I bet your fall flush will be nice for you ! Gosh this time of year the roses take a beating and so do we . I’ll admit I’m very frustrated with mine but it’s so hot ! In a month Or two it will balance out

I have a lady gardener, she is a magnet for thrips, caterpillar that eat the buds and JBs. On her last flush (When buttons were pea sized)I sprayed with spinosad. she was the only one I had to do this, But finally got some normal blooms!

I agree with Dianela--severe thrips damage and a possible proliferation in the center bloom. My Austin rose, "The Prince", though dark in color can get thrips almost this bad. You can use systemic insecticide granules (imidacloprid; Bonide is one brand) to help get rid of the thrips. I haven't had much luck with spinosad spray in the past and no longer use it. Or you can just wait out the thrips. They will eventually go away (in my garden anyway), but they do return every year. Here is Evelyn with a proliferation. Diane

I definitely think I’m going to stick to the DA rose food and organic fertilizers from now on. I can tell there’s a lot of soft new growth that I’m sure is the result of excess nitrogen. My dad has recommended the insecticidal granules too, but imidacloprid is harmful to bees and I just can’t bring myself to do that. I have a lot of bees in my garden that flock to my salvias and nepeta plants. 🙂

Diane I LOVE Evelyn. I swear one day i will get one even if I have to baby her forever. I love the green proliferation on her also. I struggle with the thrips here a lot also, this year I invested in pirate bugs and they seem to have improved my situation, but not perfect.

Thanks, Dianela. Sometimes Evelyn is a challenge. Two nights ago it was the wind whipping the big canes of my largest E around, damaging dozens of buds and blooms. Have you seen what shredded blooms look like? This is due to the canes rubbing against each other. This rose has been hard to keep under control as far as size, but I wouldn't be without her.

About the granules: I have used them in very limited times on my few most thrips susceptible roses. I have huge numbers of bees and wasps and they don't seem to be affected. They don't go to the many petaled Austins, or roses like Augusta Luise. Bees and butterflies love my lavender, penstemon, butterfly bushes, hundreds of coneflowers, and more. Those are the plants bees and butterflies love. Diane

@Diane diane i would love to see your Evelyn! I finally got one but I have mo idea what size she gets...

I just posted with pics and they disappeared, CeresMer. I'm going to find some other pics and post those later. I have four Evelyn rose plants. The largest one in decent sun is about 7 feet tall with a lot of pruning. The other three which grow in too much tree shade, are 5-6 feet tall. All are quite wide.

Dianela, here is my favorite Evelyn with proliferation pic, taken in 20012. She's with Sarah Bernhardt peonies. Diane

Thank you Diane, I will have her on a spot she can spread out. Even on her bad day she is beautiful 😍

Diane - gorgeous!!! And the vase really accentuates the beauty of the blooms!! :)

Evelyn is lovely 🙂 I’ve got room for another pink rose, and I’m trying to decide between Evelyn, Queen of Sweden, and Anne Boleyn. I’ve already decided to plant a row of Gabriel Oak and Eustacia Vye in front of my porch next spring!

Here are some more Evelyn pics. Diane

They are both beautiful! Wow your Olivia is so tall too! Does your Evelyn blooms together with your peonies? I will be adding Evelyn, Scepter I, Wildeve and Abe Darby to my peonie border. right now I only have a climber and another rose

A couple of peonies will go 😭

I don't grow Evelyn with peonies, but she grows with all kinds of perennials. Those are snapdragons in the photo, but other plants around the four Evelyns include penstemon, alyssum, Jupiter's Beard, Heliopsis, etc. I do have other roses growing with peonies, and they all do fine. Your border looks great, and you are off to a great start. Diane

This is Munstead Wood with a Sarah Bernhardt peony. Diane

Sarah - I agree with what everyone else has said, but I also wonder if they might be a bit sun burnt? In our hot U.S. summers, some of the Austin's do better with afternoon shade - just something to consider, since you said they were in a spot with a lot of sun.

I also agree that they will get stronger over time, and once the roots are more established they won't need to be watered as frequently as a first year plant. Good luck!!!

