Moses, will do. It's sitting in my car and I am still at work. I picked it up today..Thank you! Will have a pic here tomorrow..Who knows, you may even think I should return it or maybe that I can fix it..It is definitely not flawless like any of my own.

Have a good night!

Mike,

As nasty as black spot is, it really is not difficult to cure, actually prevent.

Diseased leaves will not be restored to healthy green leaves after a spray program is started. Spraying stops the spread to healthy leaves, and continued regular spraying prevents black spot from recurring.

I just want to see how badly diseased your rose is, and also get an idea about its general health, otherwise, in order to give you the best advice on its care that I can.

Moses

Also realize that the conditions in a garden center may be very different from those in your yard. Garden centers tend to have a lot of plants crowded together and poor air circulation, and some plants that don't normally black spot will do so under those conditions. Of course, in your Atlantic coast location most HTs will black spot, so I doubt this particular plant is any different from the rest of the HTs you already have. I'd guess regardless of how the plant looks that I'd go ahead and plant it to get the roots established well before the fall, then do whatever treatment makes sense for the BS in your area at that point. BS spores circulate in your garden with or without your help so it's not like you'd be bringing in a "typhoid Mary" of BS as regards your other roses.

Cynthia

Thanks everyone.

From the looks of that yard they keep them at, it's a huge cement open area with very hot sun. I assume watering was not that great since it wilted by the time I got it home and even burned a few times. They don't spray and lack of fertilizer has done it's job too. It already looks better this morning and I hope it can look as nice as all my other roses which have no disease at all. Just beautiful green and red leaves..I usually spray to avoid disease and pests very early in the game and it works for me..

Moses, here are the pics...)

Mike,

It's not that bad, IMHO! Looks really nice, aside from the black spot.

First, pick off all the diseased leaves only, and discard them in your household trash. Then plant the rose and water it in good. Don't get the foliage wet. Now spray it with a fungicide. Do the roses around it, too. Immunox or Bayer work very well. Follow up on a good schedule thereafter, very important.

You may see disease free leaves show a little black spotting over the next few days, even after spraying your rose. Don't get puzzled. They will not progress any further. They were getting ready to show up next, and the spray caught them in mid stream. The black spots we see are the reproductive parts (blossoms, so to say), of the black spot fungus plants. Yes, they are plants, quite different from roses, but still plants.

Enjoy your new rose. Is it fragrant?

BTW, I believe Moonlight is a yellow rose?

Moses

I have bought roses at this time of year & they look terrible. I plant them and they usually clear up. I'm also trying to only purchase roses that are disease resistant based on reviews, etc. I don't spray here. The conditions at this time of year in the garden centre is often very poor, usually marked down heavily. Another thing I do is look at all the roses, if almost all of the varieties have mildew or bs but one type stands out as very healthy. It will probably be a winner in your garden. On the other hand I've had roses that are marked as being highly disease resistant. But sometimes in the spot you put them that is not the case. You just have to give a rose you love a try & see what happens.

Here's some good info on roses on the questions a to z .Mike McGrath is a weekly radio organic gardening talk show host .http://www.gardensalive.com/product/disease-resistant-roses

Mike that rose also has anthracnose. In the right weather conditions it will spread like wildfire to your other roses. It might be best not let it loose in the garden without treating first with a contact fungicide. I don't spray but do spray new plants in my garage before they are introduced to the garden.