Garden

[Cyndog]

I live in the high desert of California where rose bushes do grow well. My bushes themselves look great, but when the actual rosé flowers bloom, they bloom looking already close to dead. Anyone know why? They're starting to bloom now, have 10 or 12 flowers, but they're not looking good.

[JustJazzmom]

Check for signs of midge on your roses.

Check for thrips on your roses.

[Cyndog]

I looked up those and took a bud apart to look, doesn't have those signs, but thank you.

[gardensla]

Can you describe what you mean by "close to dead?"

Are they brownish, shriveled, disfigured? Droopy stem? Do they open fully or just start to open and then fade to brown?

[VaBelle35]

I don't live in the desert, but after a snowy winter here in the mid-Atlantic region, my first set of blooms are pretty deformed and messed up. They do not form properly. After I cut them back, the next set is fine.

[Cyndog]

Blooms look good and flowers bloom fully and look okay for a day, then edges become yellow and it gets limp and droopy and in a few days, if you touch it it'll fall apart. It's like their life span is accelerated to only a few days. They bloom and start to die almost immediately. The bush itself, leaves/branches/stems look great until the leaf cutter bees come, but that's a couple months away,

[gardensla]

On 3/14/2014 cyndog said: Blooms look good and flowers bloom fully and look okay for a day, then edges become yellow and it gets limp and droopy and in a few days, if you touch it it'll fall apart. It's like their life span is accelerated to only a few days. They bloom and start to die almost immediately. The bush itself, leaves/branches/stems look great until the leaf cutter bees come, but that's a couple months away,

I suspect botrytis blight which is not uncommon during spring and fall in CA. It's mostly associated with cool, wet weather but can thrive in all sorts of conditions. Once the weather warms up the problem will likely go away; if not, try a fungicide.

[Cyndog]

Okay, thanks, I will try that.