Pests & Diseases

It is perfectly possible to grow beautiful, healthy roses without routinely using chemical sprays. The key is to concentrate on the health of the rose and the garden around it, rather than trying to prevent every aphid, marked leaf or other sign of nature.

Tiny, elusive and surprisingly hungry, spider mites are one of the most common pests to appear on roses during warm, dry weather. Although they're difficult to spot, the damage they leave behind is much easier to recognise. Fortunately, once you know what to look for, they're straightforward to manage, especially when caught early.

There is nothing quite like the sudden panic of walking out to your garden coffee in hand and noticing your prized rose bush looks completely washed out. One day it is a picture of lush green health, and the next, a scattering of bright yellow leaves makes it look like autumn arrived early. If you are staring at your plants right now wondering what went wrong, take a deep breath.

There are few sights more disheartening for a rose grower than watching fresh, vigorous growth suddenly falter. You’ve spent weeks monitoring a promising new shoot as it reaches for the sun. Then, almost overnight, the leaves begin to pucker. A strange, silvery dust settles over the buds like a ghostly velvet. This is Powdery Mildew.

As the days grow longer and the warmth of spring fills the air, your roses begin to come back to life. But with the change in season, you might notice some tiny visitors on your plants – aphids.

Roses sometimes show signs of illness that can be easy to mistake for one another. Two common problems are downy mildew and blackspot. Both affect foliage and can weaken the plant, yet they present differently and thrive under distinct conditions. Recognising these differences allows gardeners to respond appropriately and preserve the health and beauty of their roses.

It’s something that catches gardeners out time and again. A rose you’ve grown before, chosen for its particular shade, opens in a colour that seems unfamiliar. Maybe it’s paler. Maybe there’s a flush of pink where there wasn’t one before. Maybe the whole bloom looks like it belongs to another plant altogether.

If you grow roses, you’ve likely heard about blackspot, that pesky fungal troublemaker that loves to spoil even the most beautiful bushes. It’s one of the most common problems gardeners face, and while it doesn’t kill your roses outright, it can really take the wind out of their sails if left unchecked.

It begins quietly. You’re walking the garden in the early morning, coffee in hand, admiring the swell of buds after a warm spell. Everything looks as it should, until your eye catches one that seems reluctant to open. The petals are puckered, almost as if they’ve been pinched, and their edges are tinged with a strange brown. A day or two later, another bud does the same. Then a third.