Annececilia, My mossy rose galls look nothing like the "Lorax tree" type galls I saw when I looked up "robin's pincushions". I will attempt to post a pic. of mine later. Ann is right, "If you don't do anything, the problem will get worse." I have to admit that I saw a couple last year, didn't know what they were, and being busy, I ignored them. This year they are completely covering one of my rugosas. I believe they ARE harmful to the host plant. Here is a quote from the University of Minn. Extension: "The development of these galls is stimulated in the spring by newly hatched larvae. The galls encase the larvae until adult wasps emerge the following spring. The galls are unsightly and alter the plant�s shape. They also stress the host plant, behaving like nutrient sinks, drawing nutrients away from the rest of the plant. Large numbers of galls on a plant can kill the plant." I will try to show you a picture of mine later. They may be interesting, but dang they are UUUUGLY IMO.

Right now, you might want to plant massed species Marigolds in that spot, They're supposed to suppress the nematode populations that seem to be related to the ingress of A. tumefaciens into woody plants. Calendula is another nematode supressant. Jeri, I'm not sure about Carolina Lady. I've also read that it's very close to The Fairy, but I just don't see it being that close. LC seems to bloom a lot earlier and longer. I've got two huge ones (LC) on the fence line and so far haven't seen any gall problems with either. I think that there may be a systemic problem with a lot of The Fairys but the massed ones I had in New Orleans could live and bloom with it; now they've been replaced with a palm tree and azaleas. Once upon a time, rootstocks were chosen for their resistance to crown gall.

Thanks to both of you for your replies, I am a novice gardener at best and not very knowledgeable. It's disheartening to hear but what I expected. The rose has not bloomed yet (that picture is from a few years ago), which is typical based on my experience with it. It does have many buds tho that will probably burst within the next few weeks. So I should wait until its done blooming to prune? I bought a brand new pair of shears. I will disinfect both the old and the new from now on, but the old will only be used on this bush just to be extra safe. I'll let my neighbor know as well. I plan to prune back his growth, I know he won't mind. While I doubt he would ever remove the rose unless it were on its last legs, he has a significant bonsai collection and several other roses which I would hate to see suffer if he did not know to take precautions. I did see something about the Galltroll, but I couldn't find much information about it, and whether I could even purchase it or that it would be helpful for an already infected rose - but I am going to try to look into it further. Thanks again for all your help.

Do you think that there are any particular ingredients that the tomatoes would leach from the potting soil that I could add before I plant the roses next week? I will be putting in Mills Magic and will mix compost with the soil, but do you happen to know if tomatoes take out other nutrients? ***** Now you've got me confused a bit. LOL In your first post you said you'd been growing your tomatoes in pots and now wanted to plant roses in those same pots. I would assume, as I said above, that in those pots you had artificial mix and composted manure, probably, hopefully, both purchased. But now you're talking about tomato dirt. Do you mean that you just had real dirt, whatever that might be, in those pots instead of purchased artificial mix and composted manure? If using artificial mix and comosted manure in the pots anything grown in them will take up whatever nutrients are there and I assume you also fertilized your tomatoes as well, since the artificial mix is not a source of nutrients. I don't know what Mill's Magic is in terms of specific content. When I grow my roses they get fed nicely throughout the major part of the season but not in the Fall since I don't want new growth at that time. Wouldn't you also be feeding your new roses as well, like even maybe soaking them if they come bare root, in a solution that contains some NPK, either blue stuff such as MG or Peters, or if organic some liquid fish or seaweed? I always do that presoaking whenever new bareroot roses came. So right now I don't see the problem as regards having enough nutrients in those pots since you'll be adding it to those new roses once they've established themselves. If I'm missing something here, please share that with me/us. Carolyn