How contagious? We don't know. Some roses like New Dawn (except in Texas) seem to get it throughout their vascular system fast. Same with some multiflora-kin roses. I have saved roses in fall with the cut off the cane procedure more often than it's worked in spring. Mites are the proven vector. Root to root graft is possible for other viruses and I have two examples of situations when RRv has probably moved from root to roots. I had one rose where a blatantly sick cane rubbed against a healthy cane. Two weeks later, after I'd taken the sick cane off, the heathly cane was looking RRv-ish and we took the whole rose out. The mites don't overwinter in the 'form' that they are in the warmer months. Jim Amrine this past winter found one form of the fructiphilus mites on (IIRC) one in four bushes infected with RRD that he examined. In previous winters he hadn't found any (that's decades of looking). Jim uses a 20x hand lens to look for them in the field, that's the lens with the very small lens. I have put sick canes on our scanner and scanned at max magnification and then used the computer to zoom in further. The mites are the size of the lowest segment of an aphids leg. 200 microns long, slightly smaller than a thrips. The mites you are looking for are on the stem, not out on the leaves (the ones that are found on leaves are a different species and apparently aren't vectors.) Buford, it's always good to hear this kind of good news. It's not an instantaneous death sentence, but this only works for we who actually look at our roses beyond their blooms.

George, I bet you're right, but I hate going out on a limb like that. Merton, I thought maybe I could find a comparison of the cucurbita seeds that would help you, so I checked my copy of Suzanne Ashworth's book SEED TO SEED: SEED SAVING AND GROWING TECHNIQUES FOR VEGETABLE GARDENERS and here is how she describes them: Cucurbita maxima: Thick seeds that are white or tan or brown with cream colored margins and thin cellophane coatings. (As George pointed out, your Lakota is a maxima so should fit this description.) C. moschata seeds are small, oblong and beige with a dark beige margin. (Your butternut is a moschata so one of your two solid tan types of seed ought to match this description.) C. pepo seeds are cream-colored and each has a white margin. Your acorn squash is a pepo so its seed should match this description. The problem is that your spaghetti squash is a pepo also, so its' seeds ought to match this description too. C. agyrosperma (formerly mixta) seeds would be the easiest to identify because they usually have small cracks in them. (They are described as white or tan with a pale margin and cracks in the skin coat on the flat sides of the skins which are covered with a thin cellophane covering.) None of the squash in your packet are agyrosperma types though. If you have specific variety names for your spaghetti, butternut, acorn and Lakota squashes, you probably could google and find descriptions of each squash, including the approximate size of the mature squash and that size might help you figure out which of your pepo seeds is which. Or, you might e-mail the seed company and see if they can tell you, by description only, which seed is which variety. Dawn

I think soil amendments and other care is more likely a problem, rather than alkalinity, in growing rugosas in Southern California. You are probably right Ingrid that most roses planted here are not planted in strictly native soil. But mine are because I want roses that like the natural conditions here. And from what I've read on rugosas, they like lean, sandy, fast draining soil. That is precisely what I have. Those that seem to get into trouble with rugosas (and some others such as Reine des Violettes--Jon in Wessex, England, grows his on chalk, which is ultra alkaline, without chlorosis) amend the soil, heavily mulch, fertilize often, and repeatedly add acidifiers to the soil. I've never used an acidifier to the soil for my roses. It is too alkaline to grow things such as blueberries (many in the neighborhood have tried unsuccessfully for years). But rugosas look fine. I have 9 different rugosas and none seem to have any trouble with the soil/conditions in my garden. Some are even grafted on multiflora (from Pickering, and that includes Wild Edric), which doesn't seem to matter. There is a theory that these roses do not to like alkaline soil, but I think this theory is flawed. I haven't had any problems, yet I don't do anything to prevent them. Here's a photo of Wasagaming, in between Reine des Violettes and the hybrid tea Limelight. All are in very sandy, lean soil up close to, and in the root zone of a huge ash tree (trunk is around 4 feet in diameter). No soil amendments for any of them when planted. No mulch except what they get from the ash tree's leaves. Fed occasionally with diluted fish emulsion. Nothing else. Water from the garden hose. Surrounded by native California salvias which would not tolerate rich treatment. Sorry, this was a vertical picture and Houzz turned it sideways. RdV is at the bottom, the small plant in the middle with the white tag is Wasagaming, the green leaved rose at the top is Limelight. Foliage on the rugosa Snowden (own root from Heirloom): Foliage on the rugosa Polareis (grafted on multiflora from Pickering): Foliage on the rugosa Frau Dagmar Hartopp (own root from High Country Roses), arrived September 2014 and was baked in shipment like Wasagaming. I have her in a tomato cage to protect from canine friends: Foliage and blooms on the rugosa Wild Edric (grafted on multiflora from Pickering):

Jim - I live in San Rafael, CA, and I grow both of these roses. I think either would do well in your garden. My only doubt would be that you say the space gets misted daily. My Grandmother's Hats (I have several - did you know that they will root if you just stick pruning cuttings in the ground? It's true!) get horrible "damask crud", which I am told is a form of BS, in the Spring. That is, if we have a wet Spring. Totally coated with it. I have to cut off all of the leaves, and cut the plants way down to get rid of it. As soon as they weather becomes warm and dry (which as you know is a period of at least 6 months here) they are totally healthy and happy with not a sign of any disease (I don't spray). So, I do not know what their reaction would be to being constantly misted. My Rosette Delizy never gets any disease, no matter how cool or wet our Springs are. Color - totally different, as you know. Matter of taste. Habit - RD is more tall and upright. My mature one is 7-8 feet tall and then filled out to about 5-6 feet wide. I think GH can be pruned to be almost any shape/size you want. I have one I have not pruned (once it re-grew after its Spring haircut), and it is about 7 feet tall and 6 feet wide. I have another one which I keep about 4 feet tall with no problem. Re alkaline soil, I have no idea, as we don't have that. Jeri does, I believe, so I would go with whatever she says. Jackie