It seems really strange that these particular roses all of a sudden died, while all your others are doing fine. I hope someone can get to the bottom of this. I would think they would have adapted to drought conditions the same as all your other roses. Besides, thirsty plants show thirsty plant symptoms for a while before dying, which usually isn't new growth before dying. Maybe there is a specific illness that struck just the noisettes, or an animal that likes those particular roots. Although tragic, I hope that is all the problem is. The other thought I have is that someone has done you harm by using a herbicide. I have run across the (rare) neighbor (usually the type that sit on their duff and watch T.V. all day) become very jealous of my yard and the fact that I am actually working in it. The comments they made were obnoxious. Fortunately, most people are nice. For 3 years I battled someone turning random drip irrigation tubes off in the hottest part of summer, as well as a couple of pvc irrigation pipes being chisled to the point of emptying our well out before I caught the problem. At the time the pipes were well hidden from the street because of all the large Knockouts I had. (Fortunately the well replenished itself quickly). The drip tube heads are the type that have to be twisted on or off. I checked with irrigation professionals to be sure that pressure changes couldn't cause that. They said no, that they had to be deliberately turned. Smashed sprinkler heads last summer too. I have lived here 11 years with no sprinkler head problems, and all of a sudden in a 6 week period 8 heads at a time were smashed. I live in a nice gated neighborhood. It is hard to think someone who lives here would do these things, but their are nut cases in all walks of life, including professional people. I had my suspicions about a "friend" who lives in here that I found out was extremely jealous of me. (No longer a friend, neeedless to say). Putting two and two together, the problems started after this "friend" moved here. I had no prior problems to this. I finally got the word out that we were going to put surveillance cameras up, and that I was going to prosecute whoever was doing this. Soon afterwards, the problems stopped. I hope it stays stopped. It is difficult for those of us who are kind to fathom that someone could become jealous in the first place, let alone act on it. Unfortunately it happens. Sandy

Cear ... If you want to keep them looking absolutely perfect, you can stop each day and snap off each and every faded bloom, leaving the rest to open. I do that, on some cluster-flowering roses, snapping off the faded ones as I pass by. But on a mature Blush Noisette, that is going to eat up so much time, it will drive you up the wall. B.N. does NOT drop its faded blooms. In my climate, they sit there, and turn brown. On a mature plant, there can be so many clusters of so many blooms, removing them can be a full-time job. I've learned to ignore the faded blooms. When the flush is winding down, you'll see that new buds are already forming. Snip off the entire ratty old cluster -- and I do this as high as I can. If there's not a handy bud eye to cut to, I have been known to grab the whole cluster in my left hand, and whack off the blooms ABOVE where they emerge from the cane. The plant will decide where to put out new growth, and I can always clean up later. I just finished doing this to my Roseville Noisettes, and I started on "Jacob Zeisz" this morning, before the sun came out from the clouds and drove me into the house. I'll continue tomorrow. It's a big rose now, with literally hundreds of clusters, so it takes some time, even doing it that way. Jeri

Thank you so much Jeannie -- We live not far from the water but up on a hill not too far from the Verazzano Narrows. I so feel sorry for the poor people in Staten Island and on the Jersey and Long Island barrier islands who lost everything. And also downtown Manhattan. The darkened skyline was so very sad looking, when we walked down to the pier to look. It reminded me of 9/11. There was noticeable debris -- chairs, and wooden boards washed up on the rocks, but people were fishing and jogging unconcernedly. Another walk -- to Sunset Park in the other direction --revealed the same unearthly sight of a darkened skyline and Statue of Liberty. But even there there were children on swings, as usual. Nor was Halloween affected. For our part, we didn't lose power and our basement miraculously didn't flood. We had cleaned out the gutters, filled the bath tub, made chili and brownies and brought the houseplants plants inside. My shrubs and perennials in containers (many slated to be gifts for friends) stayed outside and weren't affected. An exception was my little plastic greenhouse that blew up to the top of the retaining wall, despite the cement block I had put in it to keep it down. Otherwise, our garden, an eternal work in progress, appreciated the rain very much. Starting Tuesday, Verizon took away our cell-phone and internet for 48 hours. I suppose they needed the interchanges for other people. And there is no gas -- it was like a zombie movie. But one doesn't need a car here. For the most part it was not the wind but the tidal surge in low areas and then the gas shortage that have been disruptive. The gas stations are still closed, but most subway lines are running. There is a nip in the air, though, and tomorrow we are going to have another storm.

Hi Barb - click "My Page" in my post, then click "Send me an email". Not all users allow email so you won't see that link on all members' pages. I'm in the Pomona/Claremont area. I haven't pruned it yet and much of the root ball is still in the ground, but I will prune it down to a manageable size when it is taken. I estimate the root ball to be a couple of feet wide (without soil) but I can't say for sure.