Thank you all for the information and answering my questions. I'm sorry if in my wanting to understand the source of my RMV infected plant, I gave the wrong impression of this nursery. I have purchased several wonderful rose plants from them, none of which have RMV signs and they have been through drought/heat stress for the past three summers. My call to them probably raised concern. I believe them when they say they haven't seen signs in their mother plants, because as Malcom said, their part of the country hasn't yet experienced symptom promoting weather. I received the Ingrid Bergman rose without markings in late winter/early spring. The signs didn't appear until we had a triple digit heat wave. The owner pointed me to Jeri's article, so they aren't hiding information. However, there is a lot of conflicting information out there (this thread proves that). On the web, I saw many rose societies recommending digging out the infected RMV plant and to replace soil or clear out all roots. Quoting from the American Rose Society, "RM is believed to be non-contagious in the field, except possibly through rare natural root grafts". The nursery owners probably want to believe and hope that my soil contained roots from a previously infected rose. Even if they didn't admit it to me, they have to know there is a likely possibility that one or more of their mother plants could be the culprit(s). I didn't expect a replacement plant. I told them that if they get additional reports from customers to please remember me. The owner said she wanted to help me now. They must have some confidence in their stock, otherwise they wouldn't send me another plant of the same variety. The replacement plant will be exposed to the same drought/heat conditions in my garden. I had to look up the meaning of roguing fields = refers to the act of identifying and removing plants with undesirable characteristics from agricultural fields. What a daunting task when the mother plants show no signs of infection. A rose nursery has to endure many challenges and many have gone out of business. This nursery is a great source for hard to find roses. I have no problems buying from them in the future, because they have treated me well as a customer.

"Propagation: Rosa Damascena is propagated through one year old stem cuttings. It can also be propagated through the divisions of old plant, lateral sprouts with roots and seeds. Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2478/V10133-010-0032-4 ---------------------------------------------- " The cultivars and ecotype of Rosa damascena Mill. have been grown by using cutting or two old-suckers for many years" "Stem cuttings are collected at the time of pruning in mid October to end of December; 20 cm long, 0.75-1.50 cm thick cuttings are planted in nursery; 2/3 of the stem length is inserted into soil. IB A @ 200-250 ppm is given to induce rooting. These cuttings are ready after one year for transplanting into main field." "Rooted stem cuttings are taken out from nursery and put in the pits." "The best time of transplanting of rooted cuttings in the field is mid of November to mid January. " http://www.plantsrescue.com/tag/damask-rose/

Sorry, Sara-Ann! I have a few grafted Austins (most I own are own root) and a few have RMV. I lost more than half of the canes on one of my Claire Austin shrubs this winter that has RMV. It looks ugly, lopsided, and is not bouncing back. I bought it from a local nursery and so it could not be replaced by DA and the nursery has no guarantee on their roses. I ripped out 5 A Shropshire Lad last year that all had RMV and failed to grow much at all. DA offered to replace them but couldn't guarantee I could get own root ones (what I had originally ordered) and I just dropped it. My Gertrude Gekyll with RMV is just as vigorous as the other two I have and so no plans on taking it out at this time - interesting the difference. How long have you had LOS? Did you get it directly from DA? I wouldn't hesitate to call them and get it replaced. I was told they rogue infected roses in their field during the season but, as you know, it only may show itself intermittently and so I'm sure many go undetected. At least they have a guarantee. LOS is beautiful and I hope you can continue to have her in your garden.

I went to Home Depot in Santa Clarita today and saw RMV on the Iceberg roses they were selling. I asked the manager about it and he said the grower assured him they were treated. I let him know that heat treatment is the only way and the grower is not going to do that for Iceberg roses. He claims that Lowe's uses the same grower, but I don't know if that's true. So, I'll probably see RMV popping up all over my city. Iceberg is the most planted rose in this area.