I appreciate your input. I am at work, and hope this message goes through. These roses are about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I seldom prune them. The new canes have the dark red color, then turn grey as they get older. They tend to be rather ruddy, and have few if any thorns. A man told me once that I was not pruning my trees correctly, because my pruning was not right up next to the tree. He said that if I left a couple of inches, the part of the cane that was left would die off, and fall taking a plug from inside the tree with it, then that inside part would have to heal. I wondered if that was happening here. The roses could have fungus because I don't spray that much, but I have never seen this before and have 260 rose bushes. I see no sign of gall around the crown. We have cicadas galore, and there is a tree sort of north west of these roses. The cicadas could get into the roses. Barbara, I am considering sending the picture to our Rose Society President, but thought I would ask here first. Ann, you think it is stem gall, then? You know most of these pictures are from the ground. I have begun pruning the rose, and agree that it would be nice to let it come up from the ground first. Anita, that is interesting to me because about 4 years ago or more I pulled out 2 Betty Priors that I thought had gall on their stems. I know more now, and am more hesitant, but I think that the "no known pathogen" is interesting. Berndoodle, the sections that I have shown are where I have pruned large canes, I think. It is not a spontaneous occurrence on the rose. I cannot be positive, but the rose is large, and I have let it go. When some canes get in my way, I cut them off, but normally I don't prune it. I really think these spots are from pruning. For what it's worth last year was horrible for my roses. We had unseasonably hot weather in January, Feb, and March. Then I don't remember when, but we had single digit weather for quite a while. The roses were more than budding, some were quite advanced with the pulp completely in the canes. The sudden shock of the freezing weather created a great deal of damage. Must go now, but thanks for your input. I would like any other suggestions you might have. I have also thought of trying to send this picture to Mark Chamblee since he sells the Basye roses. Sammy

Laura You need to start walking past your rose bushes faster so you don't see these things. I'm sure I have similar problems but I don't look for or see them so they don't bother me. Always looking for problems takes much of the pleasure from growing roses. Having a no spray garden means I have to ignore all these things so I don't look for them. The miminal damage they cause is not worth worrying about. When you see the critters, use your fingers to smash them. That'll save a lot of time and get rid of much of your immediate problem. Your best source for insect identification is Baldo Villegas. His website is linked below and his e-mail address is on his website.E-mail him your pictures for an ID. Here is a link that might be useful: Baldo's sactrorose/rosebug website

Cat Deterrents for your Garden: Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), a deterrent that works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world.� After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'. * amonia soaked (corncobs, etc) * aluminum foil * bamboo skewers * black pepper * blood meal fertilizer * bramble cuttings * Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp * catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards) * cedar compost * chicken wire (metal or plastic) * cinnamon * citrus peels * citrus spray * cocoa bean shells * coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!) * dogs * electric fence for animals * essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils) * fresh manure(ditto) * garlic cloves * gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree * gutter covers * hardware cloth * heavy bark mulch * holly leaves * keep the area damp, they like dry soil * lavender * liquid manure (good for your garden too) * motion sensor sprinkler * pennyroyal * pinecones * pipe tobacco * plastic forks * predator urine * red wine vinegar * river rocks over the exposed soil * rocks, crushed * rose bush clippings * rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only) * short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart * six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up) * Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water * squirt gun with water * talk to your neighbors * tansy * thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings * toothpicks * upside down vinyl carpet * vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam * water bottle on "stream" NOT RECOMMENDED: *** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me. *** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way. Give them their own areas: (To keep them out of where you don't want them) (If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters) + pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later. + give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason) + if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too. + Barley Grass + Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store + Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade + Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.) + Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to. + Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum) + Flax + Oat Grass + Jacob's Ladder + Lemon Grass + Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch + Mints + Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out. + Sandy area + Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) + Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive) + Sweet grass + Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass) + Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips) + Wheat Grass + Wheat Berries + Valerian This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violet_z6@yahoo.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

