You have more guts than I do putting that thing in the ground at that size. Those are older yellowing leaves and the newer leaf looks decent. It could be the plant is recycling the older ones in order to put out a flush of new growth (read an inch or so). If the newer leaf looked like the older ones, I would tell you to call your local exorcist. You might take a stick and poke it into the ground around the plant, but far enough away not to damage its roots, then smell the stick to make sure the soil smells like "soil" and not like a soured pot which has stopped draining. Make it something long enough to push into the soil a foot or a bit more, so you can determine if the drainage is decent or not. As long as it smells as you'd expect, that isn't an issue. If it stinks, smells bad, as if it's soured, you have too much organic material in the ground for the amount of water being held. In that case, you want to gently move the plant from there ASAP and put it in a pot of the potting soil of your choice. IF you feed it anything, I would make it inorganic, like a Miracle Gro All Purpose water soluble at half strength. Instead of the table spoon per gallon, I would use half a table spoon per gallon and use what seems appropriate for the level of drainage you have. If I suggest half a gallon and your drainage is too slow, you could ruin your progress. Remember, you can always add more. You can't remove any already applied. Then, just light candles, say your prayers, pay the preacher and keep those weeds back from the rose to eliminate competition and shading. Good luck. You will need it. I have two budded Grey Pearl plants (you can never call this a "bush" as it never is) I have nursed for far too many years. I seldom let them flower to push them to hold as much growth as possible. A couple of times a year they appear on the verge of committing suicide. I then go into emergency mode with more food, more water, more threats and screaming and they slightly rebound. Both are in ground to avoid the soil overheating in my climate and exposure. One of these days, I will deliberately push them over the edge in a kill or cure (hopefully kill, I need the space for GOOD plants) when they start holding the knives to their wrists.... Kim

My Appleblossom Flower Carpet rose is very disease resistant.

I'm so glad you brought up the soil topic K. I was thinking about it and was going to post back today about this anyway. In any garden, but particularly a neglected urban one, most problems begin and end with the soil. I would have the soil tested, and do some research on the plants you have growing together in the garden. Do they like the same kind of soil conditions? That is crucial. Because otherwise, if you ammend the soil to make one kind of plant happy you might make its neighbor unhappy. And there's a lot more to soil than just pH and nutrients--soil structure, microbial action, and drainage are just a few major aspects. A garden is a system and pests on one plant might be a symptom of problems with the whole system, not just that individual plant. Adding compost NEVER hurts, so start a compost pile and/or find a good compost source. If I'm not mistaken, I think roses like composted manure, but I could be wrong. I'm also a firm believer in companion plants. Not because I think they have some kind of mystical relationship, but mixing and matching your plants makes the juicy ones harder for the pests to find. Off the top of my head, good companions for roses are tansy, rue, chives and maybe even those pyrethrum daisies. Maybe mums too. And yarrow is a good overall companion. Also, most roses don't like shade, and I would imagine a bamboo planted close to a rose is sucking all the nutrients away for itself. You might consider installing some kind of flashing around the roots to keep the bamboo roots confined--although that is going to be tough in the long run! I'm not a bamboo fan due to the work it takes to keep its agressive nature under control, but I know a lot of people love it for its form and privacy it provides. The organic methods, when used consistently may get your problem under control. I am loathe to use these higher level pesticides in my garden because as I said, it throws stuff off balance. But if your garden is out of balance anyway, you may have to either use them or loose some plants. I have only used a systemic once, on a grey birch tree that was infested with scale. I was using a less toxic oil spray on them but it was not working. The tree was dying and the systemic helped save it. I know I paid a price in my soil. I couldn't find anything on how long the systemic would persist in the soil. Pyrethrum does break down relatively quickly--I can't remember exactly, either 2 weeks or 2 months, something like that, different formulations have different active periods. It is a broad spectrum insecticide and will kill the beneficials. But unless you live in an area with some type of endangered butterfly or something, insects are very prolific and a natural population will reinhabit your yard, to be sure. The pests will too, so all the pyrethrum is doing is buying you some time until you can get your roses healthy again. I still wouldn't advise it unless it was a matter of life and death for a plant. But I would also realize that nature will replenish an insect population unless you have destroyed the habitat. There are also things you can do to attract beneficial insects into your yard, which you can find out a lot about by researching. Take a looks at your yard as a system and see what is working in your favor and what is not. Begin to reorganize the garden so it is more in harmony with its environment. I have come to realize that it's "survival of the fittest" in my yard, and if a plant succumbs, that's the way it goes, time to plant something more suitable. Eventually that way you get a yard full of plants that can survive on their own, with minimal fussing from you. So I'd attack the problem from many angles, starting with the soil, the types of plants and the growing conditions. But occasionally, if it's something I really love, and it is a matter of life and death, I will use a stronger pesticide. But with full knowledge of the tradeoffs. Below is an interesting Web site I found when searching for the breakdown time of pyrethrum. Looks like notes from a college course. Here is a link that might be useful: Insecticides

Thanks everyone I am pleased that you are enjoying my photo's. That is understandable Heather where you are * The best rose growing state in OZ * You will have beautiful blooms when mine are sleeping for the Summer..And I will be looking forward to seeing yours then. Inga Yes Orange roses are so beautiful, shame you have not been able to see Just Joey though I am sure you will one day as I don't think the climate would be wrong, roses seem to grow everywhere and in all climates. I can just imagine your Botanic Garden what a picture they must be when all the roses are blooming and the perfume must be heavenly. What a shame you don't have a garden like most of us do but I bet your special window sill looks wonderful.. Chas I love your Roses also and its good that yours are shooting already so it wont be long now and you will have lots of blooms also .. Misty