When my roses looked like poodles

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Well, they didn’t really, of course look like poodles.. =) The thought just came to mind because in my desperate attempt to control the black aphids decimating my roses, I pruned them. Cut off all the infected buds, most of the leaves, and was probably lucky I didn’t kill the poor plants!

This is what they looked like a couple weeks ago:

Here you can still see a few flowers on the roses, believe me those were gone very quickly!

This was just before I decided I should just leave them alone. I did put four cloves of mashed garlic by the roots of each rose, and continued to spray sporadically with an organic spray.

Amazingly, the roses are recovering. The red rose is blooming now, and so far I haven’t seen a nasty black aphid in sight! The white one as well, and the powdery mildew problem seems under control.

The yellow rose still seems very stressed to me, with deformed leaves, yet it is flowering again.

So maybe the roses liked the garlic! I’ve also given them organic fertilizer. Well, garlic is an antibacetrial agent, as well as a fungicide, and I think even anti-viral…that’s why it’s so good for us, too! Or maybe they just found the will to live…who knows? Sometimes plants have a will of their own! =)

• 23 May, 2008
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