Hi Straw: I stopped using all chemical fertilizers somewhere in June last year but before that I fed my roses with Miraclegro 15:11:15. Since last almost one year, I am feeding my roses with a home made compost that is rich in K, Ca, N and Mg and has less phosphorus. I had pinkish hue in my French Lace blooms last winters but now, blooms again have a golden / amber center when they open up. It turns almost white when old. best regards
KBW 9b: with current hot temp, does your French Lace's mildew improve with alkaline tap water? Tap water is treated with calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime) to deodorize and sanitize. My tap-water pH is near 9, versus pH of rain is 5.6.
Straw: I am not sure about the exact pH of my tap water as I didn't get it tested but I guess it has to alkaline. My French Lace suffered with mildew after I gave most of my bushes a treatment of gypsum which was followed by heavy rains. Many of my roses got mildew, perhaps due to acidic pH of the soil at that time. But no rust at all....
I think information such as, "French Lace was removed from the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens (ARBG) Display Trial because its trial period expired." should be displayed in Comments and not on the description page. It is superfluous information that most of us do not care about.
Yeah, I think it was the case a few years back. :) Over here it has most trouble when it is warm and humid, pretty much like all the other defoliating HTs. :)
