I got some Bayer Rose and Flower Insect killer pre-mixed in a spray bottle, says it has some residual effect, but hate to use it unless they get really bad again, wouldn't have let 4 get away this morning, one pair mating on my yellow coreopsis, another pair doing the same I got. Overcast and chilly, but still quite a few to pick in front, many sitting on leaves rather than blooms, found a couple in blooms but not like last night. If enough people weigh in and convince me BBB really works and isn't too expensive, especially in my zone, I'm open to trying it. The ones that get buried deep in blooms, sometimes as many as five, I have to spread open enough to hit them with spray no matter what I use or do I? I will be sooooo glad when this is over for the season. Despite my vigilance and picking 3X and more a day, I see damage since last picking that was not there then. So far it sounds like for some, BBB has some residual effect but not for long. 4 weeks tomorrow. The person who said they use insecticide and anti-fungal. What is it, how well does it work and for how long? Had a long talk with the master gardener at the ext ofc yesterday, wanted to apprise him of the work at the U of Mich, hadn't heard about it. He said he uses 24 oz cottage cheese containers, grows roses, raspberries and grapes plus damaging his birch as well this year, counted 10,000 one year. OMG. I've had nowhere near that even with traps. He says he just goes out early am and late evening, can't get them at 11-ish and 3, I can and do. Some do get away, yes. He thinks traps just draw more in and don't get them all anyway. I'm not convinced either way, bait may be weakening in my traps or had to move them where there is little sun. I bagged a lot where they were before but much more damage to nearby plants. He also uses Sevin even on roses but not on larger trees and has to be careful with his fruit crops. I don't know about Sevin on roses. I don't count, just guesstimate. Many more in front facing south than in the back now but still have to pick one row of roses and check all over there, too, just watch for signs elsewhere and eyeball stuff quickly.

I've been told ZD just isn't a California girl. Unfortunately, I got that advice AFTER I planted mine. It's the only plant with powdery mildew in my garden right now. Not a lot - and it has some scattered blooms now too - but enough to remind me that this isn't its favorite place. Some springs it manages to develop PM, rust and a scattering of blackspot all at once. So, it's not only you who can't get it to be healthy. Why do I still have it? I'm lazy about removing big roses, and it still produces a nice, occasionally spectacular, display every spring (if you don't demand perfect foliage). I wouldn't put Mme Caroline Testout (CL) in any place that I had to walk through or train those incredibly thorny canes. We grow it in the cemetery as a big arching bush, and still hate getting near it for its infrequent pruning. We don't get a lot of repeat on it, either. What about training a pillar rose? I know that not everybody will agree, but Mme Isaac Perrier stays quite healthy in the Sacramento cemetery and reblooms well, too - and is incredibly fragrant. I have a friend who is growing it on a trellis on his house, and it produces ten foot canes when trained up. He also has Gertrude Jekyll on a trellis, another lanky large plant with deep pink, fragrant flwers that I think does better either whacked hard or pillared/trellised. If you have room, you could put another small shrubby repeat blooming rose at the base, the way that Paul Zimmerman recommends on his video. Pillared and climbing roses often are bare on the bottom third or half of an arbor. Many climbers are really too big for the usual garden arbor. I have 8' tall ones with a five foot opening, and three foot sides. They were considered the "big arbors" when I bought them but are overwhelmed by most climbing roses. That's another reason to consider a pillar rose. Anita

Lavender_lass, I don't know the details about your mare and little one, but it sounds HORRIBLE. I am so sorry you've lost your baby. And I hope the little one(s) recover. On another note, I can't decide if it's a blessing or a curse to be so easily recognizable. What if I want to go incognito? Huh? Ahhh well. It's a good thing that even IRL I stand behind what I say. I remain someone you either totally dislike, or get to know me and love my snotty little soul. :) Things continue to improve, although it's interesting that improvements involve giving back what we had in some form on GW. Being their first real venture into forums, I think they're doing a heck of a job. These boards are absorbed along with some very notable boards so it's a conglomeration of many details. Of course, iVillage didn't give a flying crap about what we'd like, given they'd already decided their format. I'm liking Houzz farrrrrrrr better.

There obviously is no perfect place to be all the time, and some of us will have to suck it up with the heat for the next six months. I hate cruise ships, they are huge polluters of the ocean. There are rules about that but it's so easy to just throw it all overboard. Been through all the traveling and moving umpteen times, now home seems best, although it was better when the garden was a happier place. Still, some of the roses give me hope, and I'm so looking forward to seeing La France bloom.