There was an interesting thread a couple of years ago where some of us compared our BD- it was the consensus that this rose really has to have a lot of sun to maintain strong canes. Mine was in a semi shady area and I had kept cutting it back to strong wood because the canes were lanky and they dragged in the dirt. The blooms were fine, although balled in rain but the canes were weak and dragged down. others whose BD were in much sun didn't have my problem. I remember that Berndoodle had one in some amount of shade and one in a great deal of sun and there was a difference in their growth and cane strength. Maybe she'll chime in and recount how hers do. Anyhoo, that's how I come to have an opinion about her needing sun.

Your gardens are lovely. Everything looks beautiful! Your roses look very happy! Thanks for sharing, Judy

Sara Ann, I hope she stays dependable, but off years seem to be pretty normal in my roses, along with the great years. I still can't figure it out. The Prince, Tamora, and Love Song are having unusually good years, but Evelyn is just blah (except for all the candelabra canes; I think all my roses have those currently--what a bunch of crazy looking roses). Diane

Sam, some of my roses are doing that too! I'm in Durham and it makes me feel better that it's not just me. Mark_roeder, thanks for the advice! I'm going to cut one open and see what I find. Otherwise I'm just going to wait it out as I'm too lazy to spray. Although I've been thinking of buying some predator mantises so maybe I'll go that route.