Hi momscott,

Boy does this bring many thoughts to mind. I'll be back later. I've perennials out of the ground that I'm dividing. So must get back out there. So this while having lunch.

Your neighbors are ignorant and simply don't care. What's funny is I bet some call themselves environmentalist. I would thank someone who pointed that out to me. It's such a shame. You cannot have roses now because of an infected neighborhood.

Maybe you can talk to someone that has authority and they can talk to your neighbors about RRD...??? Contact your Mayor, Representative, etc....Best of luck with your situation...

I have read here about others going door to door, not only in their own neighborhood, but other neighborhoods too. I thought it would be a good idea when passing out flyers. I realize some do not know that rose rosette exist, and that is acceptable. There was a person on one street with 2 really giant Knock Outs, one was almost dead, the other beside it also infected just as large, and a small pot with a new Knock Out, presumably to take its place. I really believed my neighbors were more intelligent than this, nicer than this. One even sent a private message asking if I could keep the fact of the day to a minimum, and accused me of destroying the app.

Since it is impossible to force your neighbor to remove the rose. I'd take a different road. Some folks unfortunately can be down right on the ornery or vengeful side. The first thing I would do is offer an olive branch.Bake something nice and take it over. Then apologize for upsetting her without bringing up the rose issue. I say this because they sound like the type that could cause you a lot of trouble down the road. You'll never be able to out do a truly mean individual. Since I have pets and a garden I bend over backwards to please my neighbors. Beats having my pets or garden harmed.

One of my moms many sayings you catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. Once you have established a friendship their will be time to discuss roses. Even thou this is a bad situation for you.

That sounds frustrating. To me, it seems like many of your neighbours simply don't care enough to be bothered, and a few have obviously dismissed you as a nuisance. Very hard to get them to commit to the issue after that.

I had a thought, and it may sound stupid, but here it is anyway: Have you considered offering to help identify and remove the affected roses from your neighbours' gardens? I'm thinking if the situation applied to something I had nothing invested in, like an apple tree, and my neighbour asked me to I remove it, my laziness might get the better of me. I get better apples from the store anyway, and it would takes hours and hours of backbreaking work to get that sickly tree out of the ground.

Worst case scenario: Would you consider relocating to be able to grow roses? I know I would.

Momscottagegarden, you deserve nice roses.

HOW you approach people will make a great deal of difference in how you in turn are treated and how effective you are. That your information is valid, and that following certain procedures will protect your roses and your neighbors roses, is not enough.

If you can reframe your message in such a way that it appeals to the reader's self interest, then you will be effective. Perhaps ideas like a prize for the best front yard neighborhood rose bush, as part of a 'community pride' effort. You often can make people care if the information is presented well. (Look how much unnecessary stuff we buy just because advertisers present their items in a certain way.)

If readers see the presented information, on the other hand, as a lecture, (especially if it calls for them to destroy rose bushes they paid money for) you will be ineffective.

I am unclear on how much more helpful I can be to those who live in my neighborhood. I knocked on doors, handed out flyers that were short simple and to the point. I explained what it was to some, how to watch for it, to spray miticide to help prevent it. My daughter and I spent more than 2-3 hours doing that more than once. Some driveways were extremely steep. Prior to doing that we had contacted our HOA, but they were too busy, and found it not important enough to do much.

One man showed me his roses had no signs of it. I explained since there were several around him that did his roses were at risk and it was important more so now than ever to keep an eye out, and to spray miticide on a regular basis.

My local cooperative extension agent will give a presentation in about a month or so, I will make sure to put up signs. I am considering putting up a sign in my yard.

Kate

I am kind of under the same impression. However in a presentation Mark Windham from the University of Tennessee said they had success heavily spraying miticide every 2 weeks in a trial garden. Not all home gardeners would spray the same as the trial garden was sprayed.

My concern is the attempts to breed a rose resistant to rose rosette. What about roses that are not resistant? I fear one day this new miracle rose will be mass planted thus spreading it to non resistant varieties.

"I am unclear on how much more helpful I can be to those who live in my neighborhood"

I feel as if there are some things here left unsaid. In your first post you mentioned you had received a letter that threatened to sue you for harassment. Even the grouchiest person does not usually do that for a brief knock and flyer.

