I know what normal rust looks like. It is yellow spots underneath the leaves. This rust is different. The flowers turn brown and then black. Most flowers fail to open. The flowers that open have brown petals on the outside. I did spray, so the only thing I can think of is the trellis is infecting them. I will know since trellis is removed, if there is any improvement.

If not I have found a new disease the Bayer advance rose spray can not cure. Some of the leaves have discolored spots, but not like rust spots. They have no texture like rust, but are just color changes. Those leaves are near the bad flowers. The leaves far away from the flowers look fine.

If your rose is next to a wall, consider pinning jute chord along the wall and training the rose to it. The jute is natural and biodegradable and won't harm the rose. I lived in Heidelberg, Germany for a while, where almost every building has a climbing rose on jute chord like that. After a few years the jute breaks down, and they replace it during winter when the rose is dormant. Also, have you heard of the product called Rosepharm? It's an organic spray made of biodegradable soap as well as essential oils, and it is a fungicide, miticide and pesticide. I've been using it on all my roses and many other flowering plants for years and it has worked really well against aphids, blackspot and powdery mildew. I can't say what your rose has, but you can give these things a try if you'd like. Couldn't hurt anyway. http://www.pharmsolutions.com/rose_pharm.html

All of the metal arches in my garden (20 of them) have been allowed to rust intentionally ... this causes no harm to the roses, and I doubt that your trellis is affecting your rose either. Since I'm east coast, and we have different issues here, I can't venture a guess as to what IS causing your problem. Don't go throwing chemicals at it hoping to find a solution, or you'll end up with a lot more of a problem when you kill off all your 'good' bugs and the bad bugs take over.

I am rather upset that a couple of my pillars are rusting out--they cost a fair amount of money! However, the rusting pillars have in no way affected the roses growing on them. Normal blooms, normal leaves and canes, and normal growth. I don't think the rust we associate with a metal is the same kind of thing as the rust that a rose can suffer from.

I should also add that I have never had aphids ruin a rose. When they show up, I wipe them off the rose for a week or so. Then the good bugs show up and gobble them up. End of aphids.

I think you might do better to find an experienced rosarian in your area to help you diagnose whatever the problems are that you are having with your roses. I suspect you are focusing on the wrong "causes"--which is probably why you are having trouble finding solutions.

If you would take some pictures and post them here, other posters might be able to help you locate the right cause and then suggest some effective actions you can take. People here are more than willing to help if you give them sufficient info. to work with.

Kate

Brown buds/petals sounds like either an insect called thrips or a fungal disease called botrytis (usually related to wet/damp weather).

I looked up botrytis, and this is what it does look like. The browing of the flowers and the spots are dead one looking like this link. There is a orange rose very close that has none of this Easy Livin. Both rose got the same treatment, but come to think of it, some of the petal of easy living can appear with spots, but they are not harmful enough to ruin the beauty of the flower. The flower still opens and does not turn brown. I guess john keats is super prone to botrytis. Thank you, but what extra treatment might help john keats with botrytis?

Here is a link that might be useful: botrytis on rose website

Look into getting your rusting structures powder-coated. They sandblast off all the rust and coat it with this stuff, then bake it on. It lasts for years, looks good, doesn't rust, and doesn't cost that much. I've got some trellises (trelli?) that look like new after 6 years.

What brand of rust baking on do you use? I have to put it in the basement right now, since it is only getting more rusty by the minute outside. We have a lot of fog. I am looking into Banner Maxx, but it is so expensive. I may just get some fungex instead. I would save money discarding john keats vs. buying banner maxx just to make the flowers bloom. John Keats would like to live somewhere else like san jose. San Francisco is very damp.

The most durable rust protection is to have the iron dipped in molted zink and treated with a type of paint they spray on and heat treat some how. It's not possible to do at home, so you need to look up firm that specialize in this. It's not as expensive as it might sound, and last like 20 years or more.

If you want to do it your self, there is an oil called Owatrol Oil with rust inhibitor. You brush it on bare metal, and it's all right if all the rust isn't sanded off. You can use Hammerite or something similar to paint with, but if you add about 1/4 of Owatrol Oil to the paint it sticks to the iron very well, and paint becomes more tolerant of nicks and cracks later. It lasts and it's not a lot of work, though it takes a few days to dry when you use the Owatrol Oil. It seems to dry as normal paints, but it takes three days to be hardened of and ready for use. The initial priming needs three days to dry too. Though there's lots of products available these days. With Hammerite only or any other metal paint, I have to apply a coat almost every year.

As far as what to use on the rose, I suggest that you instead look for a rose that tolerates a San Francisco climate without botrytis problems.

Though we are in SoCal, we are also in a fog zone.
Roses that can't handle that sort of weather don't stay here.
There are too many good ones to deal with that.

John Keats is a Meilland rose, better known as 'Colette.'
I think you just need a different pink climber.

Check the ARS Website for San Francisco Rose Society. They're active folks, and they have Consulting Rosarians. Get suggestions from them. Or, I can refer you to Old Rose specialists in your area who might have good suggestions.

Jeri

As a san francisco gardener, I know about that list, but I have not found the roses on it to be any better, then any others. I might give up on this rose eventually or give it away due to space consideration, but everything get fungal here. For example sterling silver was not any better or worse in san francisco, and peace (on that list) was the worst rose for fungal, I ever had. I have been through lots of roses. I gave that peace to someone in the east bay, and it did great there.

I don't know what list you are referring to, but I don't know ANY Consulting Rosarian who would suggest that you plant Sterling Silver.
As for Peace -- it rusts like crazy here. Beside that, most plants of both of those cultivars are likely to be virused.

If it's Hybrid Tea Roses you want to grow, there are many newer cultivars which have better disease-resistance.

And I know MANY gardeners who grow Tea and China Roses (not to mention Hybrid Perpetuals and Portlands) in the Bay Area, with great success, in spray-free gardens.

Jeri