where is What ?

looks nice..thought you gave up cake and sweets for lent...Cape Sunset is a very nice hybrid and I would trade with you if I already didn't have 2 of them in my collection

Maryl, if I were you, I'd experiment cutting the spraying times of those roses by half--and see what happens. You might be surprised how little spraying some of them need. As I've explained on some other posts, I don't spray new roses. I wait to see how disease-free they might be. And I somewhat adjust for season. Since BS is more problematic in the spring and fall but much less a problem in the HOT summers, I try not to spray at all during July and August--unless a rose starts having problems. And then I only spray that rose. I also periodically test roses to see if they can go an extra week or two before they start having problems. As a result, I know my roses' limitations well enough that I can divide them into three basic categories: 1) about 10 roses that will need spraying every two weeks during spring and fall; only 2 of those need an occasional spray during July-Aug. 2)a dozen or so roses that can last 3 weeks during spring and fall, but rarely need any July-Aug. spraying at all. 3) a couple dozen that almost never need any spraying--maybe once or twice in the spring and once or twice in the fall, but some not at all--never. I also have about a dozen new ones that I have not fully classified yet, but so far, only 1 of them has had significant disease-problems--but it is a sickly wimp that will hopefully grow stronger with time (or it's out of here). Now remember--I try to plant only roses which are proclaimed as disease-resistant and I do not crowd my roses--gotta have some air-flow. I also try to keep them generally healthy--food and water, with sufficient sun--so they don't become more vulnerable to disease. Only a couple of my roses are Knock Outs. The rest are Austins and other shrubs, HTs, floribundas, hybrid musks, grandifloras, rugosa, etc. That said, I can't assure you how such an experiment would work out for you. Although I'm only 30 miles from the Oklahoma border, I am in Zone 6, and if you also grow the more southern roses (antiques, OGRs, etc.), I have no experience with any of them. However, I am of the theory that for my area, some people spray much more than they need to. If only two roses are beginning to show BS spots, just spray them--don't spray all the other roses for another week or two--until they actually need the spray. I know "preventative" weekly or bi-weekly spraying is a near religion with some gardeners. Perhaps their regions differ significantly from mine. All I know is that my roses don't need that much attention. I discovered that by trial and error in my own garden. Kate

I am posting this note for Pat Sutton. She is leading wildlife garden tours to private gardens in Cape May County this summer. They are offered through the Nature Center At Cape May which can be accessed through the New Jersey Audubon web site. Cape May has a really strong gardening tradition and it is reflected in the gardens on Pat's tours. Pat is one of New Jersey's treasures, possibly the finest teacher-naturalist we have. So this is a chance to learn from the best.