Aphids

Aphids, including the well-known greenfly will soon spoil a crop of flowers if the infestation is bad enough. They settle in large numbers and multiply rapidly on buds and young tender shoots from where they will suck the sa... [Read more]

Balling Of Flowers

In wet summer weather the outer petals on a freshly opening flower can often become fused together. The flower is then referred to as being ‘balled’. This is most often found on the many petalled varieties with na... [Read more]

Black Spot

This must be the most common rose disease and there are very few cultivars totally resistant to it, although some fair better than others. I am often quoted as saying, when pressed on the subject, “what are a few b... [Read more]

Caterpilliars

These little creatures will crawl up the stems of roses and with great dedication enjoy a meal of rose leaf. Often they will have been present on the plant since the mother moth laid her eggs on the underside of a ... [Read more]

Cuckoo Spit

Cuckoo-spit is the unsightly, foamy white substance sometimes found nestling in leaf joints or around flower buds. It is actually enclosing a young froghopper beetle, which when fully grown, will hop around roses ... [Read more]

Deer

If living in the countryside where both rabbits and deer cohabit, your roses are doubly at risk. When there is snow on the ground deer become braver in their search for food and will stray into the garden. In the... [Read more]

Leaf Rolling Sawfly

The devastation caused after a sawfly has laid her eggs on the leaves of roses can be visually alarming in a bad attack. The parent actually injects the leaf with a chemical secretion that causes it to curl and p... [Read more]

Mildew

There are two forms of mildew ‘powdery’ and ‘downy’. Downy mildew is more likely to occur on roses grown under glass and is far less common than powdery mildew. Extreme differences between day and n... [Read more]

Proliferation of flowers

This is one of the weirdest phenomenons of the rose. In early summer a bloom will appear to be opening quite normally, then it will be noticed that another bud is appearing from the centre of the unfurling flower. ... [Read more]

Rabbits

Rabbits particularly enjoy feasting on roses. Baby rabbits enjoy any young tender shoots that are within their reach and will systematically find them all as they sprout in spring. Older rabbits will cause major ... [Read more]