Thank you! That’s what I was hoping. I’m new to roses in this climate and DS is always catching and releasing lady bugs so it all sounds logical. I have read that a lot of people don’t spray roses anymore, but I didn’t think I would have to make a decision about it so soon.

Or you could use Safer Soap, Lowe's has it for $5.97, it's more like a organic bug spray. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Garden-Safe-24-fl-oz-Insecticidal-Soap-Insect-Killer/4382973?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-

Ladybugs can be bought in larger nurseries when you see aphids on your roses. Just either keep the container in a shaded area & spritz some water over the top of the lid or over the netting. This helps keep them hydrated until you go to use them. Don’t need to use them right away? Put the container in your fridge (they will greatly slow down their activity). Tell your family ahead of time! When I put them out during the daytime, I open the lid on one side and use a twig to transfer them directly to the food source (aphids). In the evening, if desired you can release a few at the base of each rose & they will crawl up the rose looking for food. A few more things — google ladybug larvae to see what their offspring look like. Also they lay their eggs which are orange in color in small groups on the undersides of rose leaves. When you get to recognize these two things, you will know not to remove them. Their larvae eat aphids too.

In my experience, ladybugs remove close to 90% of aphids on my roses.

Jazzmom, Eva only has 2 roses, she will give one to her mom this weekend. There is no need to buy a lot of ladybugs, they won’t stay in her garden, a totally waste money........are you drinking? :-)

How many roses do you have? You must be new to the rose forum.

I am not new, but pop in from time to time to view the perennials, hydrangeas (I have 8 of them in backyard) & roses forums. Please glance at my profile. :)

I have a rose garden in our backyard consisting of half floribundas, 1 grandiflora, 1 Bourbon, 2 English roses & 4 hybrid teas. Along our southern fenceline I have a rugosa, a Double Knockout & a hybrid tea. In our front yard landscaping I have a Dee-Lish hybrid tea centered towards the back in front of our front porch. I am an organic gardener for the most part.

You're h!ilarious, summerthythm! One thing I've noticed about rose gardeners, especially newbies is that there's sometimes no limit to the care even just one rose will receive. : ) I'm amazed when I read some of the lists of different fertilizers and amendments applied. It's exhausting just reading them, but I'm right in there with my manure, compost and alfalfa! ; )) Oh, and after wrastling with everything after my roses, I generally feel like a drink!!! : ))

However, I want to thank jazzmom for the info on ladybugs because I never really knew I could "keep" them. I've only seen one on 'Zaide' and it's been there for a few days. I also noticed the orange spots under the leaves and wondered what they were. I generally assume anything in my garden is 'bad' because that's usually the case. This year has seen a crazy aphid infestation which I never recall seeing before so I'd like to do anything to encourage the good bugs. Why do they leave the garden if there's plenty of food there?

I have wondered that myself as to why they fly away. This is why I use the ‘twig method’ of bringing them to the food.

I grew up in Oregon and my parents collected roses and planted them along the side of their private drive. What I remember is that my parents talked a lot about how much work Roses can be. The funny thing is, I don’t remember the roses taking anywhere NEAR the amount of attention as the rhododendrons, because deadheading them every summer made me swear I would never, ever plant one! However, my parents did spray their roses, and that wasn’t something I ever helped with, so I’ve often wondered if that’s what they meant required so much time. I did help with pruning and that was only a couple of times a year. What I’ve been reading lately is that the right roses in the right location don’t have to be as high maintenance, and that a lot of people who don’t spray have a lot of successes. Growing up with them, I’ve always been sentimental about roses so reading made me decide to give it a try, but it’s been hard to limit myself to just a couple so I can experiment. Ladybugs might come in handy if all goes well and I add more next year ;)

Apparently roses are able to fight off aphids on their own.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for scientific article

