Goodnight, Crepuscule

'Crepuscule' is a Tea Noisette climbing-style rose that grows on the east fence of my Rose Field.  It is almost carefree, very disease resistant, has flowers in a beautiful shade of gold/apricot, and it is a favorite of many a warm-weather rose gardener.  It didn't start out as one of my favorites, but it has grown on me over the years ... this rose asks so little and gives so much.

 

 

 

In May, I found abnormal new growth on one of the canes ... Rose Rosette Disease.  Since the diseased shoots were on the far end of a large, mature cane, and there was no sign of disease anywhere else, I may have caught it early before it spread throughout other parts of the plant.  There was a chance that I could save the rose by cutting that cane off at the base ... which I promptly did, and I disposed of it in the trash.  (and I disinfected my pruners with 91% alcohol in a little sprayer that I keep with me at all times, for just such an occasion.)

I laid the cane on the front of our white golf cart to get the best contrast between the normal and abnormal shoots.

 

 

There's no mistaking this for anything other than Rose Rosette Disease.

 

 

The other evening as I was walking through the garden, I saw a new shoot on a different part of Crepuscule that showed RRD symptoms.  I don't play around when it comes to RRD ... the rule I use when dealing with this disease is simple:  If RRD symptoms are on one cane and localized, I can try to save the rose by removing that cane.  If the disease returns, the rose must be removed.  If the disease is in more than one location on the rose when I first find it, I don't attempt to save it ... I remove the whole rose as soon as I can.  It's a brutal way to be, but it has to be done. 

 

RRD is a fatal rose disease, but it can take years to kill an individual rose.  In the meantime, the infected rose is a potent source of virus the can spread to other roses in the garden. 

 

 

The red shoot you see here is normal, healthy new growth on a different cane.

 

 

In the case of this rose, I am fortunate that it is not one of my rare ones.  It still hurts to lose it, as this is the third rose with RRD so far this year that I am removing.

 

R.I.P. 'Crepuscule' ... and 'Buff Beauty' ... and 'Climbing Radiance'.

 

... sigh ...

 

 

 

Blue Sky Day

After a dreary, rainy morning today, the sun came out at lunchtime and the sky cleared and it is absolutely a perfect fall day!  While I was outside playing with the dogs, I brought along my camera to capture a few of the things that caught my eye.
 
This is a view of our future studio/guesthouse/workshop building that I don't think I have shown you before.  I have such plans for this wonderful little building ... but I must wait till I get a few more things off my plate before I can even think of scheming its renovation.  In the meantime, it's great for storage.

 

 

Crepuscule is really showing off today!  I like this rose a lot, with its fragrant clusters of apricot-colored flowers.

 

 

 

We have already discussed my love affair with 'Mutabilis' many times.  It seems that the little flower bees concur ... they love it, too.

 

 

 

My "Yellow Seedling" keeps getting better and better.  It is four years old now, and about 4 feet high ... blooms all the time and is completely free of blackspot.  I have cuttings of it in my workshop propagation window, and I hope it will root so I have plants to share and test next spring. 

 

 

 

Not everything in the garden is sunshine and roses, though.  As I looked up from taking the photo of the Yellow Seedling, an errant patch of red growth caught my eye ... Rose Rosette Disease has come again this year.

 

It is perfectly normal for many roses to have bright red new growth.  Growth like this, which is rampant and abnormal for the variety, is a sign of a problem.  In this case, the problem is Rose Rosette Disease.

 

 

This is a cane on 'Marie Nabonnand'.  I also found disease symptoms on 'Alba Meideland', 'Climbing Pinkie' and "Puerto Rico".  Though I could remove the symptomatic canes and wait till next spring to see if the disease manifests itself on other parts of the affected plants, I won't do that in this case.  The roses that are affected are relatively common, and I will not risk any chance of transmission from them to the rest of the garden.

 

In 2011, I wrote about Rose Rosette Disease HERE.  The best online reference resource is Ann Peck's e-book, found HERE.  If you grow roses, read it and get educated.

 

Finding four roses in the garden in such dire straits put a definite damper on my fine fall mood.  I'm trying to be positive about this ... at least the affected roses aren't my rare ones.  I have to keep telling myself, RRD may mean the death of the infected rose, but it will not prevent me from growing and enjoying my roses.

 

 

Crepuscule, with the Barn in the Background

Cre·pus·cule;  noun  (kre-pus-kyool)  Twilight. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin crepusculum, from creper, dark.]

What an awkward-sounding name for such a lovely rose!

Even the billowing clouds of daisy-like weeds in the Rose Field add charm to the scene!  (Let's think of them as filler for the arrangement.)

Click HERE to see a Friday Flowers post I did on Crepuscule a couple of years ago, with lots of glamour shot photos.  Trust me, it's worth it.

(Now I'm off to go visit some of the other folks who are sharing a view of their world on Rural Thursday.)