Actually, you are right. I would love to share ALL the details if I could. I first notified the lady more than a month ago, and she was insistent her knock outs don't get disease. Next day I left literature received from the local cooperative extension agent since she did not come to the door.
About 2 weeks or so had passed when I passed out flyers to all residents not just her. Her yard care workers always come in my yard to mow a strip beside her fence, even though said strip is in my yard according to survey markers. I asked nicely could they please not use the mower in my yard, then he fired up the weed eater, and I again requested they not use the weed eater in my yard, and I was yelled at. I sent a letter in the mail telling her how concerned I was that she hadn't yet had the roses taken care of, and how petals and leaves from her diseased bushes were landing on my roses. Then we passed out the next flyer about a week after the lawn care workers came by, again to everyone. She wrote a nasty letter to the HOA stating my passing out literature was harassment, tresspassing and mailed me a copy. Please tell me how much more I can say and how much nicer I can be to this lady. After being yelled at, and receiving a threatening letter, my husband is not impressed. There were things written in the letter that were not even true. It takes a lot to upset my husband, but that nasty letter made him mad.

I think her accusation of trespassing was to ward off the valid accusation of trespassing that you have against her, for her workers coming onto your property. If it happens again, take pictures and contact your HOA, and consider having an attorney write a letter to her. Unless you object in a way that can be proved, after a certain number of years of her mowing and taking care of the strip she may claim adverse possession.

Yes I am aware, and a letter was sent. My husband said the same thing, but she never told me not to leave flyers or literature. In the future if flyers are passed out that house will be skipped.

Your first post seems somewhat misleading, then. The 'nasty letter threatening to sue' had more to do, in my opinion, with the property issues than with whether or not she supported your efforts to manage RRD in the neighborhood.

The letter received made reference to rose rosette, made reference to the flyers being harassment, made reference to flyers being left being trespassing, You would have to read the actual letter. It made little reference to the strip being mowed. I am unable to post the letter because my husband said not to. I have much sympathy for her, I understand she is ill informed. At this point there is nothing more I can do to inform her. I did my best to inform her, but in this case it just wasn't good enough nor will it ever be.

Lucille (9a)

I really appreciate your concern with the threatening letter I received in the mail. The fact remains there was reference made to it being considered harassment for leaving the flyers, and it was stated I would be sued for harassment and a restraining order taken out. I am waiting for the knock on the door any day now.

If you somehow think I misread what is in black and white, I am confused as to how you came to that conclusion. I mentioned the other as it might would be helpful, but that is not what the letter was about at all that I received. I have shared as much information as I can possibly share.

Momscottagegarden. My heart goes out to you for two reason. The first reason is that you have to deal with a threat to your rose garden due to people in your neighborhood who would allow the spread of rosette virus. I know you must have many other beautiful plants in your yard but roses are special. I would feel terrible if I couldn't grow roses anymore and you must feel the same.

The second reason it that you have come to this forum for some support in your fight against rosette virus, and you are accused of being "misleading" . It might be better for you mental sanity not to worry about negative comments.

The fight against rosette virus will have to be made by many people in many neighborhoods across the country. Hearing of your experience may help us formulate plans on to how best to educate our own neighborhoods.

Valrose you are right. I realize some may have a more positive experience in getting the word out, and I want others to be prepared. So far I haven't yet lost all my roses, just 4. This could happen to anyone anywhere at anytime. I have had some success with people doing the right thing, that to me is miraculous. There is still a long way to go.

Lucille, I don't believe that having someone mow a strip on the outside of their fence would ever result in a valid claim for adverse possession.

If you use someone else's property without permission for long enough(a statutory amount of time), you can claim adverse possession. Whether the use is sufficient is a question of fact.

No the question is actually one of use to the "exclusion of the owner". If the owner uses it for any reason then it is not adverse possession.

In Texas this would be a Boundary Fence law. It is not governed by the state but by county ordinance. Our neighbor has a fence 3" inside his property line. We maintain the grass on that 3" but it is still his recorded deed and he pays taxes on it so even though we maintain it he retains ownership.

Plants, especially trees, too close to property lines cause many neighbor squabbles. I was told that in my state GA if a neighbo'rs vegetation poses imminent danger to your property you can get a court order to force the removal of said vegetation. Also if a neighbor is negligent and destroys your property you can recover damages. Even though there are no specific laws on the book stating you can force your neighbor to dig up diseased plants. When it comes to money crops, I believe it is much different.

Also if neighboring vegetation such as tree limbs are on your property, you can remove them from your property by trimming provided you do not trespass in order to do so and only cut to the property line.

Just to clarify so there are not people sending legal letters to neighbors over grass cutting, it doesn't matter who cuts the grass as long the owner of the grass can still use the grass. If your neighbor starts cutting your grass and then fences the grass denying you access, now it is time to worry. As BethC said there may be additional protection through local laws.

