Sorry some additional photos, would the way these branches curl be something to worry about? I don't think I've seen that before, but can't tell if it's from being smooshed in the box for mailing.

Thank you for any help

I think it is being in the box. I would be squirrely too.

Thanks Sheila, appreciate it. Do you think you'd cut off the entire light yellow branch with all the dead tipped new growth just to be safe before planting in the ground? Or ust leave it be and plant?

Dead tips; did someone say dead tips?

To me that supports trauma while in transit.

I’m struck by how much overall luxuriant growth there is. How big is the rootball? Is it from a commercial source?

The root ball is a little smaller than a soccer ball and bagged in plastic. I've never received a rose without a pot, so I'm thinking I will cut out the yellow branch with all the dead tipped new growth, along with any criss crossing interior branches, and plant it in the ground early tomorrow morning.

I have a feeling it wasn't handled too gently in transit and there wasn't anything but the cardboard box protecting the curled branches that are bent to fit it. Hopefully will grow ok, one of my favorite roses.

That's not Rose Rosette Disease, not by a long shot. So relax!

I have gotten roses at this time of year, the worst time of the year to receive roses.

First, they are in a slump at the grower just like our home garden roses are at this time of year.

Second, that rose is stressed out from being de-potted. Its potting mix is in an upheaval. The roots are in severe shock.

The stress from traveling, being jostled about in darkness for who knows how many days, further stresses the rose bush.

Here's what I have learned to do with such roses:

Do no pruning just yet. Replant it very carefully with premium potting mix just to fill in the gaps. Do not use the moisture retentive potting mix....it's lethal! Repot into a pot about the size you think it was growing in before being de-potted. Don't go bigger pot. Water LIGHTLY! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Heavy watering will surely rot the roots and the bush dies, and fast. Let the bush go slightly dry, but foliage not wilting between waterings, then still water sparingly. Yoh only water heavily when the pot is full of roots. Place in bright shade now, and graduate into full sun very gradually.

You know that the bush is recovering properly when all stricken foliage has fallen off, and the beginnings of new growth are seen. Only then should you do very, very light, reconstructive pruning.... Its still in recovery, take it easy!

You know that the bush is recovering properly when all stricken foliage has fallen off, and the beginnings of new growth are seen. Only then should you do very, very light, reconstructive pruning.... Its still in reecovery, take it easy!

I cannot emphasize enough how bad a time of year it is just now to purchase potted roses online, de-potted, even worse! I have endured many a self-inflicted, bitter lesson, and have learned to order by mail for no later than June 1st. delivery. Do I always follow my own advice? No, but I pay dearly for it when I don't.

I have three struggling roses that I just got in by mail. My hopes are low for their survival. Stupid me. Money out the window!

Moses.

Thanks Moses, I was a bit worried about the excessive growth and twisted around each other the branches seem to be doing.

I will look at it in the morning and hopefully get it into a pot the right size.

Here is another pic of the excessive growth with burnt tips.

Thanky you all. Maybe my new garden will just stay rose-free for a while since this was in a box with the other i ordered, which looks normal. Now I'm scared about mites getting on that one. That one is smaller and looks fine but after dealing with RRD years ago in my home garden I don't know if I will take the chance.

Looks goofy, but no RRD, just light denial stressed growth. However, the big test is to see how the bush recovers and observe the new growth. Best of success to you!

Moses.

I would not prune yet. Give the plant some time to recover. The pale bits will normalize.

Were there RRD down the road, of course toss the plant.

It looks like rose midge damage to me, followed by regrowth around the dried tips. Honestly, I’m not sure which is worse—RRD or rose midges.

I don't see any sign of RRD. RRD would show red stems with excessive thorniness and witch's broom, and your plant has none of those. Why are you throwing away healthy bushes? At least, offer them to someone else.

Yes, please, BClark, if you’re uncomfortable growing these roses in your own garden, give them to someone else. There’s nothing wrong with your rose bush that I can see, except that it’s a very vigorous bush that got really squished in a box for a bit too long. If you can’t find anyone else who wants them, squish them back in
the box and send them to me. ;)

woodrose77

29 minutes ago

‘I don't see any sign of RRD. RRD would show red stems with excessive thorniness and witch's broom, and your plant has none of those. Why are you throwing away healthy bushes? At least, offer them to someone else.”

It’s good to know that absence of those 3 findings rule out RRD. Thank you; I didn’t know that.

Is the premise ( “ …you are throwing away healthy bushes”) on which the question (“Why are you throwing away healthy bushes?”) true?

What it looks like to me is the sort of strange growth I'd get from relatively large, vigorous roses spending the winter crammed under lights in my basement. Except those would have a few more twists and turns as they grew horizontally in the reflector. Some of those looked really weird when they went outside in the spring.

I learn a lot from David Austin Roses Facebook group with 405.6 K members. Below is a link to pics. of normal Bathsheba growth in that group: David Austin Roses | Bathsheba • Year 4 • Zone 6b | Facebook

Thanks Straw! so nice to hear from you

I remember when my old bathsheba looked like that. Definitely never seen the twisted/thickening canes before and remember those (green not red) as early signs of RRD at my old garden years ago before it killed out all the roses.

A plant pathologist told me that RRD often isnt red or with witches broom growth and can show as green twisted and thickening canes in early stages which is what i thought the minute i opened this box with Bathsheba.

