'A Bit of Heaven - Leezen, Palos Verdes, Ca.' comments & questions

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A Bit of Heaven - Leezen, Palos Verdes, Ca.

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Discussion id : 67-894 most recent 28 MAR 13 SHOW ALL

Initial post 31 OCT 12 by CarolynB

Hi, Bit o' Heaven. I notice that you grow Passionate Kisses rose, and also that you have some trouble with fungus in your garden. I would like to ask you about your experience with Passionate Kisses, with regard to fungal disease, and what you do about it.

My PK had a terrible problem with mildew in spring for the first few years after I planted it, much more than any other rose in my garden. This was better last spring, but it still has a big problem with blackspot. Every year, it leafs out in spring with very pretty foliage, looking nice and full, then gets a lot of blackspot, and it's nearly leafless for the rest of the year. Does yours do this? I've considered moving it to a sunnier spot (I think it currently gets 4-6 hours per day of direct sun in summer, plus some dappled sun) -- but my available sunnier spot is a very visible front-yard spot, and I would hate to find that it continues to defoliate so much in such a visible spot. Do you think more sun would help this problem?

Reply #1 of 2 posted 27 MAR 13 by leezen

Hi Carolyn,

Sorry for such a delayed reply. I did not see your question until now. Passionate Kisses did mildew a bit at first but not really bad. Adding a cup of kelp meal 2 x yr. has helped. No blackspot or other diseases. PK is in a large pot (17G) in full sun most of the day. PK seems to like frequent water, for me that means 2 heavy waterings a week and an extra one added in when its really hot. Whenever PK dried out he got mildew. I add kelp meal and alfalfa pellets to all my roses and this seems to improve their disease resistance greatly (very little mildew on Iceberg, for example). I hope this helps.

I do have one rose, Graham Thomas, that suffers from blackspot but a spring and late summer application of Bayer Advanced All-in-One fertilizer and systemic disease prevention has solved that problem. That is the only thing I have found that works for me because I do not spray and would rather toss the plant than kill everything in my garden.

Reply #2 of 2 posted 28 MAR 13 by CarolynB

Thank you for your reply. It's very helpful.	REPLY