Thorns on Moonstone. Ouch!

This is how the entire bed looks in April.

And yes, i still want white roses in that space.

I bought and planted PJPII in my front yard last year, it’s not good, I can see damage from thrips. I also have Memoire or Ice cream there too. My best white is Fair Bianca or Pure Perfume. I finally removed PJPII and it’s in container, Olivia Austin is the replacement.

I think it’s hard with white roses, the minute the weather heats up, the thrips are here. Last year i grew yarrows in the front yard to combat the thrip problem, but it has a different problem. This year i removed them all.

I grow both roses, Moonstone and PJPII and love them both. June is big time thrip season for me in Lexington, Ky. and both roses seem equally affected, even though I do spray. Both roses are great for cuttimg, too. PJPII has the advantage of fragrance. Good luck deciding.

Dianela, I love the 2 rose pictures!

PJP II was a black spot magnet for me. It was an excellent repeater with long lasting blooms. Its height never exceeded 3', probably doubling that for,you. It was grafted onto Dr. Huey, presumably. Gone now because of it black spotted terribly. It could do the same for youyou, but not likely.

Many PJP II growers found it to grow poorly own root.

Moses Moses modemo

PJP II seemed to take heat in stride, not skipping a beat. The bloom is stunningly beautiful, and fragrant, too. Thrips are not an issue here in my garden, fortunately! For you, thrips may be an issue. Look for a grafted bush to secure its best performance. My PJP II was not very thorny at all.

Moses

(sorry for the system Gremlin at work in the previous post)

Hmm … much to think about. How about thorns on PJP?

Chili thrips are a nightmare. The only thing that’s recommended for use on them is spinosad, which does help for a little while. They always come back, though. July through October.

i think what I want to do this year is spray as soon as I see the first sign of damage… and keep spraying, on a regular schedule. Spinosad is not harmful as far as I know.

Considering Fair Bianca as well.

How about the new rose top cream ? Supposed to be tall and very fragrant.

Another one could be easy spirit. I’m not sure how tall it would be but mine blooms a ton and smells great. I keep mine short bc it’s in my hellstrip. I bet it wishes I’d leave it alone.

The chili thrips didn’t bother that one but my garden definitely suffered in other areas .

I used to have chili thrips, I found out the blue plumbago is host to chili thrips. so I removed it. Now i have thrips, not chili thrips, where the edge of a white rose is slightly brown.

every fall/winter i remove the old rose leaves, i make sure they dont hide in the old leaves, idont really spray at all.

https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pests-and-diseases/pests/chilli-thrips.html

https://www.finegardening.com/article/pest-alert-chilli-thrips

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/lbenedict/articles/page1469030428468

Moonstone is incredibly beautiful to me. Are chili thrips in Northern CA too? Thinking of ordering something from that area. Not a rose.

I only recently began seeing what I think is thrip damage here in Sacramento, on WWII Memorial, then on Le Petit Prince.

I have had a tree Pope John Paul II for about 15 years. It is not quite as affected as those two from thrips. AND it is one of my star performers in the heat, constantly blooming. It has very few thorns. I would definitely say try it if you have to have a white rose!

Carla in Sac

I don't post on this forum often, but I couldn't help thinking about this post. I cannot address which rose you should plant to replace the two 'Moonstone' roses or chili thrips because our climate conditions are very different, but I can give you a suggestion as to how to remove your thorny roses without being shredded by the thorns. If, as I understand your original post, you do not plan to save the plants you wish to to remove from that bed so take the easy approach. Just cut those thorny canes back to the bud union and use your loppers like tongs and place the canes into a container for disposal. All that will be left is the bud union and root mass ... no thorns.

Good luck.

Roseangellyn,that's pretty much what I figured out to do when I shovelpruned 3 or 4 large HTs a few months ago. There is really no other way, unless you like being cut to ribbons…

SoCalGardenNut, looking up your suggestions now.

lilyfinch, i dont know Top Cream but I’ll check it out.

sautesmom.I agree that PJP would be a great tree rose!

Fair Bianca I don’t think would work out. HMF implied as much.

thx all!

Sylvia: I think you’re right about getting ahead of the chili thrips. They showed up in my garden for the first time in summer 2022 and were horrible. This was the advice from Tom Carruth in an LA Times article. Based on this article, I did buy Conserve SC to use this coming summer, since it has the highest concentration of Spinosad.

Watch the weather
If the temperatures start heading toward 100 and above, that’s the time to start spraying for chili thrips, a tiny little sap-sucking pest that thrives in hot, dry conditions. The thrips love tender new growth, but they will deform flowers and leaves on a variety of plants, including roses, once they become established, Carruth said. The only effective remedy he’s found is a pesticide with spinosad as the active ingredient. “Shop around for the one with the highest concentration,” he said. “Watch the weather, and the day before it gets really hot, just spray it on the growing tips of the plant late in the day or in the early evening, after the bees have gone home, because it can be problematic for bees.”

Desert Rose, many thanks! This year I’m going to try to get ahead of the game… of thrips.