I admit to indecision and distracted forgetfulness at the nursery, too. There are also times when faced with so many beauties I suddenly want roses I that I don't know. Disease resistance? Fragrance? How big does it grow, really? I would be thrilled to be shopping and know I could tweet out a question and there would be others who might have answers and/or suggestions. Admittedly, I do believe I might buy more then planned...hehe More roses! Is there a downside?

For someone in zone 10, there probably is very little chance of mosaic type virus spread as the rose's immune system is effective at high temperatures. ----------------------------------------- Concerning Davis's indexed roses. Davis has recently published a paper where they announced that they found an aphid spread virus in their indexed rose plantings (see page 511): "In this test, RSDaV was detected in many different rose species and cultivars from the Foundation Rose Collection at FPS. In all, 129 plants in this collection were tested, and 77 were positive for RSDaV. Some of the hybrid rose cultivars tested positive for RSDaV included Queen Elizabeth, China Doll, Heirloom, Lowell Thomas, Jack Frost, New Dawn, Uncle Joe, Bridal White, Butterscotch, and Cynthia. It is interesting that the virus was detected in more than 69 plants in two rows (total number of plants in these rows was 89) of the collection which were planted in the mid 1990s. In all, 162 samples of R. multiflora from the virusindexing rose blocks also were assayed in the spring and RSDaV was found in 94 plants. The majority of RT-PCR-positive R. multiflora plants were symptomatic. Another 40 additional plants from the same virus-indexing blocks were tested in the summer and 6 were positive." Here is a link that might be useful: link for above.

Man...Henry, you are a fountain of positive thoughts. No wonder people would rather grow anything than a rose. Why don't you pick on another plant for a while.

If you are interested in learning about what science knows about plant and non plant virus "crossovers", the following 2015 full review may be of interest. http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/7/4/2074/htm