NEVER buy cheap roses and another factor MANY of the roses in the USA have Rose Mosaic Virus,
especially the cheaper ones but expensive roses are not exempt either.
RMV is the reason many roses fail to thrive.
NEVER buy those crap wax things you find all over the place in the spring summer.
Never buy roses from vendors like Jungs, Wayside, Parks, etc. Even Jackson & Perkins.
Ask the people here where to buy clean roses.
I'm kind of out of the rose world loop the last 5 yrs. or so with other interests getting more
of my focus, so aside from Pickerings (now closed) I have no clue who has virus free roses.
ASK your sellers if they use Dr. Huey rootstock (bad, bad, bad) and even own root roses can have RMV
as I recall.
My Charles de Mills does not sucker bad for me.
My Rugosas are more guilty of that....but not a big deal....mow them over or give them away.
As for pruning once bloomers you need not do it every year...just every few years go in and prune
out the old, woody canes. As for feeding mine are lucky if they get fed once in June and still grow like
on steroids, through drought, sod and weeds with nary a speck of red wood chips in sight and as for dead
heading forget that! Who can stand there and cut off thousands of dead blossoms or rose hips?
Even the wild birds can't get all the hips and every year I have dehydrated hips next to the new blossoms.
It rather embarrassing but whose got time for all that monkey business?
Neal I put down hundreds of dollars worth of Milky Spore several years ago and I think its helps a little
but not enough to make a diff. Thats why I like my once bloomers like you mentioned which bloom before
those little ba$tard$ arrive. Neal do you have Belle de Crecy? I was thinking you'd love the color and odd,
I though Austins liked the hot weather.
