What Mike said------. Yes, we CAN blame Patrick. He has caused so much pain to the old wallet anyways, so why not blame him for the flu also. It is all his fault! 4 days in bed, starve a fever & plenty of liquids; chicken soup is good and you will be playing in the mud in short order. Get well! I don't blame you for your shopping spree. It sounds like something crazy that I would do. It sounded like fun. Just look on what you will save on gas. Sorry you got this nasty flu. Don't let it turn into Pneumonia. All the best! Foghorn

The top growth on that looks fine. It seems to be confined to just the one branch so it could have been earlier frost damage or even animal damage. You can not go by all the other roses in your garden. Each planting location is different and each rose is different and will react in a different manner to weather conditions. That's a very young rose and it may have just caught the wind in the right direction for that one branch to have been frozen. Or, like hoov said, a dog may have peed on it. In any case I'd just remove those damaged leaves and watch and see how the new ones grow out. If it continues to show decline in other parts of the rose than there is probably more going on but if that cane regrows healthy leaves it's probably just a one time event.

And of course I just cut all of the damaged areas off and got rid of it!! I don't know why I didn't think to take a picture. I did look up pictures of midge damage on the web, and it looks like that causes wilting. My rose tips are hard and brown, just like if you had cut off a piece of the rose bush and set it aside for a week or more to dry. It is very brittle, the ends will snap in my hand, even the pieces that are as big around as a pencil. If, and I am hoping it doesn't happen again, it does this on any other branches I will take a picture and post it. Thank you! S

Thank you for all your support and good wishes when I was feeling desperate and panicky. And I am sorry i did not get back sooner. Some of what I have been able to figure out is good news. a) My roses do have severe, I mean all leaves gone, black spot. This rose nook looks so sad. I could not find the Bayer product suggested but I found an Ortho product with chlorothalonil in it and is supposed to take off black spot and I have started to use it. The literature on the bottle says it is supposed to take care of spores too. Over 5-6 days I did not see much improvement. The black spot keeps spreading. One other thread on this forum suggested Mancozeb as the best product to use. I just order it today. Lets hope for the best. I am taking care of the mulch. b)The other damage, as suggested by rosefolly and oldroser IS chemical damage from sprays and new growth looks good. Because of what looked like black spot to me I had asked my husband to spray a complete fruit tree spray also recommended for roses. But he must have used the wrong concentration. Anyway not too much damage done. But I am wondering what is going to happen to the roses that have lost all their leaves? Essentially no growth and strength from this summer? Or actually a set back? Should I cut back the canes that lost all the leaves? Will this stimulate robust canes to grow in? Any other information regarding black spot is all too welcome. Thank you so, so much for your suggestions and support. Katyajini