It was me; I was hungry. Sorry. Astphard, if the caterpillars are bright green and prickly all over, they're Io moth caterpillars. Nasty creatures. I have the good fortune to live with at least 3 distinct species of stinging caterpillar: Io moth, Buckmoth, and a stubby little half-inch green and brown creature with most of its spines on either end of its body--looks like a horse saddle. I don't know the name of that one. Any of these caterpillars can totally defoliate branches in a few hours, and they seem to start at night where we're not watching. Grrr. I just lost over half the leaves on my new Ingrid bush 3 weeks ago. It's recoverying now. At least the damage is so obvious that it's a red flag to look for the caterpillars and destroy them. If the leaves are all gone but you see some stubs of leaf stems left with unevenly chewed outlines, its likely caterpillars. At least they can't run fast to get away, but they do hide well. Sometimes I wonder if they crawl down in the mulch at times to hide. Don't know for sure.

Last year I had the same problem, and it was rose weevils. I killed as many as I could, but they really ruined the bloom on any of the plants that they were on. They seemed to prefer certain rose bushes more than others. I am still waiting for my first rose blooms to open this year, so I will see how it goes. I could not find any way to get rid of them other than hand picking them - and in my opinion didn't work well since I didn't get any decent blooms out of the roses they were on all summer. The holes appeared like small prefectly round holes, with I think a darker edge, possibly from the rose bud wilting around the edge of the hole. Just so you know, the best way to get the weevils is to get a pail with soapy water and hold it under the weevil, as soon as you get close to it it will try to drop to the ground, but instead you catch it in the water and it drowns. There was a link on her last year, since I was asking the same thing!

Hi Sooey! I've been hanging back, hoping that some of the more knowledgeable rosarian types would respond. Barb is right that the fall would probably be better, however: My take is that it depends on how unhappy the rose is in its current location. You won't kill it by moving it now - it has already survived a traumatic move from CT, and old roses are tough. Your climate is similar to mine, and I moved an established rose (Carefree Delight) a few weeks ago. It's rather subdued right now, with some yellow leaves, but I'm not worried about it. Maybe no blooms this year, or maybe just later. If the rose is really miserable now, then I would just move it and make sure it's in good soil with frequent watering. Maybe protect it from sun for a week to give it time to recover. Timing the move for just before a rainstorm or cloudy days is always good (this afternoon would work). Alternatively, you could spread some compost or organic mulch around the stems now to improve the soil and move it later. Good luck! Claire

To echo Jeri's comments, I don't think Sophie's Perpetual is a good fit for zone 6-ish. I put a free one from the Rogue Valley mystery roses into my virtual zone 6 pocket in my yard, and it sort of limped by after a very mild winter last year and totally disappeared this year. I think it's marginally hardy in zone 6, and better in zone 7.If it's in a container, you lose a virtual zone of winter protection and so you'd be a virtual zone 5 in a pot and not a good fit for Sophie's Perpetual. Pink Pet is the only China-type rose that survives well for me, but it's more of a Polyantha than a China in effect and it doesn't climb or get much beyond 3-4' for me. If you're looking for something from the RU sale that would climb well in zone 5, Awakening is rock solid hardy and has lovely pink flowers. It blooms just fine in part shade, and the only concern might be that it gets too big for even a half whiskey barrel. Mine was pretty thorny too. Among hybrid musks, only Lavender Lassie would be reasonably hardy in zone 5 and it would be a good fit for part shade. the mini climber Jeanne LaJoie survives fine in a typical zone 5 winter and is a much better fit for a pot. I think she'd do OK in part sun, though any rose blooms less in part sun. Antique 89 and Harlekin are both nicely hardy but they do die to the ground in my zone 5 and they only bloom sporadically in the year for me. Mine aren't particularly happy in part sun. Viking Queen survives fine in zone 5 but seems to die to the ground each year so you wouldn't necessarily get a ton of bloom. Veilchenblau would be an absolute trooper and climb or bush out huge in no time, and it's in dry shade under my oak tree. It's a once bloomer but gorgeous lush blooms for several weeks once established - here's mine in more or less full bloom with an admiring bunny that my daughter pointed out: Purple Splash and Stormy Weather both seem to survive OK in zone 5 and regrow from the ground reasonably well, so they'd be worth a try if you want the purple striped climbers. I haven't overwintered Quicksilver yet but the odds are good that it will be a good one for winter survival, being a Kordes. Paulspride is the only other rose listed as a climber on the RU sale that survives the winters well for me. Ghislaine Feligonde comes back reasonably well but it has tiny while flat blooms that aren't the attractive shapes others have, and I'm wondering if mine is the correct ID. Among the Austins, most of them are hardy but the ones that tend to be climbers on the RU sale list are the ones that survive the least for me - I can't keep Golden Celebration overwintered, nor Strawberry Hill or James Galway. Lady of Shalott is rock solid hardy as is Scepter'd Isle, Carding Mill and Heritage, but they get at most 5-6' tall by the end of spring since Austins rarely have surviving cane for me. Crown Princess Margareta is a climber and hardy, but I never get blooms from mine without surviving cane and it never has any. Rebecca in zone 5 has tons though and lovely blooms from hers. For other OGRs, Baronne Prevost and Mme. Isaac Periere are both fully hardy here, though BP would be better for a pot. She does Ok in part sun for me but would bloom more in sun. MIP prefers sun and doesn't bloom on new wood for me, so I don't get much bloom most years. Among shrubs, Alchymist is very hardy but a once bloomer. Autumn Sunset would survive fine in a pot and climbs well, but blooms very little in part shade for me. Belinda's Dream would survive fine and seems OK but not happy in part sun. Dames des Chenonceau is totally hardy and in my top 20-30 of roses I grow, and can be spectacular in part sun. As you move into part shade though, I'm not sure how well she'd do. Morden Sunrise is totally hardy and would be very pretty in this context, and White Meidiland would be a low-growing spreader in white and also very hardy. Among the RU sale roses, those are the ones I'd recommend for what you're asking. I'm all in favor of taking advantage of the RU sale!! Cynthia