I apologize for my absense. We hosted our son’s wedding reception and that kept me very busy this past 3 weeks. I’m back and ready to provide those interested in my final bit of information on caring for roses during the heat of summer.

I have had a problem with a tiny insect called Lace Wing. This tiny flying insect lands on the rose leaves and leaves its eggs on the underside of the leaf, the larvae hatch and begin eating immediately. They leave little pin holes on the leaves. I find that a strong spray with the garden hose does almost as much good as any of the arrays of poisons that are marketed for this problem. I try to avoid poison in the garden for all of the most obvious reasons, but especially because we have wonderful little finch that like to fly to each bush in groups of 6 or so and eat the insects—I don’t want to poison their dinner.

As I mentioned in previous postings, roses don’t have to be high maintenance. Sometimes I marvel at their ability to survive neglect. Enjoy these final days of summer and I’ll be back with some information about the apartment I’m in the process of furnishing.