Auther, In my garden, we have two types of voles. We have meadow voles that come in from the adjacent grasslands that surround us for miles around, and then we have the pine voles that live in the forested areas along the Red River and along all the creeks. The meadow voles seem to eat above-ground, and often they seem to nibble their way around the plant and pretty much sever it, just above ground most of the time, by girdling the plant. The bobcats that often appeared in our veggie gardens must have been controlling them pretty well because after we put up the 8' tall fence to keep out the deer, there no longer were any bobcats in the garden and the meadow vole population started getting out of control. Our pet cats stalk them and kill them, but the cats are inside more than they are outside so they cannot keep the rapidly-breeding voles totally under control. The pine voles live in our woodland (about 10 acres of our place is dense woodland) and they travel underground. I started finding their tunnels and holes in our veggie garden during the horrific drought year of 2011. I assume that prior to that they must have been pretty well-fed in the woods and didn't bother venturing up to the area where we have our house and other structures, lawn and garden areas. They seem to mostly devour things underground. They will eat away at the roots of a plant underground, and our first clue that they had invaded the back garden last year was when I went back there one morning and found a 4-year-old fig tree tilted at a crazy angle. As soon as I saw it, I knew in my heart the pine voles had eaten all its roots. I had kept that fig tree in a container from the time I purchased it in 2011 and had finally put it in the ground in May 2013. When I went into the garden and reached the fig tree, I grasped the trunk and gave it a gentle tug so I could guesstimate how bad the damage was....and it was bad. The entire tree came up in my hand and had only a couple of roots left and they were 3 or 4" long. I took the tree up to the barn, got a molasses feed tub (which was about the size of a half whiskey-barrel type planter), filled it with a soil-less growing mix, planted the remains of the fig tree into the mix, watered it in well, and then pruned the tree back to about a foot in height. I really didn't think the fig tree could survive the loss of most of its root system in the July heat, but I kept it in the shade and it did really well, putting out new roots and new growth. Since then, I've kept that one in the container and, so far, am ambivalent about whether or not I'll ever put it back into the ground. The voles haven't bothered the other fig tree in the garden that was growing about 15' from the one they devoured, so I might get brave and transplant the containerized one back into the garden next spring, or I might leave things the way they are---one fig tree in the ground and one in a container. Both have produced figs this summer, though the one in the ground produced more. As time went on, the voles ate other plant roots underground---dahlilas and other perennial flowers that have fleshy roots, tubers, or corms, zinnias, sunflowers, coneflowers, some pepper plants, ornamental sweet potatoes, etc. They particularly seem to enjoy eating moss rose. This year, so far, the only plants the pine voles have eaten (knock on wood) are moss rose, nasturtiums and southern pea plants. They've been moving down the rows of southern pea plants eating enough of the roots to kill a plant every day or so. Last year they absolutely devoured the florence fennel plants, so this year I put most of the florence fennel in containers, but put two plants in the ground and, as of yesterday, both those florence fennel plants are still there. Last year the pine voles ate both Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes but this year we rebuilt the raised beds we grow potatoes in and we lined the beds, including the bottom of the bed, with 1/4" hardware cloth. We didn't lose any Irish potatoes to them and so far we haven't lost any sweet potatoes to them either. Those beds are about 20" tall, and I don't think the voles can jump high enough to get into them. I cannot grow any sort of root crop any more without the voles getting them, so every year in the fall or winter we will dig up/dig out a raised bed (most of ours are 35-40' long and 4' wide) and line it with hardware cloth to keep out the pesky rodents. It is a huge pain in the neck to dig out all that soil, put down the hardware cloth, and then refill the beds, but the pesky little voles don't bother things in beds lined with hardware cloth, so it will be worth the time and effort to protect crops from them. Because we have acres of woodland, we'll never be free of the pine voles, so I just need to work at excluding them from the garden beds. I have been seeing lots of the cicadakiller holes that scottcalv described and we have them every year more or less in the same spots (which is mostly outside the cultivated garden, randomly in the yard but particularly in shady areas). Living in a rural area with abundant insect populations, we always have cicadakillers at this time of the year. The vole holes are slightly larger and often are freshly dug at night, so that I discover them for the first time the next morning. When our voles eat potatoes, the first clue is wilting foliage and then when you go to investigate, you discover the potatoes or sweet potatoes are gone. I've had some flowering plants recover from the damage, likely because the voles didn't eat enough of the roots, but annual veggies seldom recover. I really like moss rose and plant tons of it in the veggie garden because it attracts bees and other pollinators, but the voles are attracted to its fleshy growth that holds lots of moisture. I try to outsmart the voles by planting far more moss rose plants that they can eat in one year. This year we planted about 120 moss rose plants (all of which were volunteers from last year's plants, so I just dug up all the small volunteers and scattered them around the garden when I replanted them). We've only lost 5 or 6 of them to voles so far. Last year they got them all eventually. When I see a moss rose plant lying prostrate on the ground, I know what the voles had for dinner overnight. Dawn