Rita - Well, gardens aren't for perfection. It's to strive for perfection IMO. I don't spray unless I see aphids, and only if the aphid situation isn't under control by ladybugs. I don't want the good mycorrhiza to be destroyed with too many chemicals. My yard's difficult enough to grow roses in.. don't need to sterilize the soil, too.
I have leaves on many of my roses. It rained for the first time this year last night. A little brisk storm, not really enough to soak in, but at least it was SOMETHING! And as I look out the window at work, I'm seeing another set of storms on the way.
I'm excited about these storms because they're blowing north and west.. which means they'll be filling up the reservoirs! We need it desperately! I'm having to remulch my yards this summer. The front yard's mulch is pretty decayed, but man is the soil richer now than ever! The back yard.. I didn't mulch it too heavily (ran out of mulch) so I'm just having to add more. That, plus the fabric I put down is decaying much faster than I expected (probably dryrot), so having to refabric everything too. Did quite a bit of gardening on Sunday. That's when I planted all my roses (Brown Study, Blue River, Star of the Nile, Blueberry Hill, Lavender Crystal, 2 Smokeys, 2 Fragrant Lavendars, Pope John Paul II, & Love Song), plus some lilacs, veronica, and spirea. I also bought some annuals finally & put those in.. only pansies (I have a flat of petunias, but need to get some pink or white ones to counter the deep purple of those). But what the tough thing was ripping out a section of grass/sod/crabgrass that had creeped in from my neighbor's yard into mine. 18ft long x 2ft wide x 6inch-18inches deep! What the BIG problem was that this is exactly where the Comcast cable was at, so I had to be super careful not to cut that.. so I ended up using my spading fork to break it up & then pulling everything out by hand. Yuck! My legs were killing me for 3 days!
I've pulled the buckets w/mulch from around my Palatine roses that I used for winter protection yesterday so they can get some of that beautiful rain! All but one look like they pulled through just fine. I'm watching Sienna Vigorosa closely.. I didn't mulch that one as thickly & it shows.
I hope I didn't kill it. Also, I am going to have to move my South Africa. If it survived, it can't be where I put it. But I'm not sure if it survived. Also, my SugarMoon doesn't look too sprightly, so I'm gonna have to dig around the base & see if it's alive too. I hate winterkill....
On a different note, my lilacs should have a major bumper crop of blooms this year!!
CanNOT wait for that!! My two forsythias finally bloomed for the first time ever, my clematis actually survived the winter, I have beautiful red leaves on almost 100% of my spirea, my agastaches & salvia are waking up..
Spring!!
), sounds like the reverse is true. While I don't wish another flood on anyone, I do hope that it rains and rains for you this year. 
I would choose something else, too, after that, Toni.
I didn't realise you had that many roses but apparently you have lots of them. 
