I use sulfur. Some people mix sulfur and lime but I never do and I get good results. Stay away from those chemical fungicides, they work a little better for the short term. In the end you would be better off replacing the rose, rather than polluting your entire yard. Ill second what someone else wrote. Make sure the rose is planted properly, in good soil, at the proper height. Proper pruning is very important as well. Chances are if the entire plant is already infested with black spot you are going to lose the plant or just tolerate the black spot until it dies. I've seen roses live for years with black spot. The main thing to remember is it is contagious, so if you are growing only one rose it isn't so bad. If you have fifty roses, get rid of the infected plant.

Catmom, your mix sounds nice. You're another alcohol user (lol)! The lavender oil sounds like a nice touch...I love lavender! Thanks for naming a sealer brand too. Rockmanor, ooh, those Method products look so interesting! I always want to try them when I see them arranged so nicely on the shelves at Target. They look so pretty and smell so good. Nice to know you are pleased with their granite cleaner...will have to try it now! Nancy, thanks so much. That's good to know. I really want to try that polish, and since you've had a good experience, I feel more confident moving forward with it. I may try the cleaner too! I SO agree with you about the glass cooktop! I posted here when I got it in November, and on the Cooking forum as well! There was definitely a learning curve for both cleaning and cooking. I learned about Weiman's and BKF here when I posted. Got great advice that I have certainly put to use. Dlm2000, got me using microfiber cloths, and actually gave me the little kick I needed to get a pan out and start cooking on the thing. She told me not to pamper it, or be afraid of it, but to use it!! People really make a difference in other people's lives here...thanks, Dlm! Golddust, it will be our little secret...I won't say a thing around your granite about the years of abuse you've subjected it to! LOL! I'm just so paranoid about such things...especially since the stuff is so new! I believe with all my heart that your counters are gorgeous and in great shape. That's the way things roll for you Golddust! Maybe that's the takeway here...whatever you use, or do, you gotta have faith!

No worries on the hijacking. This thread ended up way more interesting than it started and got to the crux of the matter, even if I didn't realize that's I was really asking. The consensus thing is interesting and so right on. I am constantly looking for validation for my choices. I consider this to be a character flaw and I'm trying to change my ways. So the way I deal with things is to not tell anyone what our decision is (well other than a few people like the friend who has been weighing in on design decisions for years and people who I know will nod politely even if they hate it). It is easier for me to be all confident and take on the attitude of "it's my kitchen and therefore the opinions of my DH and I are the only that matter" when I've not opened myself up to hearing negative comments (real and perceived) about our choices. The second I hear something negative it takes a little joy out of it for me. Like I said, it's a character flaw. That's why I don't ask for opinions on GW unless I REALLY want to know the good the bad and the ugly of it. Because people here are honest. That's a good thing, by the way, because it's the kind of honestly you won't get from the "oh that's nice" nodders and sometimes you really need that. You'll notice, for instance, that I never came back to this thread to mention what the decision actually was or to report that I did make one (thankfully just a few days after starting this thread so I could move on with my life). People here tend to be much more positive when they see a kitchen finished not only because they see the whole vision completed but also because they realize that it's not changing now so there is no need to say anything but positive comments (that reaffirm those pesky decisions). The nightmare: a finished kitchen post that only gets a handful of comments because you know people are doing the whole "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything." And of course that's when you wish you had asked for some truthful opinions while you were making the decisions.

Stonegirl, I'm glad this question popped back to page one as I missed it when you replied. Nothing has been done yet on our stone as we've been waiting for all of the other subs to finish punch list items so the stone wouldn't have anymore contractors dragging ladders, dirt and who knows what else over my floors. I really appreciate the advice and I'm going to push DH to get a second opinion. We both want to get this over with so we're just tempted to jump in and have the work done. Right now I'm not sure if I'm communicating what he said properly. He uses Stonecare Pro Signature products and he said he would use some type of machine with water that would not create any dust when he does the floors. The limestone floors look really awful but the countertops look fine. It is only on close inspection that scratches are visible around sinks and faucets where the surface no longer has a polished appearance due to something heavy scraping across them. I really don't want to have the granite and marble counters polished in place because I figure I'll wait for that until I've really messed things up a few years done the line. I was just thinking that if the polished surface is gone then the fabricator's sealing has also been compromised. Since the price quoted for this work was so low at first I thought go for it. But, oddly enough one of the things that is scaring me the more I think about it is the $.75/sf cost because it seems so low. The countertops actually don't look bad but I don't want to leave them unprotected. Hope this makes sense.