Thanks Henry - you always come up with interesting articles. Jackie

The follwing was stated by jokewing: "jJust wondering why henry kuska ONLY makes posts having to do with diseases and death? Has anyone else noticed this? Why is he even worried about roses if the thinks they are so disease ridden? " H.Kuska comment: Jockewing, perhaps your own post is a good explanation as to why I feel knowledge about what is known/unknown about rose diseases is important. "Posted by jockewing 9a (My Page) on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 16:18 Yes Thornton, I hope you are right. With the amazing science we have today, I'm surprised more roses with such qualities have not been released. It just baffles me that the most beautiful flower we are able to grow is plagued with so many problems. Why must that be? There are so many beautiful plants that are such a breeze, but in my opinion nothing is so special as a classic hybrid tea rose. Why must they be plagued with so many diseases and pests? I admire the Knockouts, but I just don't think they are beautiful except perhaps in mass plantings from a distance, say at a commercial building or along the highway. We want giant flowered hybrid teas with the same vigor!!! It really makes me sad that virtually NO ONE I know in my area grows any classic hybrid teas at all, with may the exception of a few here or there, usually in an older neighborhood." http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0715030426702.html ----------------------------------------------- Additional H.Kuska comment: If you are interested in my other contributions to rose growing why not do a Google search with the search terms: "Henry Kuska" and roses or you could get a partial view at the following thread: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0411322117173.html Here is a link that might be useful: link to earlier thread This post was edited by henry_kuska on Sun, Oct 20, 13 at 16:33

Ann, the virus has been found in Bossier City (just about on I-20). http://bestofswla.com/2015/12/03/witchs-broom/ "Bossier shares most aspects of its climate with its sister city of Shreveport. The city has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers and mild winters. During the warmer months, the city is prone to severe thunderstorms which feature heavy rain, high winds, hail, and occasional tornadoes. The city has a slightly above average rate of tornadoes when compared to the US average.[15] Due to the flat topography of the city and the prominence of smaller waterways that are prone to backwater flooding from the Red River, the city occasionally experiences severe flooding events. A notable occurrence of severe flooding occurred in March 2016 after torrential rains caused a rapid rise of many local waterways, displacing upwards of 3500 people from their homes across the area.[16][17] Freezing and ice storms occasionally occur during the winter months." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossier_City,_Louisiana

"Palo verde witches broom disease occurs primarily in the blue palo verde tree Parkinsonia florida (Benth. ex A. Gray) S. Wats, which is native to the southwestern (SW) states of the US and northwestern Mexico. Symptoms of witches broom disease are manifest as dense clusters of short, flexible, thornless branches with stunted leaves, and branch dieback (Figure 1). With the increased popularity of the blue palo verde as a xeriscape tree in the SW-US, the disease has spread widely in both naturally-occurring and in nursery-grown trees, at >50% incidence in nursery-grown trees, alone." See: https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS-01-18-0124-PDN