You have both patience and luck.

Luck in that whatever strain of powdery mildew that rose has .....hasn't infected and affected your other roses.

Patience in that you have given it every chance to make good leaves. (My husband has one classic Triumpf that has gone from one repair to the next with brief road trips in between. I tell him the car hates him. He's started to almost agree. ) That rose doesn't hate you, but it's like a bully that's trying your patience and is about to find out it's pushed you too far.

On a serious note, in the plant pathology literature there's a report of downy mildew becoming systemic in roses. Once it's systemic what can you do? You may think your spray program is curing the rose when the problem has gone to dormancy until the temperature and humidity return to PM optimums. We don't talk about diseases that are suppressed rather than cured, but it would help our efforts to minimize spray regimens if we did.

Thank you stillanntn, for the funny and interesting and supportive response. I have just spent a happy hour going through the tea rose book, and am getting excited!

Jackie

To be clear, what my "mystery might be true Bloomfield Abundance" is exhibiting is definitely powdery mildew, not downy mildew.

Jackie

Downey mildew is so bad and persistent that it demanded to be researched.

Powdery mildew has almost nothing written about it. We read that it's not the same PM that Hollyhocks get, and a neighbor has major PM problems with her zinnias each year.

(PM isn't a problem on Rosa multiflora unless the rose has Rose Rosette and then shows PM symptoms.) (There is so much we don't know.) I even have spring weeds that seem to have PM, henbane being one of them.

Thank you for the pictures and for letting us mumble about it.

It's actually a very good possibility that the reason the rose disappeared was because it very often looks terrible. I budded it to Pink Clouds and it grew and flowered and STILL looked horrible. I hacked it into pieces this past spring and sent it off to the green waste recycling. (Sorry Fred!) So, I do not blame you for dumping it. A shovel is the best disease cure there is.

roseseek - thanks so much, now I don't feel as guilty about getting rid of it (I anthropomorphize plants, and hardly ever get rid of anything because I treat them like pets). However, this one was too much for me. As I said, I should not have been surprised, given that it theoretically is a 20th century HT.

Jackie

Too bad, though-beautiful flowers.But if it's a loser, best to get rid of it.

Jackie, it might be worth a trip to the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden to look at their Teas. I find that many Teas get PM in our climate, while others do not. I figure any rose that is clean there in will be clean for me as well.

Just a suggestion.

Thanks, Rosefolly - good idea. I always forget that some teas get PM, as the only one I have that gets it (usually just in the Spring) is Duchesse de Brabant. However, it does not get it badly, nothing like my mystery.

Jackie

For what it's worth, Jackie, and I know our climate is not the same, my Madame Lambard was a very trouble-free rose over the years. It was a strong grower with no hint of disease that I can recall, and did indeed have quite some color variability. It's not a "refined" rose in the sense of Duchesse de Brabant or Mlle. Franziska Krueger but one doesn't want a garden full of only those. Having said that, I've recently ordered Mlle. Franziska again because my previous one was really beautiful once it had attained some years.

Thanks, Ingrid.

Jackie