Does anybody else’s Gertrude Jekyll rose struggle with black spot?

[Rawfruit]

I have 6 DA roses and GJ is the only one that gets it. I prune it of to the extent there is very little left by winter, prune and feed at correct times and it comes back from the dead with lovely roses again in spring. It just looks so awful for so long though. Wondering if it’s time to get rid although I love it. I don’t use any pesticides.

Its odd as none of the other DA roses struggle like this.

the_gardenerben has over 100 DA roses and a very active Instagram channel. I went to his open garden event last weekend and asked about black spot. He said that this year is the worst he's ever seen, to the extent that it might be worth pruning everything back as soon as it's finished flowering.

I can't speak for the susceptibility of Gertrude Jekyll but it would be worth checking his channel to see if he's done a personal review of it, they're very informative. If not then he'd be the person to ask.

For anyone who wants to spray but is worried about chemicals, I was told by a Sparsholt lecturer that full fat milk works but I think it's a preventative rather than a cure.

I've not heard of the salvia connection, does anyone have more information please?

Yes! I thought it was because I'm an incompetent gardener, so now I feel less personally responsible! It was beautiful a few weeks ago but now looking very sorry for itself. Will try planting the salvia.

Milk works for mildew - not sure it would work on black spot.

It is very bad this year. I’ve seen it in plants that aren’t normally affected.

Another DA rose fan here. My Gertrude Jekyll is OK so far - in fact they all are apart from one leaf of the Albrighton rambler. My new salvias all had to be dug up again as the slugs were stripping them to skeletons, so no companion plant protection yet but I'll put them back in this weekend and hope for the best. Thanks for the warning about a bad blackspot year! I'll mulch, pick and hope for the best...

Talking to my aunt some years ago about the ongoing battle with blackspot and she said she had given up the fight, so I tried the same and she was right. My intervention, picking up leaves, spraying etc, doesn't appear to make much difference. Some years it's bad, some years not so bad. So now I pretty much ignore it. Logically it's an airborne disease so by the time the leaves fall, the damage is already done. I think a really early spray, just as the leaves appear helps to protect the bushes a bit but catching them early enough is not easy especially in years like this one when it rains so much. I'm going to look into the salvia thing, not heard of that. Fortunately blackspot doesn't affect the flowers and as they are deciduous plants you can start again next year

After reading about the salvia link on this thread, I've found the blog post:

www.sarahraven.com/articles/gardening-at-home-with-sarah-the-rose-garden-in-june

I think there will be lots of salvia's being bought this weekend!

@APurpleSquirrel many thanks, another excuse to buy plants! It's certainly the case that the roses I have that are near salvias are less affected so there may be something in it. I've had good success with salvia cuttings too... just saying!

I'm planning on going to the jazz in the garden evening at Mottisfont on Friday so I'll see how they're getting on and report back if there's anything else potentially helpful.

Hate to say it but I have underplanted with salvias but might plant a few more.

I've not grown salvias (I've seen them called 'Sweaty Betty's' because of the scent from the crushed leaves of some varieties) since the one's I'd tried with got annihilated by slugs. Worse than dahlias! They were beautiful, I could've cried.

Interesting - have plenty of slugs & snails in our garden & they don't touch any of the salvia's - they did decimate a newly planted kniphofia in 2 days though!

I had one at my last house and again at my new house - they are my favourite rose. Mine were a bit prone to black spot but I just took the leaves off as soon as I saw them and prune the whole thing to the ground in winter.
It springs up really fast in spring and has much better health.