This year, after 6 years, I am going to re do my rose garden. I have had a horrible time with deer and was about to totally give up BUT I have found a way to install an electric fence that won't be too ugly and it will still allow me easy access for gardening.
The roses themselves are in terrible shape. To be honest I think most (there are 7) of them will need to be replaced. I would like to keep a few of the originals and the biggest problem with them is Black Spot. My plan is to strip all the foliage and cut the canes back. They are mulched with pine bark. Do I trash the pine bark and put plastic over the dirt to get rid of the black spot? Then re apply new pine bark? Will that do the trick or is there something else that would work better? Also are there vine type vegetables that do well with Roses, like cucumbers perhaps? Thanks in advance and I look forward to having some activity in this group again !
MJ

If know you have black spot in a rose, my advice is to get new plants.
I have had no success in keeping a rose once black spot hits it. I've
tried repotting, cutting back severely, etc., and the only thing that
worked was to throw out the rose. The best roses I have found for
black spot resistance are the Knockout and Flower Carpet roses.

On Fri, 4 Jan 2013 10:34:33 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

This year, after 6 years, I am going to re do my rose garden. I have had a horrible time with deer and was about to totally give up BUT I have found a way to install an electric fence that won't be too ugly and it will still allow me easy access for gardening.
The roses themselves are in terrible shape. To be honest I think most (there are 7) of them will need to be replaced. I would like to keep a few of the originals and the biggest problem with them is Black Spot. My plan is to strip all the foliage and cut the canes back. They are mulched with pine bark. Do I trash the pine bark and put plastic over the dirt to get rid of the black spot? Then re apply new pine bark? Will that do the trick or is there something else that would work better? Also are there vine type vegetables that do well with Roses, like cucumbers perhaps? Thanks in advance and I look forward to having some activity in this group again !
MJ

Glad here......you can share your more thoughts...

when you have removed all the foliage from the plant over winter dont forget to pick up the leaves from the soil also as the black spot will wait there until next season to attack your plant again. i would remove the bark mulch also as you can imagine it too is organic material and probably hides broken down contaminated material from the roses. keep the plant stripped of foliage over winter and the soil surface completely clear so it is manageble and you can be sure of no contamination.

ignore the poster who told you to pull your plants! that is absolute murderous nonsense!

I have a rose garden with 36 roses in it and I had nightmares about the deer eating them. My husband and I put in an Invisible Fence. it is black , about 8' tall and I surrounded the whole rose garden. It does not block the light and you really don't see it, almost invisible. It was well worth the money! I left my gate open one night and my dog told me something was wrong, I had 2 yearlings Mule deer in my garden. They lunged at the fence, but it held up. Black Spot - I use a a spray that takes care of them and spider mites. I would not put vine type in with my roses, unless you keep them away from the roses, as they will choke them doing damage of all sorts, plus it would invite pests.