I am not an expert on container gardening, but if it were my plant I would be checking the roots to see they are OK. Maybe lift it out of the pot and take a look?

Masha

Looks like it's too wet.

I have had one Memorial Day in a 15 gallon pot (for 4-5 years), and I have noticed that it is probably the single MOST sensitive rose I have to fertilizer. When everyone else is completely happy with whatever I give them, Memorial Day develops brown leaf tips at the drop of a hat. These are specifically the brown leaf tips seen in fertilizer burn. It's weird, b/c it's a really vigorous rose. I grow ~300 roses, about 2/3 of them in 15 gallon pots, so I'm pretty familiar with growing them in pots. I don't know if this is related to what you're seeing, but I thought I'd mention it, in case anyone else has noticed anything similar. I have always considered Memorial Day to be a problem child in this regard.

Susan

It is easy to tell if it is too dry. Check the soil. It has been raining incessantly in the east so my guess would be it is too wet. The most likely thing is that the rose is not taking up enough moisture for some reason. Was it very hot? Check the canes for damage down to the soil line and below. If you don't find anything it must be the root system. Have you left your roses outdoors in all this rain? Maybe they have started to rot. I don't grow roses in containers but I would suspect that they are very wet and you are stressing them with fertilizer and fungicide. Also, Mancozeb is strong stuff. Maybe you shouldn't have sprayed it on new growth. And BTW, Mancozeb is a waste of time. I am sure that you absolutely don't need it if you spray with Banner or Bayer.

The leaves show no sign of fertilizer or water stress. When I transplant a rose in the summer that's how they look - good leaves and droopy new growth. I would check for root damage.

Masha

That is very strange. Sometimes I will get a wilt like that on a new healthy cane then it dies back to a certain point. Then eventually sends up new growth from the same cane, so it is set back, but not detrimentally so. I call it stem wilt as It usually happens to at least one rose bush per year. But I have never had it happen to every stem on the rose. Now that is very upsetting.

Hope it is just that which I describe though, and the canes will reproduce again for you. I doubt that these canes will revive to the way they were.

Pauline

Jeff, check that the plant isn't rootbound.

Mancozeb has never been a waste of time for me, and the combo with Banner Maxx has been more successful for me than the Bayer Advanced fungicide. But, I did say that I would try a control with both, which will start this weekend.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!! I checked Memorial Day this morning and the wilting is gone. The only thing I did was move it out of the sun. Thanks for all of your suggestions and observations. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her.

Diane, I'm with you. Banner and Mancozeb have proven far more effective in my garden than Bayer. I sprayed religiously with Bayer Disease last year and by July most of my roses were naked. Since I switched this year, my plants are relatively blackspot-free.

Jeff

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Amazing. Congratulations!
Pauline

Everything here is shocked to see the sun...it is raining again now!

This is my first year with Memorial Day. The bush I have is growing vigorously and has put out massive blooms and is having a fast repeat. M.D. is my sensitive child. It gives me my first indication that my pots need water. It will wilt slightly and once watered, and slid into the shade if very hot, it perks back up. I think it needs a bigger pot and plan to do that right shortly.