Roses attacked

Let's hope your garden stress and family stress will soon be over.

I don't know what's been eating your rose leaves. Slugs don't eat them so I think it must be a catterpillar. A sawfly takes chunks from the edges but a catterpillar will eat the whole leaf.

Congratulations to your son and his partner.
Age makes no difference. It's all about your personality.
I had an aunt whose husband was 14 yrs older than her and they were totally devoted.
Beryl is several years older than me but we've been together for over 40 years :)

Enjoy your holiday. You can show us some photos after you return :)

Agree more likely an infestation of tiny caterpillars on the underside of the leaves.
it occurs on Viburnums here if I forget to spray and then spreads to other things,always in september

Thank you all, first for your holiday wishes, then for the info on caterpillars. I do wonder if part of the trouble is that the roses are growing against a fence whereas in my last garden it was either a hedge or in the open. However, having said that, we do have some neglected gardens surrounding us. Good for wildlife,of course, but not for my plants.

I'm not bothered, by the age difference between my son and his fiancee, Hywel. I'm just so pleased that he's happy at long last. It's evident that he's besotted by her.
As for you being married for 40 years I congratulate you but I'm afraid I can cap that. Fifty five for us in October. Doesn't time fly?

Congratulations to your son and his new partner from me either. I sincerely hope they stay happy together for the rest of their life. My wife is a year younger than me, we have been married for 47 years and although we argue nearly every day, we have never thought of separation or divorce. We believe marriage is for life and a few arguments and disagreements are part of an everyday life. In our opinion there are more important things to consider and worry about.
It brakes our hearts when we attend a happy wedding in order to hear a few years later or even months, that they separated and divorced. They tell us their side of the story and expect our sympathy. It does happen every day now, even in our culture where only a few years ago, separation and divorce was something very rare. I really do not know how many marriages end in divorce now a days. Probably the majority?

Here below a little bit of ancient wisdom, which many people may find interesting and useful. I do.
In ancient times, a General in Alexander's the Great Army, had an argument with another General and asked to see Alexander to complain about him. As soon he started talking, Alexander sealed one of his ears. The General asked: " Why are you doing this to me Alexander? Don't you want to listen to my argument? " Alexander replied: "I am listening to you with one ear, because with the other ear, I am going to listen to the other General's argument."
I APOLOGISE IF I OFFEND ANY OF YOU WITH MY CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS. IT IS NOT MY INTENTION.GOOD DAY.

Lets hope your son is third time lucky, they might be adults but we do get stressed out if they are unhappy or upset by something, enjoy your holidays.
I cannot use spray here because of my fishpond, so if I see something nasty I have to use the watering can and pour my solution over the roses, my viburnams have been desecrated twice this year, they are not even near one another as one is in the front garden, I now have to make a decision about whether to get rid of them....

The way you worded it in your blog, made me think you were concerned about it.

Let's hope it's 'third time lucky' for your son. It's nice to see them settled and happy!

I thought Viburnums were almost indestructible,as parents are supposed to be. Apparently in my case, wrong. My cranberry (new) has little holes in the leaves. The only one affected so far. i cannot find any bugs, etc.I am hoping next year the new leaves will not be eaten. It has been extremely dry, and perhaps that is the problem. My rose leaves also have been eaten and it is not Japanese beetles.

As for children, they are very stressful. Overtime, they make a mistakes in our view, and we suffer for them. It probably will always be this way. I am now 82 and have heard many stories about children. Just as plants that rejuvenate the next year, so must we take care of ourselves to do the same.

I'm 85 Well's and for what you have said I say, Right On!!!

Me too. I'm 75 - a mite younger than you and Wells Loosestrife but we never stop worrying about our children. After all, we only want them to be happy but all too often they see life differently to us with our years of experience. We can only watch and be prepared to pick up the pieces if necessary. Stressful though, isn't it?

As for things being eaten we've just been to the allotment to pick some spinach. I found a huge snail enjoying an early lunch. He didn't stay long! So I think many of our plants have are being tasted by slugs and snails, and possibly some caterpillars though I've never seen any of them.

Yup, and it goes right down the line...children....grandchildren ....great grandchildren I find myself blessed to be worrying about so many:)

Just catching up on your blogs, we are very similar in age I was 73 on the 28th October and my OH will be 81 on 17th November, and we have been married 53 years!!
I hope your son will be lucky this time, I know just how stressful it is when your children split up, especially if there are grandchildren involved......I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
We had the same problem this year, not only with roses but nearly everything in the garden had been eaten by something, it was a moth so my OH informed me...hoping for a colder winter to kill the blighters off!!

Mm, colder winters are a blessing and a curse. Yes, they kill the bugs, but make going out quite treacherous. I was sure footed when I was young but now I can trip over a matchstick. When did that happen?

We have two years on you, Dotty, having just celebrated 55 years. Actually, 'celebrated' isn't the right word because apart from a meal out we did nothing special, we never do. Why celebrate the passing of even more time? I feel the same way about birthdays now, and don't even get me started on New Year. Why all the parties and fun when it's even more of our life span disappearing into the either?

I'm getting miserable now. :)

Oh no dont go there.......