Hope you’re doing well and still growing your beautiful roses!:)

BClark: This is the first I’m hearing of ”thickening”. It was not evident from the photos provided.

Is it abnormal (abby normal) thickening? (which would be a horse of a different color)

pardon the mixing of movie lines

Oh I see it now.

I missed it because it is the ”featured answer”, which appears

above ”Comments”, and the photo did not appear until ”read more” was clicked.

BClark Is that rose grafted on multiflora? Multiflora is a common host for RRD mite.

I'm getting better in rooting roses and can send you some to repay your kindness in the $50 gift card you gave to me for Roses Unlimited, feel free to message me in Facebook (my username in Facebook is Claude Martin) Facebook

I have been rooting Austins to gallon size & sold and donated 100% to charities, as documented on my Facebook profile above.

I had RRD only once on a Ping-Lim rose "Grandma's Blessing" bought in a 2-gallon pot from local Home Depot back in 2012. It was THE ONLY ROSE grafted on multiflora that I ever bought. It was super healthy with lots of blooms at the store. But multiflora-rootstock hated my alkaline clay and leaves turned pale. I probably stressed it out with too much acid fertilizer in hot summer. I bagged & trashed it, and NEVER HAVE RRD on my 160 fragrant own-root varieties ever since.

My concern about mail-order nurseries is the transmission of insects such as RRD mite, chili thrips, midge, fire ants, lantern fly, beetles that can wipe out agricultural crops.

Chili thrips invaded southern CA more than a decade ago and cause destruction in rose industry and agriculture.

Lantern fly first started at PA (causing millions of losses to farmers in that state), then spread to the east coast (NJ, MD, CT).

Fire ants start from Texas and spread upward to Eastern states. My sister's garden was destroyed by fire ants in Texas and she could not garden.

My zone 5 NW Chicago is too cold for chili thrips. I once got the regular & harmless thrips from mail-order rose, and all thrips died through my winter.

I don't have midge, lantern fly, nor thrips in my zone 5 garden, but I do have Japanese Beetles which lay eggs in the soil in July & August.

I always dunk any plants that I send out, or any plants that I receive in a bucket of water with insecticide to strip off the soil for at least 15 min. Then I dunk the top leaves in another bucket of water with insecticide for 10 minutes.

That's why most nurseries like Heirloom roses or Antique Rose Emporium STRIP OFF all leaves from their plants so insects can't hide within the leaves.

Chili thrips cannot be killed by dunking leaves in water alone. The water has to be diluted with insecticide soap at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 4 cups.

RRD (Rose Rosette Disease) is caused by the Rose Rosette Virus and spread by the eriophyid mite. A mite is much smaller than a thrip, so the RRD mite can be easily killed if your other NOT affected roses are dunk in 1 TBS of insecticide soap per 4 cups of water.

I agree with trashing the badly infected Bathsheba, but your OTHER roses received can be dunk in water with insecticide soap.

When I buy live plants or bare-root roses from any nursery, I completely submerge them in a bucket of water (1 TBS. insecticides per 4 cups of water). Insecticide soap is cheap on Amazon. Bonide Insecticidal Soap, 32 oz Ready-to-Use Spray Multi-Purpose Insect Control is $9 per 32 oz. spray bottle.

The exception is sawfly or rose slug .. that's caused by poor drainage soil rather than spreading across the garden. I had one rose that was rose-slug fest in a poor drainage pot, the minute I moved THE SAME rose to a fast drainage raised bed, no more rose slug.

About Lantern Fly: "A native of China, the insect was discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since spread to 13 other states. The insect is a voracious eater that feeds on woody and ornamental trees as well as a wide variety of crops and plants. Left unchecked, Pennsylvania alone could lose hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs."

Spotted Lanternfly Reveals a Potential Weakness | USDA

@elenazone6 I had rose midge with ONLY TWO ROSES in late fall of 2014 when I tested Dr. Earth's Flowergirl organic fertilizer. I'm NOT sure if the rose midge came from that organic fertilizer or from the Sta-Green potting soil I bought from Lowe's. I put my sticky clay on top of those 2 roses, then flooded the entire area with water as recommended by Cornell University (midge doesn't like it too wet or too dry) .. my clay is rock hard when dry, and flooded during rain.

Most likely midge came from that bag of stinky Dr. Earth's Organic fertilizer since midge is a type of fly, and flies like stinky stuff. My mistake was to top those 2 roses with fluffy local Lowe's Sta-Green potting soil, which remained moist for midge's eggs to hatch. My other roses were not affected by midge since I didn't top them with fluffy potting soil.

NEVER have midge ever since those 2 roses (their fall blooms were destroyed back in 2014). From that time on, I never use any stinky organics except for Espoma Tomato Tone or chicken manure, which are dry & well-processed to kill any midge's eggs.

Straw, so great to hear from you! I do not know if it’s on multiflora but I’ve read about that being a common host for the mites

Thank you for all the info on insects and diseases transmitted too frequently through mail order or sale plants

I try not to do mail order because I’ve had such bad luck with it (good luck with DA.com bareroots) but i got impatient after finally having a small yard to garden in again.

This big rose came from a warm zone seller and after getting chili thrips on my west coast roses when I lived there, I noticed similar damage on all the new growth on this rose. So whether it had RRD or midge or thrips, I wasn’t taking chances.

I’ll send you an email soon! Thanks for all the great info