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And the reason I love her...

The last picture? Worth a thousand words. Gorgeous.

Susan, I know, right? That is the problem! I tore out Blue Moon because it was always nothing but sticks and flowers but oh, the fragrance! Still...it had to go. I could really use some feedback.

It looks as though there is a great deal of hardscape close to the Heritage bushes. I realize this is an entirely different climate, but what I observed on MANY bushes of Heritage is when water stressed, they performed miserably. ANYTHING which increased the heat, therefore the water transpiration and resulted in the plant being stressed for water, resulted in mildew, rust and black spot, often simultaneously. The ONLY time I had flowers on the one in my own garden was when it rained. Once the rains stopped and the heat arrived, the foliage was miserable, all the time. So bad that after many years, I ripped that dawg out by the roots and shredded it for mulch. Literally.

You might check to make sure those particular bushes are receiving as much water as they want before changing anything else. Perhaps increasing their water might result in them replacing their foliage, keeping it healthier and flowering as desired. It can be quite surprising how just being as close to cement as they appear to be, raises their demand for extra water. If you really want to keep the variety and not spray it, the idea may be worth exploring. Good luck! Kim

Kim,

Thanks for the feedback. They are 3 feet away from the cement. They looked gorgeous until we had high heat followed by a week of 40 degree nights and cool days. That seemed to do them in. But all other roses are fine. I forgot to mention my two Crown Princess Margaret. All fine. Only the Heritage was the problem. You know now that you mention it, I have another Heritage bush in a different garden and that one does not seem to have the issues as bad. I wonder if the cement could be the problem. I hate to spend another year moving the roses a foot away only to find out two years from now I toss them anyway. I am not a young person and so years mean something different now. I would love to hear more experiences or opinions. Thanks again.

You're welcome, that makes sense. The other Heritage has sufficient water because it isn't "sweating" as much because it doesn't have to endure the increased reflected/radiated heat from that cement. Try increasing the water to the affected Heritage bushes while you consider what other course of action to take and see if it makes any difference. Good luck! Kim

My other question would be whether the layer of mulch is thick enough. Even with a lot of water if the bushes are not insulated with a thick layer of mulch there will be a problem. I noticed quite an improvement in my roses when I increased my layer of mulch, and I have large amounts of hardscape and reflected heat, made worse by my dry climate. However, I regularly check the soil around my roses to see whether the water is penetrating the mulch, since mulch is worse than useless if it soaks up all the water and the soil underneath is dry.

Another thought is on your side of the country the weather might be starting to change and those are the older leaves, the first the plant should start loosing. Guessing the heat, radiated heat and then cold is what started the problem.

And they are young plants, it might be good to give them another season and see what you think. In the mean time you can propagate some Belinda's Dream canes and replace if you are not happy, BD seems to root easy for me.

Ingrid, I will add some mulch and make sure they are getting enough water. We give the roses 2" of rain/water a week. But when it was scorching hot, that might not have been enough for the Heritage. Thanks for the feedback and ideas.

Kippy, So so far we have one rip it out and one wait a year! Lol.

I have no idea how to propagate roses so I guess I will go there next.

I found a few roses of would be replacements there. Zaide, Queen of Sweden (not very fragrant?), and Scepter'd Isle.

Thanks,

Terri

that's only a little bit of black spot. it is coming from the mulch. mulch with something else. rake the leaves and mulch. dress with finished compost chopped leaves pine straw seashells glass grass sand nutshells.

'Heritage' will make a shapely 6' shrub if it is pruned to 4' and any rogue canes cut back to 3'. It cannot be kept as a 3-4' shrub.

The yellow leaves with large brown patches are probably from cercospora rather than blackspot, but there may be some blackspot too. You are in one of the world's worst climates for blackspot where very few varieties will be clean without spray, and those that don't blackspot will get cercospora. Give 'Mother of Pearl' a try. It is hardy, BS resistant for me, and great for cutting. (Here we also have extreme BS pressure.)

Also -- 'Heritage' is a child of 'Iceberg'. In my coastal Southern California garden, it performed much like Iceberg, too. (And Iceberg does perform well, in Southern California.

We eventually got rid of it because the blooms were so fleeting.

Doesn't 'Iceberg' have some problems, where blackspot pressure is high?

Jeri

Heritage has a wild growth pattern. You will always be trimming them if you want a neat hedge like growth. You can try giving it some support so that it 'climbs' a bit or have the canes go horizontal, so you can get more blooms out of it.

We had some very hot weather recently and I have yellow leaves on many of my roses. I probably didn't water enough.

I've never seen Iceberg locally with flowers and leaves at the same time. Heritage isn't much better. It's a nice rose if sprayed, but I certainly couldn't call it a good no spray rose.

BTW, I've never seen a Heritage flower look like that one.

You mention finding Queen of Sweden and Scepter'd Isle as possible replacements. The Queen is good on BS resistance and has beautiful blooms, but it grows about 5-6 feet tall and is not a quick or heavy re-bloomer at all.

As for Scepter'd Isle, it will have some BS problems and its blooms do not last very long, although it is pretty good on re-bloom. Can't imagine it as a hedge-like rose--it is more slender and arching.

As for your current bushes, just pick off the yellow leaves and it should look considerably better.

Kate