"Bill Oliver" wrote in message
...


Any ideas of what this might be, and what I might do were I to
actually try to do something?


I'm not a rose expert. All I know is that I haven't had the time or
inclination to find "old" varieties which haven't had natural resistance
bred out of them. I guess other things have taken priority in my garden.
What I *do* know is that for your particular roses (which sound like hybrid
tea roses), you have a choice of either fussing endlessly with various
sprays, or getting rid of the plants. If you really want roses, I'd contact
the American Rose Society to find out about disease-resistant varieties:

http://www.ars.org/explore.cfm

Hint: I have what some call "beach roses", and I don't know the Latin name.
Some research should lead you to the answer. They've been in my yard for 75
years, according to ancient neighbors. In the 20 years that they've been in
my care, I've never seen ANYTHING attack them. They produce mostly single
flowers, a few doubles, but nothing like the tea roses you get when you buy
someone a dozen roses. However, they have a scent that lights up the entire
back yard. Perhaps because of the way I trim them, all the flowers grow at
about the same distance out on the branches. So, when they fade, it's easy
to deadhead many at one time using big garden scissors. A month later, I get
more flowers. These plants thumb their noses at snow, salt, and being
encased in ice.

In another spot, I have some roses whose flowers are fluffy and irregular,
like carnations. Their smell is amazing, and like the others, they've had no
problems with diseases. When I moved in, the old Italian lady on that
property line told me all I had to do was trim them "six a to twelve a incha
froma da ground" in early March. Other than care for the soil, that's all
I've done, and these bushes are 7' high by mid-May, loaded with flowers.

Anyway...I'd go out and find better roses if I were you.