The question I have is: should there be a law requiring the removal of Roses infected with rosette virus?

My concern about laws forcing people to remove diseased roses is first do the people know the roses are diseased? Once it is known that roses have rose rosette and someone makes a conscious choice to leave the bushes knowing they could destroy other people's roses is irresponsible. I do not think I am wise enough to know the answer.

There was talk online about some meyer lemon trees, the federal government tracking people down after 3 years to take the trees because of the possibility of disease. It did not mater if the tree was infected or not they had to hand over the tree.

Too I am concerned if others can afford to remove their infected roses, or maybe they are not physically able. I do believe some people may need help. Then there are lawn care companies, many of them are unaware, and I would think someone in the business would be more aware than myself.

Then if one knows without a doubt they see rose rosette in a public place, do they have a moral obligation to inform others? I am guilty of noticing it at a strangers house on the way to the store, and I didn't stop. Awareness is a big issue. Failure to take proper action is also another issue. That is not isolated to my little neck of the woods, I am sure it happens in other places too.

I wonder if the local governments have public grounds / city officials who could be called to assist. In human public health there are Dept of Public Health and the CDC. They should have someone working on plant epidemics similarly, I would hope.

There are numerous threads here with people asking whether their roses even have RRD, since the initial damage sometimes apparently mimics damage by herbicides. It would be difficult to enforce such a law without easy, inexpensive ways to identify whether the rose actually has RRD.

There is protection for the eagle, but no protection for our national flower. I know they do have test, but are those test accurate? Science knows viruses mutate, what if there are mutations? Do the test only work for mites. There is also an iodine test listed online, but it is not 100% accurate either.

I freak out every time I see new growth, because I know the mites like new growth. My own daughter has to point out the shape of the leaves and that I am just afraid, jumping to conclusions. I have posted and emailed photos myself.

I spoke with my local cooperative extension, as well as dept. of agriculture, both said you can't force anyone to dig up their diseased roses. However there are nuisance laws in my state that can be applied.

We don't want to threaten anyone with a nuisance lawsuit. My husband said if we did lose any more roses we would seek to recover damages as a last resort.

Even with that, it frustrates me. Everyday when I inspect my roses looking for those early signs, I wonder will I miss it, then I notice things I can see, like how the wind blew someone's grass trugreen treatment sign in my yard. I can see debris, but I worry about what I can't see.

I submitted some info to someone for a newsletter yesterday, and I did mention how it mimics new growth and herbicide damage. I hope that one day I will be able to see the difference and know without a doubt.

"It mimics new growth"? First time I've ever heard that. So far, in my gardens, it looks nothing like new growth. Healthy new growth looks very different from unhealthy new growth--that is the only distinction that would make sense to me.

Kate

Healthy new growth on Roses can be red, and have different sized and shaped leaves, more or less thorns, than old growth. All can be cause for concern when on the lookout for rosette virus. Just look at the number of posts where people are asking if their plants new growth is normal or is rosette virus.

The point is that red new growth is nothing to fear! It is beautiful. It is not "mimicking" a disease. Admire it --it is healthy!

Now if the red growth is accompanied by UGLY growth--witches broom and other UGLY distortions--then you have something to worry about. But do not waste your time worrying over normal healthy red growth or over prickly new growth. THEY ARE NORMAL! Wait until you see something UGLY and abnormal before you start worrying.

Life is too short to spend time being paranoid about beautiful healthy red prickly growth. We grow roses to enjoy them. So enjoy their typical and healthy features instead of fearing them.

Kate

The following sounds familiar:

http://battlingroserosette.blogspot.com/2016/05/neighborhood-leaders-concern-for-rose.html

Yes, I have been reading here about what others have gone through, so I know I am not by any means the only one. I was just reading about the aspirin water treatment. I have read in the past about aspirin. If you water with aspirin water how often? bi-weekly? monthly? I have done the aspirin spray in the past too. It should rain tomorrow, do you think I could just put the crushed aspirin at the base of the plant to save time?

You have my sympathy dealing with ignorant neighbors. I also live in Georgia and last year I was driving and stopped at a light. The media right outside my window was full of KOs with advanced RRD. I took pictures and emailed them to the DOT telling them about t he disease. Well those roses are still there. You are right, the USDA cares about fruit trees, but not roses.

Buford When I call Dept. of Ag they did say the only way they would do anything is if it is noticed someone is selling rose rosette diseased bushes.