Certainly Radler certainly did not invent disease free roses. It certainly did help push things in that direction. As hybridizers watched him making huge amounts of cash with a fairly unsophisticated rose. I know the Parkland and Explorer roses were a disappointment too many of the breeders. They were not tested rigorously enough and many were susceptible black spot. The work that they are doing now is to be highly commended. I'm buying them when I can find them. The two that I have Emily and Campfire are wonderful roses here. Of the Svejda that I grew J P Connell, John Davis, Champlain, Henry Hudson, Louis Joliet, John Franklin and William Baffin. Only Henry Hudson and John Franklin could be grown no spray. Had many of many Parkland and Explorer roses that were shovel prune for black spot. Had I a crystal ball I'd have known that I would go no spray. Thats the way it goes. In the beginning Paul most of my rose purchased were based upon your advice on Old Roses and beyond. Then I'd look up their hardiness if good to my zone I purchased them. By the way I loved your articles and stories. The roses however are all gone they could not be grown here as no spray rose. I believe to spray or not is a personal choice. I could not do it any more and made a commitment to be more environmentally friendly. I did have all of your beautiful roses that were hardy here. I'm sorry to say that I could not grow them here without spray. I'm sure that others can in drier or hotter environments. So sad I'm sorry this was OT.

Beth it's a good thing you don't get hurricanes where you live lol. That's one of the reasons I started putting roses in the ground here, so I don't have to move all my pots. Problem is I just get more roses and then some end up in pots. It never ends lol. Lbpetals, I like your nice deep pots. I have Marechal Neil and Devoneisis Cl in tall pots and they love it. Your pup is adorable.

Ah @BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14), I have a 50 year old massive clump (tall as me) that I jump into to prune and such. In adding roses to the front, I'm going to divide it out in clumps and replant. It makes a nice 'privacy screen' or back of border. I'm betting the rose blooms will just pop in front of it too. That bird is the reason I went with a lot of orange/apricot, lite pink/mid pink, pale yellow/yellow and white. Zeph D. will be the darkest color. Those colors are in the Bird's bloom, even the yellow, and it's blooms are massive. I'm no designer, but that just seems like a good thing. (Picture is from Wilcox Nursery, Mine looks like this.) I've never transplanted a bird, but there are so many outer baby clumps, I figure I can just sheer off those to be my transplants and effectively 'move' the mama back about 2' by doing so. The mama is about 6' x 8' right now. Worth a shot I think.

Artist-FKA: With regard to your questions: 1. MG All Purpose Plant Food for water soluble & Easy Feed from Mills & Orchid fertilizer: I cannot find the ingredients in Easy Feed SOLUBLE fertilizer, so I suspect it has potassium chloride. Lilly Miller's used to have sulfate of potash, then they switched to potassium chloride and it took me a long time before I could find the label on-line. I checked the ingredients for Orchid food, and most of them have potassium chloride. Yes, K in MG-plant food is potassium chloride and that would cause browning of petals. If the label of a fertilizer is hidden, there's a good chance it's the cheap & salty potassium chloride. 2. water soluble for pots: I checked Jack's Blossom Booster NPK 10-30-20 and it has monopotassium phosphate, low-salt index of 8.4 (compared to salt-index of 116 for potassium chloride), but it also has potassium nitrate with salt index of 69.5 (compared to sulfate of potash salt index of 42). 3. To reverse BS: I tested 4 different sulfate of potash and I like Kelp4less best (easiest to dissolve due to higher % of sulfur). Next best is granular brownish Southern Ag. (this dissolve quickly), and hardest to dissolve is Alpha chemicals (10 lb. for $20). Since last summer I found a better way to dissolve potassium fertilizer than using vinegar: I used the microbes (fermenting bacteria) in alfalfa-tea to make potassium available to roots. Bacteria is used in landfill to degrade plastic, and the fermenting bacteria in alfalfa-tea also break up the hard-bonds in potassium fertilizer, making it available to plants. I save those HUGE plastic jugs (laundry detergent or large juice bottle), rinse them well, then store water to ferment alfalfa (takes 2 days). I use 2 TBS of alfalfa meal plus 1 TBS sulfate of potash per gallon of water. The acid (sulfur) given off by the fermenting bacteria will make sulfate of potash available to plants. Fermenting bacteria (from alfalfa tea) also give off vitamin C (essential for plant growth), plus B-vitamins (for plants' health), plus sulfur (for growth). So you can get sulfur (an essential plant nutrient for growth) from: expensive sulfate of potash OR acid given off by decay of organic matter such as alfalfa meal soaked in water. TO REVERSE AND TO PREVENT BLACKSPOT: Since 2012 I grow 140+ own-roots in pots first before transferring into my dense clay. Each year I test different fertilizers (both organic and chemicals), aiming for the best health and most solid roots for zone 5a winter survival. These are what I notice for the past decade: 1) The higher the salt, the worse the health. Salt zaps out potassium, and potassium is essential for health and blooming. Potassium regulates water osmosis. The healthiest roses in pots was the year that I tested ORGANIC Nature's Care soluble fertilizer NPK 10-6-3 with Hydrolyzed feather meal, MEAT and Bone meal, Blood meal, and Sulfate of Potash. Blood meal is high in iron. I supplement that with sulfate of potash to UP potassium level in pots. This fertilizer is the fore-runner in my daughter's 8th-grade science projecting in growing seeds from 6 different soils and fertilizers. 2) The worst health is with any fertilizer containing potassium chloride, it's like dumping salt into your pots. Roses are such water hogs, and salt defeats water osmosis (essential for lush leaves and blooming). 3) Osmocote PLUS NPK 15-7-12 is fast in inducing blooms (even on tiny rose rootings), but not best for health due to the fast release of phosphorus (Ammonium phosphate), and the high salt index of Ammonium nitrate of 104. Tiny rose rootings broke out in blackspots the minute rain hit. Fast release of phosphorus and too slow release of potassium UP diseases. Potassium is essential for disease prevention, and it competes with phosphorus and calcium for absorption. 4) I root roses from cuttings, and I use these tiny rootings test different fertilizers in pots. The best health on tiny rootings was when I tested Tomato Tone (higher potassium than Rose Tone) as granular application on top, plus watering with Nature's Care soluble fertilizer NPK 10-6-3 for nitrogen. Rose Tone is cheap on Amazon at $20 per 18 lb., plus using sulfate of potassium (dissolved by fermenting alfalfa tea) is equivalent to the more expensive Tomato-Tone.