Eva, there is also a orangic rose forum if you are interested. :-) It won’t hurt to know all the different ways to grow roses. Lady bugs won’t stay in your garden long, you are buying them for your neighborhood, a good deed though. :-) I spray my roses at my suburb garden which has over 1000 roses. I am trying not to spray at the country property where I have a small orchard and a brand new rose garden. Not sure if it’s possible though, but willing to give it a try if midge won’t follow me there. I did spray grass killer there in the new rose garden that has 77 roses, it’s a short cut to have a garden in the lawn, and I am only there on the weekends. There are 8 more roses in the garage waiting to be planted this weekend, it has been raining for a few days, it’s pretty wet here by the Great Lakes. I will be transferring all the ramblers from the suburb location, I am running out of room there. By the end of this summer, I should have about 200 in the country rose garden. My plan is to have at least 1000 roses there, it should take about 5 years. I finally have room for ramblers. Lol If you have room, check out big climbers and ramblers.

That’s a lovely mother’s day Gift! You’re a wonderful daughter!

A 33 year old source is not valid, would prefer more than one source & within the past 5 years. Anyone who has been to university knows that older sources are not considered topical when imparting information. This also looks like a European study. Anything more recent and tested by another group of scientists?

Henry dear, did we miss your 90’s birthday?! Want to give you a birthday party on rose forum. Please let us know.

jazzmom516, fortunately Google Scholar tells us who has cited a particular scientific paper. (In my day we had to go to a large university library and look at Citation Index.)

As you can see it has been cited by 28 more recent papers. In addition to the more recent literature usage, I judge a paper on how the results fit in with my experience. I grew about 1000 roses in a no spray garden.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Dynamic+aspects+of+the+chemical+relation+between+the+rose+aphid+and+rose+buds&hl=en&as_sdt=0,36

This is a general 2006 article about the chemistry of how plants use phenolics to defend themselves against insects.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6f2b/7077f3ec10ee38bcb504eece06d67e914f5b.pdf

summersrhythm_z6a concerning my age, lets just say I no longer purchase green bananas.

Henry, if we did miss it, whatever age that may be, please accept my congratulations on reaching it with all your faculties obviously intact as well as your passion for learning and sharing your knowledge. Are we ever going to see pics of your old garden?

summersrhythm_z6a, I would love to see pictures of your garden!

I did buy climbers, actually! It was a little ambitious on my part but I’m really hopeful. How it goes this year will determine how much I add next year, because I have a small side yard with completely empty flower beds I would love to fill with roses and other flowers from my list. Growing up with a huge yard and lots of yard chores really turned me off of gardening at first and our landscaping is very low maintenance and mostly native. Now that my kids are a little older I find myself drawn to flower gardens, and I really want to create that in my yard. Still trying to figure out how to combine everything and what my “maintenance style” will be! I’m not sure that I’ll be doing organic but I do think I’m going to go the “no spray” route and see how it goes.

Just got home from the country! A long drive!

Henry, 90 is the new 60! You keep walking and talking, we are here to listen and learn from you! Long life professor Henry!!! Be wild!!! :-)

Eva, how exciting to start a garden! As long as you don't have midge or thrip problem there, I think it's doable with organic way. I got midge in my garden though, I really hope they won't show up in the country. My garden is really messy, I pile them together too close, I added about 500 in the past 2 years, they are still small in size, it's time to move them to the country. I just don't have room in the suburb yard. Most of them were from Hortico and Palatine in Canada. They have a lot of good roses. I will find some photos for you later. Remember it's very messy though. :-) I work full time and love to ride, and run around between 2 homes 2 gardens on the weekends, I don't have a lot time to pull weeds. Lol

The question was asked: "Are we ever going to see pics of your old garden?"

H. Kuska comment. I did have a rather large web page on a Time-Warner site. Unfortunately (for me) they discontinued that feature when they were sold.

My garden was not a rose display garden. It was a hybridizer's rose garden.

Here are some of what I feel were my best roses:

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/plants.php?searchNmTyp=5&searchNm=+kuska&rid=2670&sbSearch=SEARCH&tab=1

Henry, my faves are the white one and the yellow one!!! Amazing!!! Great job!! Thank you so much for being a prescence on the rose forum. :) Too bad we're not in the same country...my friend (gardens in the ground, unlike me) would love to have cuttings of your roses!!

Carol