunsprite was immune for years and then very susceptible. Sunsprite is a grandparent of Colette. This kind of brittle immmunity seems to be associated with yellow roses and shiny foliage.

But I also had unusual blackspot on the damaged shoots of other roses such as Clair Matin and Mme Plantier.

Michael,
I remember that Baby Love and the disaster it became.
Is Mayflower (the supposedly BS resistant Austin) planted in nearly the same spot? Last year, fall IIRC, Mayflower looked good. This spring, after the freeze, not so good.

If things have gone according to plan (and J&P fiscal support was supposed to be there), the local ag campus was supposed to be doing a BS race study. I need to see what's come of that. And if there's anything new from Auburn or Clemson?

I think it would be wise to keep this thread going. I do not believe we have seen the last of the damage because some more of it could show up next spring. Plants that have been in a weakened condition this year may not make it through winter for next year. I think it would be wise to make notes of who is not doing well at all, who is trying to make it, and who is unphased and doing well. Some have commented on other plants' conditions related to surviving. I think it is valuable. Also, I think that we ought to, where possible, note the condition of the fruit crops because many of them are in the rose family.

I have out of desperation to try to save my garden been using Messenger this year and am seeing some promising results on plants that were in bad shape. Some are not responding to anything, but some are making a comeback. I am making a photographic record of a set of the same 5 roses every weekend to track progress. Some I am photographing when they look good but not regularly. As of right now, the new growth that I am getting since using Messenger and the Bayer sprays is absolutely clean even on Barbara Streisand, my blackspot indicator. There may be hope, but I think we need to pool our knowledge and experience to get through this.

One other small thing. If you have a no-spray garden, do you have a no-housework house?

The sudden freeze in early April (we got snow) hurt many things in the garden, including vitex, variegated sambucus, cornus controversa, oakleaf hydrangea 'Alice' and, oddly, 'Annabelle' hydrangea. Most of these plants have recovered, though 'Annabelle' looks so miserable that it may be she needs to be moved.

New growth on the roses got nipped but, perhaps because I am north and had no flower buds to speak of, there was no lasting damage and the roses recovered quickly. The ones that are typically BS-prone have some BS. The others do not. No PM. Now, all my roses except 'Paul Neyron' are pretty cold tolerant anyhow, so maybe that matters.

I don't water the roses now that they've been in the ground for two full growing seasons - drought or no drought. Most are not repeat bloomers.

I really missed my hydrangea blooms this year.

Carla

Carla, I missed mine too - I love hydrangeas. I've commission Drew to find a hydrangea protection system before next spring.

I think my roses recovered within the month. Basically, I had to reprune - I've heard other report it in those same terms. Spring flush postponed, but not lost. Only one rose was pitiful for a while and that was a tea. It recently grew a new basal, so I am going to pronounce it recovered.

As to the BS, I've had some these last two weeks, but mostly on the HTs and other not-so-resistant bushes. I've not seen it on the roses I consider resistant. I feel like the BS is more the gardener's issue. It was hot and dry and I didn't get around to spraying and then it rained for several days and it was still hot. Instant BS.

The only rose that I question is Playboy which seems to have lost its usual good health altogether.

Yes, I basically had to reprune, mostly the HTs, but any plants that was well leafed out.

I'm lucky my hydrangeas came back strong. But some of my roses are still recovering. The most confusing to me are Melody Parfume and Rose Rhapsody. Previously they never had BS, even before I sprayed and everything else had it. I did move both of them, but only slightly. I'll have to see how they do next spring, but both have bare legs. Luckily I moved them to the rear of the bed.

JFYI, Pat Henry said her Italian roses fared better than others.

My Hawkeye Belle suffered wind damage during the freeze and literally will be lucky to survive the summer. I have had her for years and she was a work horse...this is heartbreaking. She was 5 feet by 4 feet and always blooming. This year she is sticks and small deformed flowers, even after I cut her back. I had high hopes she would bounce back, but that is not what I am seeing.

:o(

Ronda

The only real good thing about this year is that the late frost killed all of the helicopters (maple seeds.)
I was on my roof this last weekend and I was shocked to find clean gutters.

With my creative sort of gardening I usually wait unit a small forest is growing there, before taking climbing to that higher realm.

My Colette came through the freeze untouched, undamaged and with no spots. Colette started blooming a week after the freeze. She was covered with blooms when we returned from Europe and still has a few buds or blooms despite total neglect and the extreme drought (there was no rain here in May, June and the first three weeks in July.

I lost 2 HTs to the freeze; this incident came as a relief since I was considering SP them. Quite a number of roses in the front garden suffered bud or tip damage; the damage didnÂt show up right after the freeze but 10 days after or even later.

The real enigma for me is the different behavior of Marechal Niel and Gloire de Dijon. Gloire the Dijon suffered so bad that I still don't know if it will make it or not -in spite of its position on the pergola in the back, close to the house which is a protected spot; Crepuscule on the same structure suffered no damage. On the other hand, the free standing Marechal Niel, the most tender of my all roses suffered no damage, and few days after the freeze started blooming more than any other rose in my garden with the exception of Colette.

Many of the newer hydrangeas bloom on new wood so a cold snap should not bother them. Some varieties, Penny Mac, Endless Summer and I believe my new favorite, Lime Light.
It is a super bloomer,cut flower and great for fall color.
Buff