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.

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.

I've found galls twice before: once,last fall, on Mme. Berkeley;I'd dug it out to move it and there was a gall at the base, but as in this case of ExVS,it was only one area of a large,mature root mass,so I cut it out and re-planted the Madame in a different spot; so far it looks ok; only had one flower, but it was just moved. Brise Parfum was a different story: the plant clearly wasn't growing at all,just dying off,and when I dug it up, it looked sort of like Sutekesh's picture,in the sense that the whole base was galled. That got thrown away in the trash. In both cases, the plants didn't have proper soil at all. What makes me perplexed about this case of ExVS is that I wasn't planning on moving it,so I can't really see what's going on below the soil surface. So I guess what I'm asking is really : will it be safe for the surrounding roses if I just leave this ExVS where it is and see how it goes, or should I dig it out? Seems a bit paranoid to dig it out, I guess...

LOL!! Thank you, cecily! We are in love with our little, old "new" house! And of course we are in love with our pussycats, who LOVE being in the new house! That is Sazmo in the window, and yes, she was watching me take pictures. Bosco, not in that shot, loves that we have all sorts of windows to sit in and observe the gardening. I think they love finally having first floor windows to look out and observe us, and not to be stuck looking out so far away on the second floor! In fact they have both now! :-) I'll feature Bosco in a future post, just to keep everything fair and square! :-) I've been dying to tell everyone on here about my new old house and greenhouse since I have been trying to grow roses at an apartment in the shade for ages!! But new old houses bring new old issues, and we have been so busy that it has been impossible to get on here, even to post about the poor rose with the gall! For those of you interested, I decided to write a second post in honor of finally joining the ranks of those of you with SUN, GLORIOUS SUN!! I had forgotten what it was like to have SUN! (Hear angels playing trumpets in the background and marching bands saluting that big ball of fire I now have a piece of that lasts more than 5.5 hours in any one spot!) Cecily, I hope you get to read it so you can read about our wonderful greenhouse! Will try to get that up today. I am going to try and remove the offending cane down to the graft as everyone here has suggested. Moroseaz, I will do my best to make the best cuts ever, and will seal, seal, seal! I normally use glue, but in this yard nothing was sealed until I started doing it. I read about bonsai sealer recently but i'm not sure where to get it, nor if it is necessary. In this case it might be. I imagine time is of the essence with gall, though. Should I be doing this ASAP in the peak of the summer heat, and hope for the best? Based on what has been said, I think I should. Patty, our winters can be cold in Philly, but we do get snow cover which sometimes helps insulate. Often we get terrible ice storms, and sometimes late freezes, which is, In my opinion, what often does the most damage to my bushes. Seil, I have high hopes that I can have the result you had with Golden Celebration. I'm wondering, if gall is from a bacteria in the soil and you grow in pots, how do you think it was infected? I know so little about gall, never had it and never gave it a though before. I have been so diligent with disinfecting my pruners, especially this season being in a new garden with unknown roses. I'm glad most of my bushes aren't here yet, actually. Taking this cane out is going to be a bear. It is maybe fist sized around, and the other side is where there is more sickly cane in total. it will be a major pruning job. I had planned on this since seeing the state of her, but didn't expect gall to be what spawned it. I may need help when the time comes. I never had a rose grow so big, other than a climber I planted at my parents, and even that is not as thick at the bottom. You know, that whole sun issue and all. And she has all kinds of damage I am just not sure about. Which is why I had planned to post so many times but never got the chance with all the moving crazy going on, even still. Right away though, right?? Should I just prune off the super big gall cane and seal, and leave the rest till a more appropriate time of year? I'll do my very best. Might be a good time to get a new pruning saw. Mine has seen some hard labor. First thing I did at the new house was lose my small pruners. Replaced them. Got new blade in my felcos again this seasaon, too. Yep, new saw it is. Everyone needs new tools sometime, right? What better time than now. Maybe I should see if the local garden center has proper sealant. I use Elemer's wood glue, but never had a cane this size to seal. Just small pruning cuts as a precaution. I think I may need to do better than that now, too.