Not that you may be asking for extra help at this point...5yrs later. Natural plant usage like geraniums, marigolds, and certain other plants keep rose pests away. Additionally, the product Sevin works too. Whenever, transplanting a rose or making fresh 45 degree angled cuts to deadhead blooms it can bring out trips in droves. So anytime you transplant or trim in the spring sprsy the plant onthe underside of the leaves(never the bud or flower) AT THE ONSET OF THE SPRING SEASON ( like the minute you see fresh leaves appear ). Always , always , always wipe down your pruners with alcohol and dry them off. So, that what ever "disease" might be living on a rose cane does not get transferred to other living plants you are trying to cultivate. I lost a lot of rose bushes before I got the hang of it , but I also research the begeesus out of things so that I fix what I did wrong. I hope your lavender rose is doing better these days. I just got one their persnickedy little things!

Cityrose said:Not that you may be asking for extra help at this point...5yrs later. Natural plant usage like geraniums, marigolds, and certain other plants keep rose pests away. Additionally, the product Sevin works too. Whenever, transplanting a rose or making fresh 45 degree angled cuts to deadhead blooms it can bring out trips in droves. So anytime you transplant or trim in the spring sprsy the plant onthe underside of the leaves(never the bud or flower) AT THE ONSET OF THE SPRING SEASON ( like the minute you see fresh leaves appear ). Always , always , always wipe down your pruners with alcohol and dry them off. So, that what ever "disease" might be living on a rose cane does not get transferred to other living plants you are trying to cultivate. I lost a lot of rose bushes before I got the hang of it , but I also research the begeesus out of things so that I fix what I did wrong. I hope your lavender rose is doing better these days. I just got one their persnickedy little things!

Welcome, CityRose

Your reply has opened an "old" thread that I hadn't seen before. Very interesting.
Now I'm wondering if MaryKay was able to solve the problem and save the rose.

Thank you!!! I am still fighting to save this once beautiful rose bush!!!! It's hanging in there but still not thriving!! It hasn't bloomed yet this year, so I am anxious to see how it does this summer!!! Will keep you posted!!!

Just to make things more interesting...

I found blue sticky paper which is supposed to be very good at attracting and killing thrips. I attached this to four rose plants. One of these is Baronne Prevost which in eight years has had maybe that many blossoms open. Usually any blossoms are desiccated by thrips before they start to open. I get a whole plant full of crispy unopened buds.

Thrips, btw, plagued my Lagerfeld rose long ago and its blossoms look almost exactly like those of Mary Kay's rose.

So I have this blue sticky paper up in multiple places in the garden. Two days ago I looked at it and each paper had maybe a thousand little thrips bodies. Not bad for being up for three days. It was my second round with blue stickies; and so I was feeling hopeful.

Then yesterday I saw maybe eight swallowtail butterflies stuck to the blue sticky papers and my opinion of the technique changed a little. On the other hand, cleaning up garden debris and using nematodes that are said to feast on thrips seems not to have done the trick, either.

So I'm back to wondering if I need to dust every single fragrant rose and iris bud in the garden with rotenone this spring. Or what?

I have a rose bush that keeps getting black spot and leaves turning yellow. What can I use to stop and prevent this?

If your having trouble getting cuttings to root in a soil/medium. Try it this way. Those styrofoam container that you get food in. That have a lid attached. That close. Take your cuttings set them in water for an hour or so. After removing all leaves, cut at 45° and scrap off the outside stem coating down to the cambrian layer.. Put them in a cup of the water for an hour or so. Tap the excess water off. Then dip them into your rooting powder, tap the excess powder off. Then put them in the tray close the lid. Put in your cupboard. A dark place. Then mist with water every 3-4 days. Check for blackening on the ends. If they blacken toss them. But once you get some that start to callus on the end. Take them out dip them in water again, and then back into your powder. Then plant them into a soil/medium. I have had excellent results rooting like that over putting them straight into a soil/medium first. Once they're callused your almost there. It gives them a headstart to produce roots being callused before planting. Instead of straight into soil. I think sometimes the soil gets to wet and holds too much moisture to root hard to root cuttings. The stryofiam trays dont seal completely letting humidity in. Keeping them lightly moist from drying out. But you have to mist them every few days.

Here is a step by step video of soil less rose cuttings rooting. This is what I was describing above. I have had excellent results doing it this way over straight into soil. And he shows what the callus looks like when they start.

https://youtu.be/7jnf44vaU6c

I didnt realize this was an old thread. My bad.

The rose bush is still hanging in there, but still not the beautiful rose that it was years ago. The rose bush is about 20 years old now. I wonder if she is just getting old and tired.