Kate, hand pick the curculios. They hide, they don't bite, and they drop and play dead. If you don't like to crush them, you can let them drown in soapy water when they drop. If you see the holes, they are there somewhere. I have a lot of trouble seeing them. More importantly, be fanatical about cleaning up the damaged buds and blooms. Curculiols are laying eggs in the receptacle. Their young develop and winter in the soil under the rose. So make sure you clean up during this month-long season. Curculios supposedly have only one reproductive cycle in a year. At my place, it was Mother's Day through 4th of July. Now they are gone. I have been deadheading with pruners (something I rarely do) and cleaning up all the spent bloom and hips around the roses that were affected. One suggestion for control is underplanting roses the companion plants may help, if the companions form a thick mat, like creeping thyme. I don't do that because my roses are planted in cages, and I find roses don't like competition. But it's a thought. The thinking is that the immature young are kept from coming into contact with the soil and die.

Radha, check at base of buds. if you see white you probably have aphids (even though there are about 5 other critters it could be). My buds began with partial opening and then would drop. They were also yellow. I tried everything i could find on the internet and asked everyone i knew that was plant knowledgable. Finally sprayed with 1-1/2 t Neem Oil + 1t Blue Dawn + 1 litre water. That was 2 days ago Most yellow leaves are gone. Leaves dark green. No buds yet but will treat again in 5 days then 2 weeks. Good luck

Hi toni! What did I do with my gardenia I recieved yesterday..the August Beauty'? I did exactly what you would of done, what you suggested.. I even called the garden place where I got it from to check on the history of care they did on this plant. They said the reason why it was so yellow is because they water so much there, that the nutrients leeched out of the small rootbound pot it is in, and that it was malnorished. Starving for miracid!!! Can you beleive that. At least they were honest. They said I might be able to green the leaves up, especially the newer growth if there is any. They said they were sure it would do better with me, after hearing my knowledge of plants and that I should give it much light, since it was use to being grown outside in sun. Poor thing. Along trip, malnourished, brought indoors,in a tight pot, I even saw some rotted roots, and it is all yellow!!! We will reserect it together right toni. So I took your advice on this one. I took it out of its little one gallon extra root bounded pot, washed some old soil off and repotted in Al's soiless mix with a little extra bark and turface so it dries out a little slower. I put it in a clay pot and soaked it first. I them mixed slow release fertilizer in it, then watered with iron, and "superthrive"...NO epsom salt though because the fertilizer Al made me already has that mixed in my fertilizer with minors too. I just add a little of gypsum to the soil to have the perfect fertilzer combo.. I also gave it a bath, shower, washed off with soap, then sprayed with your bug spray just to cover all basis which I will do for a couple of weeks everyother day. It will get strong light starting tommorrow and be put in a warm tropical humid room with a ceiling fan to give it fresh air. Let's see what happens..lol If you can think of anything else I should do, tell me please. You almost forgot to tell me to superthrive!lol. Don't you forget to too...:-) Thanks for your advice toni. I am not going to feed any liquid or powder fertilizer as you said until spring or when I see new growth emerges, even though that greenhouse said I should with an acid loving plant one asap. I like your advice better!!!;-). You are smart in your growing great plants. I am taking a picture of it tommorrow, then one in a few weeks and lets see what happens. I will post..The denia that likes to be shower watered instead of by hand, it is in the clay pot in the soiless mix. It seems to dry out every 4-5 days in all the light I keep it in. lol. It just popped a beautiful flower again! I am getting getting strong arms because of that one! You must be in shape lugging all your upstairs to be showered..LOL P's....When is it going to be spring again? I miss the warmth! Today it was in the low 30's with freezing rain and heavy rain tonight. My worst weather! I hope you saw this post. Talk to you soon ok. Mike

You go ahead and water them just poke your finger into the soil first if damp leave them alone, if very dry give them a little not too much though as they will disappear..When I plant seed I usually water that soil for a couple of days put mulch on top that's keeps the soil moist enough for those seven or more days it takes for the seeds to sprout then you can remove the mulch for a while.. I had the same problem when I first came here but this is Qld and most of those instructions are not for Dry and Warm..Good Luck.... Cheers...MM.