Oh my! Such a nice group of responses to my post. And I thought I was the only one visiting this forum during the holiday weekend. anntn6b - I'll have to get up to speed on the terminology ('abnormal' is about as technical as I get) but will take your advice and look for the doohickies you mentioned. The asymmetrical leaves will sometimes have lobes (think of mittens with one or two thumbs). These lobed leaves are found directly under or very close to the rose bud itself but not in a compound set. The compound sets, however, will sometimes have an uneven number of leaves or be asymmetrical from one side of the stem to the other. And some sets show the beginnings of a spiral - perhaps a 90 degree turn. I'm thinking these are early signs of RRD - especially in conjunction with other signs or when I see more than one occurrance on the same cane. My garden is a no-spray zone. Not because of any principle but mostly because I'm a lazy girl. My roses have been selected for hardiness and disease resistance. I've learned to tolerate or squish the bugs and my robust feeding & watering seems to take care of the rest. The more I look at my roses the more I see signs of RRD - or maybe I'm just paranoid. My cats and other family members are worried that I'll see signs of RRD in them and take the pruners to 'em. I suspect that RRD has been in my garden for at least 3 years. It was nice to be blissfully unaware of the situation but I can't go back to that. Have a lovely weekend everyone, Karol

If they are trying to attach a paper nest to the underside of your deck, spraying WD-40 on the spot will keep them from building there. But there are also German yellow jackets that nest in holes in the ground....or in a crack in your siding and get into your walls. That's nasty stuff! If they are going into a hole in your house, call an exterminator....my son landed in the ER because he was attacked when he accidentally disturbed a nest! Nasty bugs!! Linda C PS my son is a grown man, past 40...not a child!

Thanks Dan for the compliments but Emerson has the most impressive storage system. I am in California and so my plants are left outside all year with over 40 in the ground that are becoming small trees. I also am out of space so my several hundred are being cut back to find sun space. Out here there are several collections larger than mine in number and a few in size of plants. Bud Guilott has the big stuff, David K. has big and many. Dewaine C. has a mass of medium sized and some large plants, Nikki L. has an insane collection of all the new Thai varieties. James N. (Lolo4) has another massive long established collection of rare varieties, John T. has hundreds, Cheryl O has a farm of them, and that is just the tip of the iceberg Down toward Vista and San Diego there are more giant collections. If I only had an acre- after a few decades it gets overwhelming. My hat is off to those of you who winter store and especially Emerson. Bill

I have a huge original RadaRange that I'm about to get rid of when I do this kitchen remodel ;) Here is a link that might be useful: