If you want to eliminate all blackspot, you will have to use a fungicide. Bayer Garden Disease Control (but NOT one of their combo types--read the labels carefully) is excellent, but is usually made up in a 2 gal. container. Do you need that much? If not, Daconil comes in a smaller ready-mix spray bottle. It is good, but not as good as the Bayer product. The reason you are not getting a strongly affirmative response is that spraying is a highly controversial topic. It may not be good for your health or for the environment--it may kill off some "good" bugs that you want in your garden. On the other hand, it is approved for use in the home garden (in which case, follow directions carefully). So you have to make up your own mind which way you want to go. Sometimes a rose gets a limited case of BS, so rather than spraying, many gardeners just tolerate the less than perfect leaves and pick them off (dispose in garbage, not in the compost pile) as they turn yellow. You don't want to pick off green leaves, if possible, because the plant gets its energy from the sun through the green leaves. I try to limit my spraying to a couple times in the spring and a couple times in the fall--the two periods of time most conducive to the formation of BS. Some gardeners spray every 2 weeks all season. Other gardeners refuse to spray under any conditions. In your case, I'd try first plucking off the yellow BS leaves and see if that is enough to get the problem under control. But if it kept on spreading and getting worse, then I'd use Bayer Garden Disease Control twice (about a week or 10 days a part). Kate

Kordes rule in my z5/6 no spray Massachusetts garden. I have also had great luck with some of the Easy Elegance roses. "Yellow Submarine" has gorgeous yellow blooms all summer, even though she only gets about 4 hours of sun, "Music Box" which was a brand new band last year so not prolific at flowering yet but has blooms of pink and yellow swirls and "Centennial" which sadly seems to be out of production and my favorite has beautiful softest pink to cream tea rose like blooms. No scent though. Yellow Submarine courtesy of rose solutions Macy's Pride courtesy Easy Elegance website All of the Easy elegance roses are own root grown and nursery stock has a two year guarantee. I have "Macy's Pride" on order another creamy/soft yellow rose. The only thing their roses lack is scent. For DA I have good luck with Heritage, Charlotte and Windermare which is a blooming machine though not heavily scented. Bolero was decent as was Julia Child although Julia is not very hardy. The Kordes were exceptional though and most came through the winter with very few issues, a few broken canes from heavy snow and minimal tip death. As a plus some of them even smell delicious :-) Sharon

I spray fungicides. I live near Ken and you cannot have a rose garden in this part of the country without spraying. Unless you are willing to let all the roses lose their leaves. I don't spray for bugs, except for thrips, and that is spot spraying on unopened buds only. Integrated Pest Management is a method where you decide what to do about each issue. Black spot is something we have to be pro-active about here. If I spray preventatively, I will actually spray less than if I waited for the BS to come. I don't want to use chemicals incorrectly. I follow the labels and use caution where recommended. It's a personal choice, but I don't fee that spraying fungicide every few weeks has had a negative impact on my yard. I only spray my roses, The spray goes on the roses, not into the air. I have a lot of other plants in my yard. I have a butterfly garden with bunches of plants that attract butterflies that doesn't get any spray at all.

I can't add to the great cabinet advice here, butI can speak to your timeline. Stop it! You *want* the house to be finished before you move in, but that's a wish, not a necessity. You will make far better decisions and deal better with the problems that arise if you set that timeline aside and just deal with what needs to happen. You can live without floors, but they are a pretty big deal (I hated the weeks on bare concrete floors post-flood), so get your floors down. Since you are paying for your GC's services, why exactly does he get to tell you that he 'won't' do floors until cabinets are in? That may be his preference (just as yours was to have this all completed before move-in), but that is just the way he wants to do it (less flooring that way), and as someone once said, 'you don't always get what you waa aant'). Here's what we determined we actually *needed* to be able to live in our post-flood house: walls, floor, and one functional bathroom. Get your flooring down. Toilet, sink, shower or tub. I second the suggestion to get an inexpensive pedestal sink or cheap big box vanity in the interim. You can sell it afterwards. One or two long folding tables in your kitchen work pretty well for prep, drying dishes, etc. One or two metal storage racks (on wheels if possible) such as Metro Commercial or Metro Kitchen from Container Store work wonders to temporarily replace cabinet storage. Helpful hint 1: you don't have to unpack ALL of your kitchen utensils, cookware, dishes, etc. Unpack only what you need, place on shelves, go about the business of living and take your time and make sound, non-emotional, non-urgent decisions about how to resolve the cabinet crisis. You have time, you just need to stop telling yourself that you *must* have this completed by x-date. Helpful hint 2: I love Container Store but the reference to their product was just a reference - you can find similar shelves at Home Depot, Lowes, or even Craig's List or a restaurant supply. Breathe.