As I mentioned a few days ago, I’m not the kind of flower gardener that is over nurturing. If they need more water than I’m willing to give them, out they go. If they get mildew or rust, I don’t bother tending to them, I pull them out. I save my nurturing for the children and pets, the flowers need to be independent and strong by themselves. I do love a good perennial that can take a period of drought, a ball thrown in the middle of it and yes, a big fat cat sitting on top of it and still keep growing and flowering. Yet these two roses are too well established in our garden to just rip them out, so maybe, just maybe I might help them out. Only I don’t know what to do. Can you help me?
Just what are those spots on the petals of the roses above? Only this rose bush has it, and only on the petals, not the leaves. The rose bush next to it doesn’t have a spot at all. Have you seen this before? What is it and how do you treat it?
And while the rose bush next to it doesn’t have spots on the petals, it does have these wild new stalks growing up out of the base that are covered in an insane amount of thorns. The rest of the stalks have your normal amount of rose thorns but three new shoots look like some sort of primitive torture device. Should I cut them off? And if so, do you know of a good brand of metal gloves that I can wear while doing it? Should I leave them? Has this ever happened to your roses?
And well, then there is this big fat cat who sits on three plants at once…. Well I might just keep him around, the plants shall have to deal with it!
A Sonoma Garden 