Roses and Rose Rosette Disease

Interesting to watch how rose rosette disease is affecting local roses. Both in the wild, where its impact has been beneficial in setting back the highly invasive multiflora rose, and in intended rose plantings, like those blooming at the John Witherspoon Middle School, the impact has been inconsistent.

Here, two bushes are so impacted that they haven't managed any blooms. They are framed by two shrubs that have resisted the disease thus far. What's good news for intended plantings (some specimens may survive or at least have a few more good years) could be bad news for land managers who thought the disease would do all the work of restoring balance and make our nature preserves far less prickly places.