Interesting how some things change while others stay the same. Avalon: My Vets Honor gets a fair amount of morning sun. I have to say that it is a heavy feeder and performs best when fertilized consistantly. Belinda's Dream is a work-horse in my garden where I have almost as many of it as I do of Elina. I recently purchased two Pope John Paul II after being pleasantly surprised by the growth of one that I ordered from J&P in the Fall on own-root. I was able to find it at a nursery in Miami. Appearantly a nursery up in Central Florida has begun to take up the slack left behind from MerryGro and is selling J&P roses on Fortuniana rootstock under the name of Armstrong Roses. I've spotted a few of these roses at my local Home Depot in Pembroke Pines. Well, bottom line, and a return from my tangent, PJP II is creating quiet a sensation in my garden. Peggy: My hat goes off to you. I can't get into OGRs. I can just imagine that they're huge in their pots. I was just up to the Cool Roses farm this weekend and Geoff echoed what has been a growing problem in my garden, regular thrips. He said that the weather is keeping the Chilli Thrips at bay but that the regular thrips are reaking havoc everywhere. I was warned against overly using ConserveSC and to stock up if I found any for sale as it has become restricted due to nurseries over-using it to combat Chilli Thrips. In other news: My raised beds project is 40% complete and coming along nicely. I hope to post pics some time in the future. Enjoy our Spring while it lasts Florida!!! Adrian.

Hi springrose: deformed/damaged new growth with medium-sized insect sounds like midge-problem. Midge doesn't like it too dry nor too wet soil-surface. If you can get pea-gravel at local stores (tiny pebbles with a variety of colorful minerals) .. quick solution is to spread a very thin layer around Marie Daly .. that will provide a dry surface so midge can't hatch. Hopefully the high pH of pea-gravel will help fungal disease (black spot), and stop any insects from hatching from below. Pea-gravel is slow release, so it won't shoot up soil pH, plus its high pH will neutralize acidic rain. Last year we had over 49" of rain. I put pea-gravel in 2 pots .. zero mildew, zero blackspots for the entire year, despite in shady location & poor circulation.

"Rose rosette disease – what it is and how experts are dealing with it – will be the topic of a meeting Nov. 12 at Chambersville Tree Farms, 7032 County Road 971, Celina. The event will be 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and is free to the public, according to Dr. Kevin Ong, director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab in College Station." See: http://today.agrilife.org/2016/11/03/national-experts-convene-texas-rose-rosette-disease-meeting/

Thank you straw and everyone for your photos and detailed info. I used to participate regularly here on this forum years ago, and then got rid of a lot of my roses. I have a lot of shade and I had a lot of jobs and no time and so I gave up on roses. I've found myself venturing over to this forum very hesitantly lol, lest I get sucked back in! But seriously I am thinking of adding a rose or 12 back to my garden, and I really appreciate some of the honest descriptions here (as well as the laughs - sitting here alone laughing out loud at some of them!). I know some of it is subjective, some depends on the zone or even the particular garden, but it's a starting point. Your photos are all gorgeous and Tina your garden is absolutely lovely! Thank you all for sharing! :) Dee Edited to say, I meant to thank Straw (and everyone who participated) for ALL the posts you've had recently, not just this one - so very much great info! Own root, roses for the vase, roses for your climate, in ground vs. in pot, etc. THANK YOU!!