Henry, In my part of the world, I have seen glyphosate damage in one public garden. In fifteen years. RRD is the problem I deal with and the simple small narrow leaves often progress to full blown RRD in gardens around here. I can count more than twenty communications I've had from rose gardeners who were told by local experts that it was only herbicide damage, only to have it get worse and worse and they would finally find out about RRD. There is also a local expert here that says it's only a result of too much P in the soil, and cleansing the soil will cure it. Read in the e-book what Glenn Viehmeyer wrote about his problems with rose experts of his time- they told him it was only glyphosate damage. He knew different and eventually THE rose expert (Cynthia Wescott) wrote him and apologised and she hand typed a paper on RRD (then called Witches Broom) because she recognized the danger.

boncrow, thanks so much for your good wishes and prayers. I'm still hopeful that El Nino will come and revive my garden to some extent. It would be such a joyful experience if that happened. Carol, I've so much appreciated your encouragement and praise, and want to thank you for your unwavering support. The story of your mother's efforts and struggles truly resonates with me, and anyone who gardens in caliche, amended or not, has my total admiration. It's not as though the caliche amends itself, and that alone must have taken grit and hard work. I think Aunt Margy's Rose deserves some consideration. Mine is not as lush as it was before, but it's backed against my house wall and even in the earlier hours the heat transfer is huge, and still she does her best to bloom. I'm wondering whether I should have a second one which I'd plant in a more benign location. My pictures look cool since I rarely venture outside before the sun begins to set except to fill up all the birdbaths and water bowls for the animals. The young squirrels have decided the bowl are perfect bathtubs and several times a day I'm looking at empty or near-empty bowls except for the layer of dirt at the bottom. Carol, thank you for the compliment, but you or Melissa in Italy or Daisy in Crete should be writing books. Compared to all of you my prose seems dull and prosaic, just the facts, ma'am. I don't know who would read it either, except for equally obsessed forum members, since hardly anyone comments when they see my garden. My idea of nirvana would be to have everyone's gardens here grouped together in one spot, so that we could all walk from one to the other. We'd probably all come away with thousands of pictures, major sunburns and beaming faces, secretly telling ourselves that ours is still the best! I've wondered several times how your garden redo is coming along and what exactly it is you're doing. I would love it if you'd let the cat out of the bag, assuming you're willing to reveal all before it's actually completed, and tell us all about it. What part do the roses play in the overall scheme; are they the major theme or just one of the players of a much larger orchestra? Is there a central theme (of course there must be), and what part does color play in it? Also, how close are you to completion, although of course I use that word advisedly, since gardens are never complete? Pray tell all, if you want to. Ingrid

It's been a while since I posted on this forum, but I saw this post and it is a topic of interest to me. I have experienced RRD on my property. I was the first confirmed case in Eastern PA back in 2002. I reported it to a woman in Georgia that is tracking the progression of RRD and she confirmed my suspicions, it was a positive ID of RRD. I am posting a link to pictures that I took if anyone is interested in seeing what the disease looks like (it still gives me the creeps looking at the pics, yuck!). It was on one of my favorite roses, an Austin rose named "The Prince". Here is a link that might be useful: RRD pictures

I came across this web site: https://twitter.com/RoseRosetteDis It is described as: " Combating Rose Rosette is the Twitter account for research and extension scientists part of a USDA SCRI grant focused on rose rosette, a virus disease of roses." ------------------------------------------------------------------- I signed up but I do not see any real information concerning the progress of those on the grant (except for pictures of the male and female forms of the mite). Is it because I do not know how to navigate the site? Or did it just start and the information will appear in the future? There were supposed to be two "progress reports", one at the National ARS meeting in September and one October 10 in Texas, http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3305189/the-collin-county-rose-society-has-scheduled-a-rrv-conference?n=3 I guess my real question is: If not at the above Twitter link, Where can we expect to see these reports?