I spray with Honor Guard, which is a cheaper version of Banner Maxx. It is a version of what is in Bayer Disease Control,only lasts longer - up to three weeks. I get it from Rosemania.com. It is pricey, but lasts a long time, as you only use a little of it at a time. I also use Response with it, which is a solution of seaweed, and I also use Indicate 5 - a spreader sticker. Oh, and I use Messenger, too, but spray it separately. I strongly recommend getting a chemical mask - not too expensive at one of the box stores, along with goggles. This will prevent inhaling chemicals, plus protect against what dallasguy got - a faceful! I use the mask with anything I don't want to inhale - including the organic fertilizers which have powdery ingredients like alfalfa. It is just being smart - if you smell it, you are inhaling it. I always wonder why pest control men go around spraying without masks and say that to them. Of course, they just shrug their shoulders. Also, wear long sleeves, a hat, long pants and chemical resistant gloves. I use the disposables - also at the box stores. After you spray, wash these clothes separately from the others, and, of course, take a shower. With a small garden, you can use Bayer All-in-One poured in the ground, and I know a lot of people who do it successfully. But - even when mixing that up, I would use my mask. Again - it's just common sense to me. I have a lot of hybrid teas in addition to floribundas, shrubs, minis and climbers. In the summer, their bloom size decreases, but revive in the fall with huge blooms - often into December. The floribundas bloom more in the summer and size of blooms seems the same. Anyway, growing roses in blackspot prone areas is a challenge, but the spectacular blooms and long season makes it worth it to me.

Linda your rose look like GAT to me. I got my GAT from an OGR nursery. The Rose is grafted on Rosa Canina rootstock Ann! I can testify that GAT really is a rose that is hard to grow well, since it is so prone to fungal diseases. It gets PM and BS really bad in spite of spraying. But some years it has looked really great with hundreds of flowers. This year it got damaged by a hard late frost and already has BS really bad. I took this picture tonight:

Thanks so much everyone! Now at least I know that Bourbons can do OK without a cold winter. I never spray anything anymore, so the mildew is a problem. I now remember that years ago I did try Zephirine Drauhin and Madame Isaac Perriere. Unfortunately, ZD turned white from mildew (the entire bush, including the blooms), and stayed that way, unless I drenched it with fungicide every day. Also no luck with MIP - 100% balling of the flowers. I got tired of going out each morning to open them manually, although when 1 in 100 did open successfully, they were gorgeous. So, maybe I will try "local knowledge", and try growing Pierre de St. Cyr or Mlle Blanche Laffitte. Noisette and/or china in their makeup might help. We are at least 5 miles from the ocean here, but only 4 blocks from SF Bay. Hot dry summers, but we do sometimes have foggy/ overcast Springs. Campanula, I smiled at your comment that they might get very large in our warm climate. The ONLY roses I have in my garden (aside from some sad HTs and some other roses that are growing in shade) that are NOT huge are miniatures and a few polyanthas. The rest of them seem to feel that it is necessary to get at least 3 times larger than the rose books say they will. I know better now, but when I was first planting roses 20 years ago I did not. Consequently our garden is sprinkled with free standing structures and large arches that my husband had to build after the fact to support roses that I planted that were not supposed to be "climbers". Actually, some of them probably are not climbers - they are just 10' x 10' x 8' . Jackie

Congratulations, Sheba! yes, cut off the flower buds! OFTEN, a cutting will throw flowers instead of rooting. That uses all the energy stored in the cutting and then they collapse. Yours may be rooted, and still try flowering. Don't let them. Flowering utilizes stored nutrients and it will need those to continue maturing. Once it's well rooted and growing, there will be plenty of time to enjoy the flowers. Take the callused cuttings and plant them. Since you're in the fog belt, I wouldn't plant them deeply in the pots as I have on my blog. Those I did in the more arid, hotter, more brilliantly sunny Encino area of Los Angeles. You're in a cooler, wetter area and planting them deeply to keep them cool, dark and damp (which is required where it is hot, dry and brilliant) may cause them to rot. I would plant them in potting soil (whichever type you prefer, including a seed starter mix type, but what works best for you where you are) with the callus as far under the soil as you would normally plant the roots. Put them in filtered light somewhere outside where the green parts of the cuttings will use the available light to photosynthesize the food they need to root and grow. Keep them watered as you would any other rooted cutting or immature plant. You should notice them begin to leaf out and produce roots with any warmth. Planting them outdoors in the more protected, filtered light conditions will make them harden off as they grow, making it easier to move into sunlight than those you've started under the plastic bottles. As with the others, if these should try to flower, don't let them. Why waste the nutrients they need to mature on premature flowers? Flowering is ovulation, in attempts to get pregnant to perpetuate the species. The cuttings "think" they are going to die so they are trying to reproduce before they do. Not letting them flower will push them to mature faster and prevent them from possibly, literally "blooming themselves to death". Congratulations!