Roses- where did I go wrong?

[AnOKYearForTheRoses]

I’m a novice rose gardener who thought I learned enough last year, but apparently not!!

A summary-

Viewed a house in Summer 2021 that had gorgeous roses blooming. Didn’t get too close to them but admired from a distance- no idea what kind of roses they are.
Moved in in Winter 2021.

Spring/summer 2022- let them do their thing but realized too late that there was a severe black spot problem. Tried treating it but it was too late. Lots of flowers but generally of a poor quality.

Spring 2023- on the advice of my local garden centre, I started treating them early for black spot and have been broadly successful. Still plenty of leaves with spots but a mix of removing (and I mean removing, disinfecting, destroying) and spraying has meant that 99% of the leaves are untouched this year so was feeling very happy with myself. Have kept up the removal and treatment routine (removing leaves showing any hint of black spot several times a week, treating monthly per instructions on the product I’m using). Started fertilizing in April as leaves started to open. Have managed to keep slugs and snails at bay and there’s no damage from pests. Clear for aphids also.

So that brings us to now. Healthy green leaves, decent buds and rose have started to come out in the last week or so. The majority of them look quite poor. You can see, even on the buds, that there are black areas.

Any advice gratefully received! I’ve put so much hard work into them and now I’m a bit disappointed.

You've done nothing wrong, just keep doing what your doing. It can take a while for roses to recover especially if they were badly effected. Just dead head and water regularly and keep an eye on aphids.

Thanks @LunaLoveFood. That’s really reassuring.

Hopefully all my hard work this year will pay off over time.

It’s so frustrating because my late (and lovely) MIL had the most beautiful roses and she didn’t even own a pair of gardening gloves.

I've got lots of different types of roses and a couple of my big ones got hit really bad with black spot. It took a couple of years of tlc for them to be back to looking their best, but each year I noticed a difference .
Also it's worth learning how to prune them (Google is your friend along with Monty Don!) To make sure they stay healthy.

The black spot spores reinfect the rose when rain splashes them up from the soil. Mulch thickly with composted manure when the rose is dormant in winter, and this provides a barrier between the rose and the spore bank in the soil (as well as feeding the rose - double win).