Dear Sophia! Apply neem oil asap during at least a week in a row. Will not harm. Im not expert but neem works wonders on my roses. Always. Looks like leaves are deaseased to hard to say exactly. I found article for you at www.sactorose.org looks like its weevil ... and also i would spray with orange oil i read it makes insects to dehydrade and die. And its organic too. Again as said read article see what professionals recommend but do spray neem(deluted).Also in the begining of season i apply Bayer which combines fertilizer and insecticide in one. Simply when any insect tries to gnaw on your rose it will choke on insecticide. Good stuff huh? Good luck Sophia! I feel sad for your rose i love mine like children. Do tell me if you have any progress.

Elle

What zone are you in?

Is that chilli thrips damage by any chance? We just had a big discussion about this on the Antique Rose Forum. These awful pests have been found in Florida, south Georgia, Texas, and southern California. Diane

In another post you said that you live in Sydney. Please don't spray neem or any other oil in hot weather - it can burn the foliage. I don't know what selection of insecticides are available to you locally. It does look like insect damage.

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice, very kind of you. I am from Sydney and it has been raining on and off for many days. I don't know what insect is damaging my plant but I am so worried. Planted just a few months ago didn't expect something could go wrong so soon.

I don't have neem oil or any insect spray, will go to get some from the nearby nursery and will ask the people there for opinion just in case they know.

Again, thank you for your help. Regards,

Sophia

Its not thrips. I have those and that is not thrip damage. Some thing has eaten a hole thru all the petals when it was in bud form I think. Thrips don't eat through petals or leaves they just distort. Some kind of worm or as Ozmelodye said "larvae"

Camp Verde, Arizona

Went out to check the rose this morning and look what I found!

Sophia, sorry for the lack of explanation to my comment last night, but was very low on battery. Cabbage moths look like white butterflies with a black spot at the bottom of their wings. They lay their eggs on the leaves and buds of host plants. The eggs are about 1-2mm, creamy white and are quite visible. When the larvae hatch, they are small green caterpillars that either roll themselves into the leaves and start feasting, or if they are on the buds, they chew their way into the centre, thereby ruining the flower. I do not spray, so I just rub the eggs off as I see them and squish any caterpillars between my fingers ( gloves on, of course :-) ). Other moths and butterflies do the same thing, so it is just a matter of checking on the roses every day. I believe that some gardeners use Confidor as a selective, systemic spray which does not harm beneficial insects.

Just cross posted. That's them.

Thanks a lot for your time and kindness, ozmelodye. I will see if I can manually remove the eggs and caterpillars, will need spray if impossible to remove by hands. I am so sad that I have been killing a lot of living things since I started my rose garden project five months ago. I killed the worms when I dug up holes for planting, then the alphids for sucking my roses and now the caterpillars and their eggs. I think I'm not gonna squish them, maybe just cut the whole branches and put them in the bin. I am kind of scared of those crawling insects.

1. I don't like creepy crawlies either, especially woolly caterpillars and spitfires Sophia, but it made me mad when I saw what damage they did to my roses. Don't cut off whole branches.... you can just try flicking or shaking the leaves and stepping on them when they hit the ground. Also check for rolled leaves and just remove those if you don't want to squish. The eggs brush off easily. When the aphids hit this year, I just sprayed them off with a jet of water until the hoverflies and other beneficial predators arrived, which they did, in enormous numbers. No more aphids! I plant perennials which attract the good guys, between my roses.So long as you continue to mulch and feed your roses, the worms will return.

Thank you for your kind advice. Just a question, what mulch do you use on your roses? I notice you are also from Australia, where about in Australia are you from?

I'm in outer suburban Melbourne Sophia. I use sugar cane mulch or pea straw to a depth of about 10 - 12 cms on newer beds. Most of my older borders are mixed with perennials and self seeding annuals now so really those don't get any mulch....just coffee grounds on any bare patches, a trick I learned from Aquaeyes, another GW member. My husband and I drink a lot of coffee! I believe Aquaeyes gets his from his local Starbucks so, if you have a coffee bar close by.... :-)

Thanks for the tip about coffee grounds. I will look into that! Thanks again for everything.