Insecticidal Soaps must make contact with the target insect to be effective. If the soap is "burning" the leaves it may be too strong a mixture or it may be because it is being applied at the wrong time. Insecticidal Soaps should not be sprayed when the sun is out full, on a hot day, just like many other pesticides. The commercial Insecticidal Soaps have about a 1 percent mixture in them and if what is applied is stronger than that, about 1 teaspoon of soap (not a detergent) in 1 quart of water, it can do harm to the plants leaves. If you have a continuing problem with insect pests look at the soil the plants are growing in to be sure it is what those plants need to grow strong and healthy so they are better able to resist these insect pests.

Skip the urine on the roses, but if you still have to go, make a run out to the compose bins and go there. Then go get some insecticidal soap and spray your roses regularly, unless you have lady beetles. Other wise, the IS should solve your problem. Most of the other things you suggest will serve to bolster your roses own defenses, the neem will help to ward off bugs. The IS will kill the ones that eat the rose leaves. Cheryl

Spring aphids tend to congregate on tender new growth & buds and then work their way down under leaves directly below. The white flecks you see on the leaf under the bud shoot in your first photo are the skins shed by the aphid nymphs/juveniles as they grow. Aphids suck the sap/juice from the plant rather than chewing on it, and excrete a sticky substance called honeydew. I keep an eye out this time of year for their arrival, and when I first see what you have, take action. Some use a hand spritzer of water with a drop of liquid dish soap shaken up in it to kill aphids by direct contact. Used to do that years ago & it's effective, but when the hand sprayer eventually broke, went on to my current practice of dealing with early arrivals. I slide thumb & fingers from below the group up the stem & over the bud in a steady motion to remove them. Wiping the residue off fingers onto a kleenex or paper towel, the leaves then get the same treatment with fingers held like scissors in the rock, paper, scissors hand game, with two extended fingers closed over the stem end of the leaf & drawn along to the tip, treating both sides of the leaf at once. If the stem or leaf is sticky after the aphids have been dealt with, I'll go over the stems, buds & leaves again with a kleenex dampened with water between my fingers to remove the residue. I'd call your aphids moderate, having seen them many aphids thick obscuring the tender growth, so should be easily remedied. When they're very thick, I use a kleenex dampened with rubbing/isopropyl alcohol to remove both aphids & residue. (Rubbing alcohol is cheap & found with bandaids in groceries & pharmacies. Keep a bottle in the pail that holds clippers, gloves etc. ready for the garden, as well as some poured into a jar the clipper blades fit into for disinfecting between pruning cuts. Handy stuff!) Afterwards I'll use the hose with a watering wand set to a fine spray to wash away any remains. If I using the alcohol, I spritz with water immediately after to prevent the alcohol from drying out the new growth. Shortly after dispatching the first Spring aphids, the good bugs usually show up right on cue & take care of any more that crop up. First on the scene are usually ladybugs & their newly hatched ladybug lions. Many wild birds here & the small ones love to perch sideways on the branches & groom the roses of aphids & other pests. Christopher, we also enjoy three companion African Grey parrots & their daily discards go along with bird seed to feed our wild friends & neighbors. Birdbaths, fountain, pond & stream slake their thirst. Tend to use the hose to knock them off more with Summer aphids, as I find it hard to keep the right blast strength with the tender Spring growth. With the watering wand, I start at the top & go down each branch hosing the top & bottom of leaves. Of all the rose pests in this garden, aphids are the easiest to discourage.

You can prune off dead wood any time - dead wood does not bleed. btw, bleeding is more of a concern to the gardener than it is to the tree :-) If you want to avoid it don't prune between December and the end of March.....that's when the sap is most actively running. Gwen's Rose Delight/Shirazz was a big seller when it was first introduced but at least in my area, it has fallen out of favor and one seldom sees it for sale any longer. Prone to a lot of leaf damage in summer with much sun and also more vulnerable to winter dieback and pseudomonas (bacterial blight) than a lot of other selections. Yours seems to be in a good deal of sun. That might be contributing to the leaf problems. This is considered a variegated maple and would be happiest out of any afternoon sun. You would also get better coloring on it if it was not exposed to as much direct sun.