Thank you, Cyndita! I have wondered that too as the sun on that side of the house can get pretty intense during these hot summer afternoons. We’ve had a lot of rain and clouds this week and it’s been considerably cooler. I noticed this morning that I’ve got some more buds coming on that look a bit more normal...fingers crossed!

Update: after a week of cooler (80s) temps and heavy rain, as well as a spritz of Spinosad for any possible thrips, my Lady Gardener blooms are looking much better. Very small and still with some discoloration, but I do see improvement!

Diane I can't get over your Evelyn. She is one of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. I know she is hard to find for some reason but I will try and get one. No way it could look like that here but I can try to give her all the extra attention in the garden.

I gave away Queen of Sweden (boring small blooms) and Scepter'd Isle (thorny & huge bush & blooms shatter), but I still have Evelyn as own-root & always healthy for the past 9 years & zero black spots & LARGEST BLOOM that last long on the bush & in the vase. Pics. taken this July 2020. Evelyn is easiest to root, I threw away a bunch of her rootings last year since I don't have room in my garage to keep these rootings through zone 5a winter. The older Austin roses are quite vigorous, and they "root themselves" giving babies when I dumped soil on top for winter-protection, such as Evelyn & Radio Times. I threw a branch of Evelyn in my compost pile and it tried to root itself !!

Straw, so healthy and gorgeous! How big does she get for you? @strawchicago z5 and what do you give ger to keep blooming? i know you have a special diet for each of your roses 😆@dianela7analabama i found Evelyn this year on DA! I ordered for this spring!

Evelyn stays 2.5' x 2.5' as OWN ROOT for the past 9 years in my zone 5a. But David Austin roses are grafted-on-Dr.Huey and they don't like too much acidic rain. Young Lycidas (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) got wimpy through zone 5a winter and died in spring flood. Evelyn as own-root can take acidic rain if given alkaline minerals (I give her bio-char) plus sulfate of potash. She's a CONTINUOUS bloomer, rather than a bunch open at once. I get weekly cut-blooms from Evelyn. Evelyn likes alkaline pH since she rusted badly for Jess with acidic red clay (grafted-on-multiflora). I never see black spots, rust, nor mildew on Evelyn as own-root in my clay above pH 7.5

About proliferation: I see that in roses given too much nitrogen fertilizer, and also on the first few blooms in a young rose. Nitrogen mobility is a 10, it moves fast with water. Potassium mobility is a 3, it moves somewhat. Phosphorus mobility is a 1. It takes a few months for potassium & phosphorus to move down before proliferation stops. My first blooms on own-roots Liv Tyler and About Face hybrid tea proliferated, but never after that.

Well, I’ve certainly learned my lesson about using a high nitrogen fertilizer on these roses. I want to plant some more DAs next year and I’m hoping for a better start with the second batch than my first two roses.

Wow! I thought she was supposed to be a large one! I see in my order that she is not own root, so guessing grafted. I’m so excited for next spring!!

@Sarah zone 6b MO your roses will be fine! It’s a learning process, I manage to kill only one (didn’t know she was drowning) by reading @strawchicago z5 posts I realized that my sois is clay and wasn’t draining. Now the roses are doing better! Next spring I hope they will perform much better!

Straw - Oh SWOON!!!!! Your Austins have so many petals and the colors are amazing!!!! Could you please come and garden for me. LOL But, seriously...wow!!!

Here’s another update: I continue to see better coloring on some of these blooms, although they remain small and still with some proliferation as you can see. Meanwhile, my floribunda Lady of Guadalupe is gorgeous and healthy. :)

Sarah, my lady gardener is blooming again and I thought of you

she is such a pretty lady! This time she has like 10 buds

I’m really loving her, but so does the thrips 😫

This is when it was opened

CeresMer - just beautiful! I hope mine can catch up to yours in time. Thank you for sharing. I am hoping for one more flush before winter.

