Roses Die On You (Black Spot etc)

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I bought a nice enough looking rose in summer but felt guilty leaving it two months or so to plant - in my defence I watered it and I was trying to prep the border by digging it over and getting compost ready etc

So I planted it with compost and everything, bit of fertiliser - it has since a) Shrunk as if become an elderly person b) Got the dreaded Black Spot. Now, this is AFTER I've planted it, I thought it would be at the races and get a new lease of life!
Oh, I've sprayed it with anti Black Spot stuff - not cheap, a spray about £8, while the rose itself was about £12! Mulch isn't really in the stores, not sure perhaps wood chipping would work as well?

On top of all this, I went to one garden centre - well, Chessington Surrey - because I was told autumn was the time for buying roses, the roots get better established then but there isn't a great display now and worse - those on display all have Black Spot already!

In contrast, the Blue Hydrangea is doing very well, it's no different to when I bought it, though I did plant it straight away.

Am I missing something? Are any roses immune to Black Spot relatively speaking? Can't get around the fact it was sat outside in its plastic pot for two months, then I plant the rose with all the trimmings so to speak and it buggers up.

The rose could take off next year - don’t despair. Winter’s approaching it won’t do much til the spring.

Black spot is the price you pay for clean air. The sulphur in industrial pollution used to keep it at bay.

The fact that all the roses at the garden centre tells you that a) it’s ubiquitous and b) most people turn a blind eye to it.

Some roses are more resistant than others.

I’m sure it will be fine next year as others have said. Most roses look a bit past-their-best at this time of year, and leaving it in the pot won’t have done much harm as they can last up to around 3 years in a pot. Apparently if you plant salvias around the base/near to your roses, they are supposed to ward off rose moulds and fungal diseases. You could try this as a more ecological way of tackling the black spot.

I love rose flowers but my goodness they’re hard work aren’t they? If it’s not black spot, it’s rust and mine always seem to be covered in aphids, however much I spray them. I’ve four shrub roses and a patio one in a pot, they’ve all been really poor this year. Thinking of cutting them right back to nothing in late February and seeing what happens.

Maybe you could try not spraying them. Not much chance of keeping on top of aphids if you kill all the ladybirds and lacewings

Thanks everyone. Planting salvias nearby - I'll have to look into that!

My roses have been the healthiest they've ever been this year, I think, due to the 10cm compost mulch I gave them last autumn. 1st year I have hardly had blackspot. Give them some time and they'll probably be fine.
I've never tried it but diluted cows milk sprayed onto the leaves is supposed to be antifungal and wouldn't harm the little insect beasties.

Yeah, the mulch thing gets mentioned a lot to anyone planting any shrub and it passed me by, I had a puritan or just wrong attitude to soil. Having spent loads on compost and topsoil and soil improver from the garden centre, that seemed enough to me... but I got hold of some mulch anyway.

How? Well, I was trying to minimise the old bonfire at the bottom of the garden and it belatedly occurred to me that the earthy nonsense of dead twigs and leaves were in effect mulch, not least because it had loads of worms in it. And when I relocated the worms to my nice new soil, they didn't seem to enthusiastic. So I relocated their old mulch-like stuff to the flowerbed and it does look more natural.
If you have an old bonfire with years of leaves and twigs layered up as soil, this may work for you. Maybe ash too... not sure.

Maybe ash too... not sure. the word “potassium” is derived from “potash”, wood ash soaked in water to extract the potassium salts.

I’d lean towards “leaving it be” for now. It will be heading towards its dormant state for the winter. Give it a chance for another year and do the following:

Late Feb/early March - cut/prune it back. Definitely cut out any dead stems. And remove any remaining leaves (probably won’t be any, but worth mentioning). Check out David Austin website, they have loads of handy tips.

Early/mid-March. Add rose feed and apply a layer of mulch - I use basic compost as mulch.

Early-mid July (after the first boost of blooms) give another dose of rose feed.

That is, basically, my annual care for roses - apart from the obvious deadheading to encourage new buds during flowering season. I’m still getting new buds coming through now.

Your plant needs time to establish its roots and to develop thicker stems. Hopefully, next summer, you will see a marked difference. The feed/mulch in March should hopefully really help.

Well, here is another rose I've planted. I sprayed it with Rose Clear to eliminate Spots before they start - it also says, spray the earth alongside too. Then I put loads of mulch down - looks a lot better, doesn't it? Fingers crossed, this one will hold its own. Still don't understand why in nearly November this has flowers while others are summer based but it's the way of life isn't it?

I’ve still got a fair number of blooms and buds on mine - and have had them into November for the past 3 years. Think it’s quite common, especially if you’re based in the south.