This rose has been in ground for four years. Each and every year, nearly each and every bloom looks like the one below--if it even gets to that size. Often, bugs eat them up, but almost always the buds and blooms have that brown yucky stuff on them. The other roses close by do not have the same problems. Don't know the cause(s). I do spray with Bayer Natria or dish soap and water, but I would rather not use chemicals if it can be avoided. I am thinking of digging it up and potting it to see if it fares better. The questions I have are:

1) What do you think is the problem?
1a) Do you think it is the soil/location?
2) If I dig up the Pope, do you think another rose in that location would have the same problems?

Thank you!

I planted a John F. Kennedy rose this year and it is the same way, I found little green worms eating into the buds.
My first solution was to pick off the buds with holes in them and hope the next buds do better, that didn't work. I also had problems with leaf rollers in my canna lilies. So I mixed up some BT and sprayed the buds with that, I am still waiting for the results to come in, and now it is time to spray again already ( spray, wait seven days and spray) was the directions given. Early in the year (one month ago) I did use Bayer 3 in one rose granules, it failed to kill the worms and now the black spot is really getting bad again also. Still looking for a better solution for the black spot issue.

"1) What do you think is the problem?" - I think it came with the problem - I'll tell you why shortly
"1a) Do you think it is the soil/location?" - No
"2) If I dig up the Pope, do you think another rose in that location would have the same problems?" I don't know if the problem will spread.
Here's what happened to me. I ordered Pope John Paul ll from Jackson & Perkins - I received confirmation from them. Then a few weeks later, I received a second email notifying me that they were sorry but they were not going to ship the rose. A few weeks later, the rose shows up at my doorstep. I called Jackson & Perkins and asked what happened. The representative told me that they had a "problem" with that particular rose but that they had solved the problem so they shipped it. She assured me the rose was fine.
I took photos of this rose in 2013 and 2014. It wasn't until yesterday after reading your post that I took a good close up look at the photos. Upon closer inspection, I am guessing some kind of insect has eaten the petals. The 2014 shows the rose in better shape in comparison than the 2013 photo. I could also see the 2014 rose was sprayed. I do recall last year, one of my roses had Japanese beetle. I did spray all the roses with Sevin as a precaution. It may have helped this "problem". My roses are just beginning to show leaves. I'll keep you abreast of the situation. The first photo is from 2013, the second photo from 2014.





Margie

I bought mine from the same vendor. Hmm...dang it. It is a beautiful rose, but not worth putting up with the mess to get maybe one relatively decent flower a year from it. Maybe I will discard this one and try from another vendor--really want to have this one because of the name. Not going with Wayside, as they have the same company ownership as J&P. Looks like Edmunds and Jung have it...thank you, Margie. Be interested to see what yours does this year.

Check this link out - these don't look good either - wonder where she bought hers???
http://www.organicgardendreams...
Margie

That Pope JP ll looks to me to have the thrip damage she mentioned.

I will go check, thank you.

Debra - I wish you'd let me know that you were having problems.. I could have picked you up a PJPII locally & sent it when I sent you the other roses from Palatine... would you like me to do that still? Lemme know...

No, Toni, but thank you very much. I am going to try putting the Pope in a pot and seeing if that helps. Be easier to give more TLC if he is up closer to the house. My mama was Polish Catholic, which I why I chose this one ahead of other white roses. I will give it until next Spring. If still poorly, I will take you up on that offer, if I may.

Potting it won't prevent the thrip damage if that's what it is. I have a creamy white one, Irish Hope, that rarely has a clean bud or bloom. They like the light colored blooms. I would treat the current blooms but they are clustered up too high, almost 7 feet.

http://www.yates.com.au/proble...
http://www.marinrose.org/thrip...

Ah, that explains some of it, then. One of the links recommends spraying every other day, at least. I can try.