That is black spot. I dont spray my roses, but you can just use a spray for black spot. I would start with removing all the infected leaves, cleaning up the plant and the floor, water and a light fertilizer. Blackspot usually shows up when the plant is in distress...

Start by figuring out where in the world you are. If you are in an area with high disease pressure, and the varieties aren't highly, tip-top disease resistant, the only solution is chemical sprays.

and see if you can delete the duplicate post.

IME, disease resistance with roses is very variable. No rose is immune from disease - I've even seen rugosas and other strongly robust species roses get blackspot. And it is rarely related to stress unless the stress is a too damp/too humid climate. Like most fungal issues, it is closely tied to climate and weather conditions.

With roses, the best treatment is shovel pruning.

@CeresMer Zone 7a NJ i've been trying to remove the infected leaves as I come across them....it looked sooo much worse before those last photos. I'll keep doing that and will also look into adding some fertilizer as well. Thanks!!

@Linda M where are you located?

Honestly they don't look too bad to me - it's August and they're heat stressed (many roses look crummy in August). Water, water, water. Spend the winter learning about rose care and implement a fertilization and/or spray program in spring if you choose.

Totally agree with cecily 7a; just water them. There's no point in spraying or automatically assuming that the plants are no good; what if the previous owner neglected them? The best way to prevent disease is with good cultural practices-watering, fertilizing, soil improvement and mulching. Give them-and yourself-a chance, lol!

give us a big city name ..

frankly.. this is what roses look like in august..unless you start spraying in may.. and dont stop for the whole growing season ...

fert is not a response to this problem in any manner ... but roses need fert for other reasons.. and at the proper times.. depending on where you are ... where are you ...

i wonder how long that fence has been there ... and if that isnt part of the cause of the issue.. dead air ... its too bad it appears to be planted as close as it is to the fence ...

in fall.. cut it back significantly .. spray down whats left with the appropriate spray ... clean up all fallen debris.. and in spring... start a regular spraying protocol for the rest of the year ... its the price you will pay for a pretty plant all season long.. and if you are going to do all that.. lol.. may as well mail order 50 more plants ... lol ... invest or divest as they say ....

but at this point.. there is no making this one look better ... but it wont die from this ... so dont worry about that ...

disease RESISTANCE is not disease proof... and even with resistant stock.. you would probably still have to spray ... its one of the reasons i ended up quitting roses.. in my MI ... i didnt want to be spraying every 4 to 6 weeks with kids around ... for both disease and bugs... etc ...

ken

@mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b)

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

I'm in Bloomfield NJ

And thanks for the tips, Ken! Will definitely start a regimen starting this fall. Unfortunately, the property doesn't have a backyard, it's all paved over so alongside the fence is really the only place the roses could go. Unless I remove some of the ground cover they put in one corner of the yard and move them there. But it gets inconsistent light so not sure that would be a good spot...

@User

@cecily 7A

@bart

Thanks for the helpful tips and for the website link! I have no doubt the previous owners neglected their roses....we found other evidence of neglect only after moving in. But I'm determined to try and rescue them before I give up on roses altogether. Will do some more research this fall/on everything you guys mentioned...watering, fertilizing, Etc.

I use Bayer advanced for roses and flowering plants but they changed it to bioadvanced insect killer. I would like recommendation on this issue also.

.

@Linda M did they leave any record saying what variety of roses they are? Maybe with some close up photos of blooms and leaves and overall bush people here can help you figure out what type they are. It will help to know.

@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b)

I wish...they seemed pretty clueless about a lot of things. 😕 But here's some more photos:

I'll also ask at the local garden center. There's one employee who's been there for a while who seems to know his stuff, and may even remember the folks that used to live here.

I wonder if the white one is Iceberg?

Nah, she's in NJ. Iceberg would have zero leaves in NJ in August if unsprayed.

Probably not easy to identify them just from photos, but thanks for trying! My local garden center guy is out of town until next week so I'll ask his input when he's back. In the meantime, I went ahead and sprayed them with some bioadvanced disease control for roses, and will repeat every 14 days for 3 applications. Also removed the infected leaves. Hopefully that helps!