Sarah - I had some thrips this year too and it took me a while to figure out that was the problem. They INVADED PCdM and Crocus Rose, but seemed to skip Julia Child, Molineaux and Jude the Obscure. I understand that light colored roses tend to get them more, but Jude is pretty much as light as the two that got mauled (and it's sitting right next to Crocus Rose) so I don't understand that at all. Of course, it also had maybe 3 blooms since the Spring flush so maybe that's why. I ordered some paper cups to coat and put in the yard (read that on here), but by the time they arrived and I got around to it, the thrips went away. I don't understand the life cycle or timing, but am grateful they're gone. For the first time all summer, I'm thrip, aphid, and japanese beetle free. Now if I could just get rid of the rose sawfly....

The "light colored roses attract thrips rule" is not hard and fast. Like threeboxer, my Julia, Jude, and a lot of other light colored roses don't seem to interest thrips, but my very dark, The Prince, is my top thrips magnet in recent years. Evelyn is attractive to thrips, and Augusta Luise gets a few. Thrips are fickle beasts, I guess. Diane

Threeboxer- I too am pest-free for the first time since early June! It’s wonderful not to see Japanese beetles chomping away on everything. I’ve decided to just leave everything as-is as the summer draws to a close - no more fertilizing, feeding, etc. The last thing I did was about 5-6 weeks ago, I planted a banana peel at the base of each rose. They seem to like it and my Emily Bronte in particular has shot up about 6 inches or so in the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping for a beautiful fall flush to make up for the summer doldrums.

Sarah you sound like me! Most of my roses are new this year and when I planted Jude, I put a banana peel in the hole. Same for Molineaux. I did not for the other David Austin Roses. Molineaux has florished, Jude enhhh - not so much. The others haven't really impressed either. Maybe I'm spoiled because Molineaux and Julia Child are always so full of blooms! Anyway, bug-wise I"m bug free but these green rose slugs which i THINK are sawfly larva??? Anyway, they're gross and I'm always flicking them off leaves. I hate them. Good luck and I hope you get your wish for beautiful fall blooms. That's my wish too :)

I'm so happy for everyone that is bug free! That's SUCH good news!!

Threeboxerlover - yes, sawfly larvae are annoying...and can be serious if they get a hold. I hope yours go away. :)

Threeboxer, I know Julia will always outbloom a lot of roses, and it looks like your Molineaux is another big bloomer type. I can tell you from almost 16 years of growing Jude that he is a slow starter, and once in gear, grows very large. He produces huge spring flushes, but the repeat isn't so great. Be patient. Diane

Diane - GASP!!!

Diane - THAT IS JUDE? Well, if I can get mine to be 1/4 as gorgeous, it will be worth the effort. What a fabulous bush.

Diane 🤩🤩that rose is stunning! I love everything about it. Wow!

Thanks, all of you. Remember, Jude's rebloom is not great. Plink, plunk all summer, and a small flush in early fall. Because the blooms are large and quite unusual, I'll be content with spring, but not thrilled about the rebloom. I'm not sure what I meant there. Diane

@threeboxerlover DEZ7a try washing the roses with a strong spray of water. I use a setting on my hose to spray all the leaves, specially the underside. If you do this every two days for a week or so you are able to get rid of sawfly & aphids... they are soft bodies so once you get the tinny eggs out of the leves they will die. I’m also happy to see no bugs for the first time. My first year w roses, I’m enjoying now more then spring 🙌🏻

CeresMer - thank you. I tried this technique this morning and will alternate days. I do spray them with my hose but not regularly. I was so afraid of getting the leaves too wet and getting black spot! Anyway, fingers crossed it works for me too. Diane - I was so happy this morning to see THREE buds on my Jude - they just popped up. There is also some new red growth so hopefully there will be more. It smells so wonderful. After the Spring flush I was ready to order like five more (no idea where I would put them - but I was totally enamored).

I would love for Jude to grow well for me...maybe it's time to try it again. :) And, I remember the smell as being the best I had ever smelled.

Just an update for anyone who might come across this thread in the future. It’s been much cooler here for the last several weeks, and I have basically been ignoring my roses for about two months due to various life issues. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see two beautiful, healthy blooms on my LG this morning. I think the cooler weather plus backing off the fertilizer has been great for her.

Doing really well!!!

Sarah it's great that you came back to give us an update! Thanks for the lovely picture, it is awesome to see your rose looking so nice!

Lovely! Thanks for the update!