buford, I read that link. very interesting. and yes, indeed, although I did see some thrips, this is definitely bullnose. Interesting Aloha, in another part of the garden, was affected. and not freezing, as you pointed out. Well, what can you do but live with it?? I think my 'anger' of the previous evening has subsided, so the artillery I had planned for today may wait. I'll reup the garlic spray, and maybe research this Bayer drench. (yes, that autocorrect made me write Sharifa A. as it kept saying Asthma!!) thanks all, and KEEP THE ORGANIC THRIP TREATMENTS COMING!!!! btw, i just found last night pretty good reports of cornmeal as an organic treatment for blackspot, just threw all I had out there, so I will report back!!! A few are BS magnets...mind you, ALL this is happening, for the most part, to my David Austins, I am sad to say. Another vote for the antiques!!!

Deer leave ragged ends on branches they browse. Good video showing this close up http://tinyurl.com/qc4hqqf (go to full screen for detail). Bunnies can only reach as high as they can stand on their hind legs, and are apt to leave a mess of torn leaves, stems & flowers strewn about. But they can jump to higher areas (porches, chairs) & nibble plants from above. Never noticed squirrels munching plants, but they get plenty of tidbits from bird feeder scatter. Our house sits in a clearing surrounded by woodlands, so somebody seems awake at any hour of the day or night scouting for supper. Aromatic plants like lavender & beebalm guard the borders near roses & floppy plants that obscure sure footing cover any bare ground around perennials, many of which are deer resistant, but nothing is deer proof. Have to fence the garden phlox when it buds, since deer have climbed the steps & gobbled down the blooms from the porch. Apparently, that's irresistible. They haven't bothered the hydrangeas, apart from sampling a leaf or two over the years, but in my son's garden miles away they browse his to stubs & bypass the Peace rose surrounded by lavender. Sedum Autumn Joy is a big draw for the fleshy leaves, so I leave the old stems poking out till getting around to caging them before the foliage outgrows their deterrence. Typically it's a curious young buck that comes exploring the flowers on his lonesome around here. Several small deer families graze on the back lawn & rest on the edge of the woods, but they seldom bother the plantings unless it's a hard season. Haven't noticed any damage from other woodland neighbors, though the turtles will clean up fresh fallen rose petals & help themselves to a few viola blooms. In the years I find heliotrope to grow in the porch boxes, a hedgehog couple can often be glimpsed sitting quietly next to them, apparently enjoying the fragrance as much as we do, without disturbing a petal.

This happens to my roses like 2x a year. I cannot explain what causes them to form this way, but it seems to affect many different varieties and usually around the same time. Some varieties (elegant fairy tale, sugar moon, mr Lincoln)are more prone to it than others. I live in south Fl so cold or frost damage is certainly not the culprit. I read once that too much alfalfa can cause this to happen, and I think there is a coorolation because one year I used copious amounts of Rose Tone (which contains Alfalfa) and that was the year that I had it the worst. (I no longer use rose tone and I've seen a significant decline). Not to say that Rose Tone is bad, I believe it to be a good product, but I used it in pots and perhaps it was too concentrated. Have any if you seen a cooralation between using alfalfa meal and phyllody (or near phyllody) like Hoov says?

Last year I had the same problem, and it was rose weevils. I killed as many as I could, but they really ruined the bloom on any of the plants that they were on. They seemed to prefer certain rose bushes more than others. I am still waiting for my first rose blooms to open this year, so I will see how it goes. I could not find any way to get rid of them other than hand picking them - and in my opinion didn't work well since I didn't get any decent blooms out of the roses they were on all summer. The holes appeared like small prefectly round holes, with I think a darker edge, possibly from the rose bud wilting around the edge of the hole. Just so you know, the best way to get the weevils is to get a pail with soapy water and hold it under the weevil, as soon as you get close to it it will try to drop to the ground, but instead you catch it in the water and it drowns. There was a link on her last year, since I was asking the same thing!