The best way to control aphids is to plant the roses in a good, healthy soil one well amended with compost and other organic matter so the rose grows strong and healthy. Aphids are attracted to lush new growth, like that produced when roses are fed synthetic plant foods. Slow that down and aphids won't be much of a problem and can easily be controlled, if necessary, by sharp streams of water that knock the buggers off the plants. Aphids are a symptom of a problem, not the real problem.

Kimm, Thank you for that help. I will continue to add compost to the roses as I make it. I thought that putting water on the leaves of roses would spread a fungus-like looking condition with black spots on the leaves? Maybe that problem will also be addressed as I improve the soil? Thanks, again.

I had garlic in my rose beds for several years; I finally removed it because it looked "in the way" to me.

It does spread pretty quickly if you don't harvest it regularly. I still have a strip of it between the edge of one rose bed and my vegetable patch, which I started 3 years ago by planting single cloves every foot or so; it's now a dense 10-12" wide, and every spring I take my shovel and chop away half that width.

The original idea of this "garlic fence" was to repel pests from the roses & vegetables but I can't say whether or not it's done that; I don't have any pest problems, though. I keep it mainly because it's so fantastic as baby garlic greens first thing in the spring, and young garlic bulbs used stalk and all in the early summer.

Kristin

How do I harvest the garlic bulb without disturbing the roses? When I dig into the ground, can I pull up 1 garlic bulb without taking all of it, so that there'll still be some garlic left?

Mine is a couple feet away from my roses, so I've never worried about disturbing the roots. I did rip out the garlic I'd planted close in, in the rose bed, as I said, but I did that when the roses were still dormant.

I haven't had luck just pulling out garlic, the roots are pretty tenacious and usually I end up with a stalk in my hand and the beheaded garlic bulb still in the ground. I find that judicious prying with a little hand shovel, while I pull gently on the base of the stalk, works well. And it's tough stuff, the rest of the clump never seems to skip a beat when I harvest part of it.

Kristin

Good, I appreciate your advice. I will use that technique when we're ready for some fresh garlic, which I hope will be soon. I want to come back to a question I asked earlier. It was suggested to spray aphids with a hose to knock them off. I thought getting rose leaves wet, albeit when they're in the shade, would spread a fungus-looking condition with black spots. Do I have that wrong?

I could be wrong but it's my understanding that you run that risk when you wet the foliage on humid or cool days, or in the evening, so the moisture lingers instead of evaporating. Also when you water in such a way as to splatter soil (carrying fungal spores) up onto the plant.

Kristin

So, the best plan then would be to wet the leaves in the morning before the sun is on them, so they would have time to dry off before the sun shone on the water?

If you use a water spray to dislodge aphids do it in the morning so the water will be evaporated quickly by the sun. And the old stand-by remedy for aphids is of course, lady beetles. Although they are costly initially, they will colonize in your garden and will return each year.

After buying the lady beetles, wait until about an hour before sunset to release them. Lightly water the area where you will release the beetles and then sprinkle them around. They will be thirsty and will appreciate a little drink before bedding down for the night.

Next morning many of the beetles may fly off, but you will have enough of them who have crawled up onto your plants where the aphids are wreaking their havoc. I think they can smell aphids and they will stick around. Once established in your garden, they will propagate from year to year and you will have fewer and fewer aphids to worry about.

Incidentally, in the larval stage, lady beetles look like little red and black alligators, and their eggs are yellow and will be stuck to the underside of your rose leaves. Learn what to look for and you will have lady beetles as permanent residents in your garden. Seamommy

The interesting thing is that I see lots of lady bugs around my property, but I haven't seen them on the roses yet. If I buy the lady bugs, are they available through the mail? Does anyone have a reliable source over the Internet?

you can get ladybugs at Osuna Nursery in Albuquerque. It's near Osuna and Edith