roseseek - exactly. Most of the kordes roses look so healthy, they reminded me of those knock-out roses. I like my Austins to bloom well, but at the same time, I don't like the rose bush to be covered in too many blooms that I can't see the foliage. How weird. blocke19 - I live in Victoria. Thanks for the suggestion. However, I'm a really shy person who prefers my own companion, if you know what I mean. Thanks anyway. Jerijen - I think your location is quite similar to mine. Your SDLM suffered from mildew, and so did mine. I remember you saying that Austins are thirsty shrubs and need plenty of water. I had to water mine regularly. I'm not too fond about growing teas, chinas and noisettes. I just don't like the foliage. The only tea rose that I would like to grow one day is Mme Berard. You're spot on about Teas being the right choice for my location. Every time I drive pass a few suburbs, I would see a tea rose flowering non-stop.

They are difficult to get rid of, especially if you don't use pesticides (which I don't). I spray the entire plant with soapy water then I get out the Q-tips, dip them in diluted rubbing alcohol and go over the entire plant. Those little buggers like to hide, especially in hard to reach areas. It's a good idea to go over the plant with the Q-tips every few days because they will inevitably reappear. I also wash down the affected plants with a strong spraying with the hose often. If you have beneficial insects they really help keep them in check. You also want to make sure that they haven't spread to any plants nearby. Good luck. Karyn

I used organicide while my plants were outside, before coming in for winter. It worked very well. I divided the gallon that I made between two trees (Bearrs lime and Pink Variegated Eureka). The plants did however smell bad for a good two weeks, and they had to go through two rain showers and a water down by me. The smell did disipate after a while. My only concern was that once they came in the trees dropped their leaves. I'm not sure if the organocide had anything to do with this, but it might have. So depending on how you feel about the product, go for it. I would use it again... only not indoors, and I would leave them out for about 3 weeks after spraying... oh, and I only sprayed once! I also have been using dishwashing liquid in water and spraying the trees everyday. This helps also.

This is what I use on scale when it shows up on my trees. It is 100% organic and gets rid of scale over night. It is also readily available at big box stores which is nice, you don't have to wait for mail order when you need it right away. Organocide 3-in-1 I believe it is sesame oil based, it is a great product and safe to use around kids and won't hurt beneficial insects, lol I sound like a salesman for them but it really does work well. http://www.yourplantdoctor.com/organocide-3-in-1-garden-spray-blog/ Evan