When I read about all the people on here that are involved with sidewalk trashed plant scooping I've come to the conclusion that we are the normal ones and it's the people that do not trash pick that are different. Or is it they are indifferent? Back a number of years (before trash pickup) when we HAD to bring our own trash to the dump, my wife would accuse me of bringing back more stuff than what I left with. Well yeah!! Now I ride my electric bicycle around the neighborhood and fill my bike basket with tossed goodies. The batteries will take me around 25 miles before running down but I can still pedal back. The silent running bike is great for spotting goodies. If I find something I can't carry on the bike I'll go back and get the pickup truck. I've even found an old abandoned citrus grove over run with pines and oak trees in my bike travels around two or three miles from here and will bring back the bike basket filled with oranges. Great for juicing. Lou

Thank you all so much for your words of wisdom! Diane & Seil, thank you for helping me regain my calm, my mind has been a bit frantic lately, coping with these unusual weather conditions! I definitely did not do any pruning last fall, I felt like I may have even been overly cautious, as I stopped pruning in late August & it didn't even start to get cold here until late November (also unusual), so it's definitely not that. We have just been having many very spring like days smack in the middle of what should be the coldest part of winter! Ann, Thank you so much for chiming in! I very much look forward to your posts & responses as we live so close and often are dealing with the same weather issues. I wish you had a blog or were an author or something so I could just read your gardening advice during all times of the year, concerning topics local to our region. I used to post under another name, Dinglehopp3r (a reference to a movie) but I felt like a name change was in order because it sounded too close to dingleberry (lol), I've received quite a bit of great advice from you in the past as well, so thank you. I googled chickweed as I had never before heard the name of that plant, but sure enough there is already tons of it growing in and around my beds, I had been wondering recently if I should be pulling it up, as I was afraid it may be wicking water and nutrients away from the roses during winter, but I'm glad I hadn't taken the time to do so yet. How handy that this little plentiful "weed" has a use all of its own. Luckily I only have basal breaks on the one Ducher, so I won't have to worry about doing this for many roses, and this particular Ducher grew by leaps and bounds last summer, it seems to be quite happy where it is, so hopefully if it does take some damage, it will continue growing at this pace next year. Buford thank you for chiming in as well, since we are fairly close neighbors as well I value your input on this matter. A very big thanks to you all! I know you all must be chomping at the bit for spring to come just as I am! Hopefully the ups and downs of temperature this spring will be gentle on us and our gardens! Jessica

I volunteer in a public garden where we have lost dozens of bushes to RRD. Ann nicely gave you all the points that indicate the bush is infected, and I agree with her. At our garden, we dig up bushes like this and work over the whole area to get as much of the root as we can find. If we think mites may be present we spray with super hold hairspray to try and immobilize them. Then we put the whole rose in a contractor bag (supersize heavy duty trash bag) and seal it with stretch tie or duct tape. These "body bags"-- as we call them-- are then taken immediately to a covered dumpster which sits in a paved service area. We are finding that the replacement roses are often infected within the first year, often with the infection showing at the base of the plant. Whether this means the infection is coming from the roots or whether the area is just subject to swirling winds (downdrafts) we cannot be certain. Zoo staff are sick of purchasing replacements, so slowly but surely there are fewer and fewer roses in this garden. Now we have a 5 X 60 foot bed of lantana in front, and a 6 X 120 foot hedge of variegated holly where there used to be a hedge of red and pink KnockOuts. Two more island beds are slated for removal this year and I'm sick about it.

Wow that is much more encouraging news than I'd suspected! Thank you so much for chiming in Ann and reassuring me on most of these roses! None of your messages were "dig this rose out immediately" so at least I get to stall for a while! I'm glad to hear some of these bizarre foliage symptoms can have causes other than RRD. We definitely had a sudden burst of extremely hot weather in early June after a cool wet May (like going from 60's to 90's for several weeks nonstop) so that could explain some of the odd growth patterns. The chlorosis isn't something I'd normally be that concerned about so if there's not any pattern of explanation for RRD, I'll let it ride. You are absolutely right that we never get rust around here except maybe in late fall, so I have no idea it could look any different than the "cheetos" dusting I've seen on photos. Again, it's a relief to have that foliage explained by something that around here at least is temporary. For Sweet Vivien, I'll let you know if she ever gets those particular canes longer than 6" and post some pictures. She's a short rose at best and is at present only 18" tall tops, so I can't tell what her canes would look like with 6" on them. For Darlow's Enigma, I could try to tell you what the sexual parts of his blooms look like, but I'm not sure I can identify the sexual parts of most mammals much less plants. I can try taking some more pictures of the suspect growth from a top angle and hopefully that will capture the parts in question. I'll definitely keep my eyes out for rogue RRD sprigs from roots nearby. One of my neighbors had a tiny sprig from the ground that looks like RRD, so I'll go dig that out for her. The tenacious roots of Dr. Huey make it not surprising that other rose growth could be lasting beyond the original bush. Rifls, I'm glad that Garden Delight is doing so well for you! I love that rose bush, and mine is particularly robust being from Palatine. Mine is incredibly hardy and makes a good pair with Firebird Citiscape. JC_7a_MiddleTN I am grateful that you posted with an indication that those hyperthorny canes might be normal for Inspiration!! It might make the equally hyperthorny menace of Cape Diamond less troublesome too since both are canes that don't have a finger's distance of space without lethal thorns on them. If they're potentially OK I'll leave them be until I see more signs of trouble. I'll probably post a few more pictures of roses that worry me, but I'm grateful that the odd signs I've seen so far aren't things to immediately worry about yet. I'll also post some photos of Typhoid Robin from last fall to demonstrate that I can indeed identify RRD when it's obvious :(. Thanks so much for your input! This was a lovely birthday present of good news Cynthia