I don't think it would make them hotter or create an oven, it should just protect them from such intense rays. I noticed at Farmers Mkt they were trying to get a lot of plants out of direct sun. It is supposed to cut the amount in half to cover with light colored fabric. They do that in winter to protect plants from winter burn when its dry too. I noticed a lot of people here are doing it on their vegetables and are reporting better production. TLC said that? You never know, just because someone works there, doesn't mean they know everything, could have been the hired help. I gotten blank stares from sales people before on certain questions at nurseries.

Looks like spider mites. Check under the leaves for webbing and mites moving around. Use a systemic granular miticide applied to the soil surface. The usual water wash under-foliage treatment for big rose mite infestations is almost impossible to do to mini roses. Moses

Somewhere here on GardenWeb is a document describing in detail how to keep a miniature rose in reasonably good health indoors, but I can't quite locate it. If any of you remembers where to find it, please include a link. QZ: It is almost certain that the leaf yellowing you are seeing is a result of multiple stressors the rose is experiencing in your home. That's not your fault - its simply a fact that the rose was grown in a greenhouse, and is now faced with trying to acclimate to dramatically different conditions (IE: lower light levels, much dryer air, etc). Now, its not impossible to keep the plant in good health in the home, but there are several challenges that need to be overcome. Most importantly is the light intensity issue: on the average winter windowsill, roses are getting a small fraction of their optimal light levels. This alone can result in dramatic leaf loss. The only remedy for this is to supply additional lighting. Commonly, people use compact fluorescent bulbs, or (these days) LED plant lights. If you are just lighting one small plant then you can likely get away with buying a single bulb that can be used in a standard light fixture. Some of the smaller plant lights are quite inexpensive and come as an all-in-one fixture + bulb configuration. At this point, you have to decide if you want to invest in the technology for a single plant. Only you can make that assessment. A cool windowsill isn't necessarily the worst thing for a miniature rose. As long as the leaves don't freeze, and as long as daytime temps are at least 65F or warmer, you're in the acceptable zone. A major obstacle to rose growing indoors is insect pests. The worst/most common are Spider Mites. It is almost inevitable that you will get Spider Mites on the undersides of the rose leaves, so you need to be ready to deal with that. (You can Google "spider mite damage on roses" or similar, to find photo examples of the issue) Spider Mites love hot, dry air, so if you can maintain some humidity where the plat is, you'll have less of a battle on your hands. Your best (and cheapest) weapon against Spider Mites is water: simply take the plant to the sink once or twice a week and hose off the undersides of the leaves with a strong spray of water. Mites hate water and they are easily washed off, so if you wash the plant regularly, you can potentially avoid the Mite problem entirely. Its easier to avoid insect problems than fix them once they've happened. The HGTV article linked here is a brief-but-reasonable document that explains much of the same info in greater detail: https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/flowers-and-plants/trees-and-shrubs/grow-a-miniature-rose-indoors I expect you will find that the rose will continue to drop yellowed leaves over the next few week. It may in fact lose all its foliage. That's not unheard of as the plant goes into a semi-dormant state, sensing that its light source has diminished to unsustainable levels. If you should find yourself with few or no leaves left, its a good practice to cut the plant down to about half its current height. Given time, it will make new growth, so it might as well start with strong new growth from close to the base of the plant. Cutting it down helps facilitate that. Also, be more sparing with water if the plant does drop most/all of its foliage. A leafless roses doesn't need a lot of water: just enough to keep the soil barely damp to the touch is sufficient. That might mean watering once a week or less. When the rose does decide to resume growth, it will need more water, which you will figure out pretty quickly by observation. Adding a strong light source will encourage new growth also. Now, it is true that these miniature roses are sold as gift plants, and are considered in the industry to be "disposable" gift plants - much as we regard Poinsettias and the like. That doesn't mean you can't keep the rose going, but it will require some effort and careful attention on your part. It really comes down to you to decide how much effort you're willing to make. Best of luck, and feel free to ask questions, should you have any. Paul

I have recently posted this in another post. I get lots of thrips here and while in the past I have sprayed with everything you could think of 3 years ago or so i found an alternative. It does not work the first year but by year two you should see some improvement. I ordered lots of adult minute pirate Bugs and released them in my garden. I released the adults when I had some thrips already going. They seemed to enjoy the food supply and stayed. After a couple of years of no spraying for bugs I have achieved a decent balance with enough predators for my thrips and my roses look as good as they ever did. I also stress a lot less. I have no solution for spider mites besides water and soap but we do not have water issues here. Please note you have to be certain to be at home and ready to release your bugs immediately so they don’t die. I still remember asking my loving husband to drive 2 hours to our home in order to release them quickly because I was on call that week and couldn’t do it :). It was worth it. not sure if it would work for you, but may be worth trying.