Everybody gets blackspot...sometimes.

I'm telling you, "Moondance" has been giving me nothing but trouble this year! I suppose that considering the fact that we've been averaging about seven inches of rain a month since June, it's pretty impressive that it took the rose until the beginning of October to start showing signs of blackspot. But damn! I just noticed it the day before yesterday. I think "Julia Child" might have a little, too. I removed all the infected leaves and discarded them in a plastic bag in the trash. I applied Actinovate to all my roses as a foliar spray, because that's supposed to be a very effective fungicide. It started pouring rain three hours later. =_= It rained all day today too. I could treat this if it would just stop raining! So far the blackspot isn't that bad. I just want to clear it up as soon as possible. I hope that Actinovate does the trick. People act like it's a miracle product, but after you mix it it just looks like plain water...

And to make matters worse, I found a two-inch long slash mark in one of "Moondance's" biggest canes. At first I feared it was rose canker, but after some research online I deduced that some animal must have chomped it. It could have been the rabbit. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a squirrel, though. I caught two of them screwing around in the front garden yesterday morning. One of them was around the Rose of Sharon, which is about two yards away from "Moondance." I also noted a little bark stripped off the top of one of "Aptos"' canes. Something is trying to snack on roses that haven't even been in the ground for two weeks! I could use hot pepper spray on them as a taste deterrent, but it won't stop effing raining!!

I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end. After all, look at all the care I had to give to those poppies, and they did reward me in the end! "Julia Child's" bud is slowly starting to open. It's so gorgeous that it makes me think it'll all be worth it. But I've only had "Julia" for a couple of weeks...my yard might not have gotten to her yet...

Sometimes gardening is really heartbreaking. Sometimes I think I'm nuts to try to grow roses.