Standard Rose

I have a standard rose that I have had for about three years now. Last year it was lovely and flowered for ages.

However this year it got a real bad case of blackspot (I was away on holiday for three weeks and when I came back it was really bad). Anyhow I treated it with spray and it has cleared up the blackspot ok. However alot of the leaves seem to have fallen off (or just not come out)and there are not many flower buds showing.

I can live with no flowers this year if this is a result of the blackspot but I am more worried about the leaves and the bare branches. For want of a better way to describe it the leaves are only on the new growth, none of the growth from last year seem to have any leaves.

Is this likely to be because of the blackspot or something else. I was wondering if I am going to have to prune the rose right back to the top of the stem later in the year to get fresh growth.

 

One of the things that happens with black spot, is that the leaves yellow and then drop. Its rarely fatal - just unsightly for the rest of the season. New growth and flowers will still be produced, but there is rarely replacement of the lower dropped leaves.

Make sure that you remove all the dropped leaves from the base, and then spray as soon as new growth appears in the spring. Your rose should be fine.

 

Great thanks for that.

The rose is in a container so I have cleared all the leaves away from the top of the soil etc

 

If you plant chives near your roses, this is should reduce the risk of blockspot and is also supposed to deter aphids!