Give all the plants a good deep watering, and then keep them watered regularly after that. I'm not sure why you are holding back on water--roses thrive on water.

In the first picture, what is that black stuff around the base of the rose. Pull it out and get rid of it, whatever it is. That way the water can get down to the roots.

In a couple weeks, with regular and generous watering, the roses should be looking quite comely!

Kate

Tessa Gee,

In the "Knock Out Rose" photo, what is the black material in the soil?

Where do you live?

The black stuff around the rose looks like landscape fabric. I agree with everyone else - pull it out. It's choking the rose. Water deeply and often.

To me, it looks like rubber sheeting.

I live in Southwest Michigan, zone 5 I believe. Thanks so much for the suggestions! The black stuff was already there when we moved in, so not exactly sure what material it is. I will pull it out asap! I was under the impression it was easy to over water roses so I have been watering sparingly, but will definitely up that. Is watering every evening overkill?

Also, do you all use any sort of fertilizer? I'm very new to gardening and could use all the advice you lovely folks have to offer :-)

Roses like deep watering, once or twice a week. Short, daily watering isn't helpful, the water doesn't get down to the roots. For now, just water, no fertilizing a weak plant.

When you start seeing new growth leaf out, then look into using an organic-based fertilizer, such as Espoma Rose-tone (or Plant-tone, or Flower-tone).

You need to clean up those plants too. Cut off all the dead blooms and rose hips and take out all the dead wood. I know they say you don't have to dead head Knock Outs but you'll get quicker rebloom if you do and the plants will look much neater in the mean time.

You probably can't get all of that landscape cloth out of the bed so for now just scrape back the mulch in a wide circle around the roses and cut it out from just the roses. Then move the mulch back in place.

I don't know who told you not to water roses but they were very wrong. Roses will do perfectly well with just good watering and no fertilizer at all. Water seems to be the key to good health in roses. As Diane said, they prefer very deep watering about twice a week. A daily surface wetting will not suffice. It's also better to water them in the early morning rather than in the evening. You want the leaves to dry completely before dark to help keep down fungal diseases.

Keep us posted on their progress!

To repeat one piece of advice above, DO NOT fertilize these roses until they have recuperated, and look much better, and are starting to grow.

Jackie

Think the fabric to prevent weeds which the previous owner must have put is ok as far as it is letting the roses get water. Clean them .deadheading, deep watering .. Probably an organic fertilizer and some love is all they want! Happy rose gardening

Thank you all so much for the advice! Quick question (and probably a dumb one, forgive me!): When cutting back the dead parts of the bush, how do I tell which parts to cut off and what may still be salvageable? Also, is it best to water directly on the base of the plant?

Pruning dead parts of the bush: any twigs or canes are are brown, black, or gray. A healthy can is usually greenish (maybe part brownish) and if you prune it up high, the inner portion is white (not tan or brown). If the first nip is tannish, go down about 6 inches and give the cane another nip--keep going down the cane until you get to the white inner part--sometimes that is almost to the ground if the rose suffered some winter damage.

Just water slowly in a circle around the plant--under the "drip line" is best.

Good luck.

Kate

Perfect, thanks so much, Kate! I will update in a couple weeks with (hopefully!) progress!

It looks like you got rabbit damage there.

The weedmat looks freshly-laid. I presume by the former owner, just before selling the home.

My guess is that the roses dislike it even more than I do. Despite what is said by many, it prevents all kinds of good things from happening.

Rabbits are a worry too. We've had rabbits - pet ones - and I would see one of them chewing at the base of plants (a climber comes to mind. The rabbit didn't kill it). I have heard that hares are even worse and like to cut things nice and low to keep their view. But if it's rabbit damage I think you would see that the plant had been chewed. It was always obvious on our plants.

Well, I did go out and cut back the weedmat from around all the roses and also pruned down the dead parts of the bushes. Now that I can see the bottom leaves more clearly it appears I may have another problem with the 2 existing bushes.

Is this fungus or insect damage? I know I do have rabbits in the garden as well but they are mostly interested in my stonecrop pink bombs I believe. Any suggestions?

That is rose slug aka sawfly larva damage. They're tiny green worms on the undersides of the leaves. You can pick them off by hand or wash them off with a hard spray from the hose to the bottoms of the leaves. There are sprays for them but they shouldn't really be necessary.

My guess is that that is former rose slug damage, but that the good predator bugs have already come along and finished them off for you. (I usually squish for a couple weeks before the good predator bugs show up.)

All I'd do now is pluck off the worst/ugliest of the damaged leaves and wait for the new leaves to show (because you are watering it better).

Don't worry--just get this poor plant all cleaned up and wait patiently for new growth. : )

Kate

Thank you so much! I can't wait to get my garden all cleaned up!

Hello again! I am happy to report that my rose bushes look MUCH better after cutting back the landscaping fabric and giving them long early morning watering sessions. However, I am still having problems with holes in the leaves and petals. I know rose slugs were mentioned, but I could not find any of them on my plants. I did find many japanese beetles on the leaves/buds. I have just been plucking them off and smooshing them daily but more always appear the following day. Could the beetles be causing the hole damage and if so is there a better way to get rid of these pests without hurting the plants?

As summersrhythm said, the first picture shows rabbit damage. They nibble off the leaflets and leave the stems. If this is happening, it's worthwhile to protect young rose plants with chicken wire. Second best is Ro-pel.

Not much you can do about Japanese Beetles. They are a plague in many rose gardens across the country.

If you want to be overwhelmed with laments and advice about Japanese Beetles, just type Japanese Beetles into the search box at the top of the page. You'll get more threads on the topic than you will ever want to read--but helpful suggestions also.

Basically, one either endures and waits til they go away (2 months later) or one goes utterly manic and conducts daily Japanese Beetle killing runs through he gardens (drowning them in a bucket of soapy water--New Dawn soap) every morning.

Or you could move to a state like Kansas which is not overly troubled by them.

Kate

Thanks for the information...Unfortunately I have gone a bit manic and have developed a ritual of plucking them off the plants and killing them every night once it gets dark (they seem to be slower and easier to catch at night). My neighbors must think I'm a little crazy, but it drives me nuts to see them destroy my plants! I have been keeping an eye out for rabbits too, but they now seem to only be after my stonecrop plants. Might need to consider some chicken wire for the smallest newest rose at least just in case. Now to work on my getting my husband to move to Kansas so I can have my roses with no beetles hehe...

I have heard that squishing them attracts more, don't know if that is a fact, but just in case I knock them off into soapy water.

Thanks for the tip! I will try the soapy water method instead and see if that helps.