Looks like an earwig.....they love to chew on the blossoms

Ian

Yep, that's an earwig. No offense, but I haven't found that they chew on the blossoms. They do eat aphids, however, and I think they roast on thrips, too, even though I can't find documentation for that at the moment.

Bottom line, I've had a lot of them - especially in the early spring - and I really haven't noticed that they actually eat the roses - more like eating the other guys that are trying to eat the roses. ;-)

They are very scary, disgusting-looking things, but that doesn't mean they're bad, necessarily.

Earwigs very much eat on any sort of bloom, whether they be rose, clematis or otherwise. They do eat other bugs as well, but in abscence of those, will happily put holes and munch away on blooms. They do prefer blooms that are nearing the end of their lifespan of the bush over newly opened ones.

Hello Mitchell:

Agree - it is an earwig.

Earwigs are omnivores meaning they will feed on other insects and also on the plants themselves. Sometimes they will do both at the same time. In fact, they will feed on just about any organic matter, whether living or dead. They are not considered a major pest of roses.

Some people even consider them to be a beneficial. I don't think I would go that far, But IMHO, they don't cause enough damage on roses to warrant using a pesticide. If you feel you need to control them in the garden, you can trap them, handpick them, or enlist birds as your allies. Aside from insect-eating birds, they don't have very many natural enemies.