Live in the desert where there are few wild roses to provide a reservoir of infection and the humidity is too low for mites to survive away from their host plant.

Michael is not being rude, desertgarden. He's just telling you the truth--unfortunately.

Kate : (

And if you do end up moving here to the Northwest there is no RRD, or Japanese Beetles for that matter. As far as I know there are no roses which are immune. Having a virus indexed rose is great from a strength and vigor of growing standpoint but if it were to get RRD it would still get sick and die.

You can also make sure to inspect your roses regularly to see any early signs of RRD. They you may be able to remove the affected cane or canes before it spreads.

I am sorry for those who lose their roses to RRD. I have never seen RRD here in Las Vegas.... we do not even have flea issues with dogs. I am glad it is not an issue in the PNW and hope that something will be developed to get a handle on this problem.

Folks in Las Vegas are fortunate that their mountains are the result of block faulting (horsts and grabens) which don't make for easy transitional zones of flora, that and the dryness also makes floral zones depauperate.

BUT, Las Vegas needs to know that RRD/RRv has been found in wild roses in northeastern California, much closer to Nevada than to the great valley of California.

anntn6b. " great valley of California" equals the Great "Central" Valley in California???? I am a native of CA and there are various valleys in the state, but that is the only one I would refer to as great:)

Las Vegas is near the southern tip of Nevada and is actually just east of the southern most section of the Central Valley in California; which is over 500 miles in distance across the Sierra Nevada Mts.

The Northeastern California geographical region which includes Yosemite, extends to the southern part of the northeastern region. Yosemite is 93 miles North of Central California. That would make Northeastern California closer to Central California.

If RRD is in Northeastern California, it actually poses a greater threat to Reno Nevada, as it is the part of Nevada that is closest to that region ( about 200 miles). Reno is about 500 miles north of Las Vegas.

"the native species of roses; Rosa setigera, R. virginiana, and R. palustris and the naturalized R. rugosa seem to be very resistant to possibly immune to the disease."

Here is a link that might be useful: Maryland Department of Agriculture

Among palustris, virginiana, rugosa, and setigera there are wonderful qualities of disease resistance, winter hardiness, interesting foliage, climbing vs. bushing, and repeat bloom that might be used to rescue a future for roses.

A setigera in the Chicago suburbs has caught RRD. Rugosas do catch RRD.
Virginianas haven't been under much disease pressure in the past; it's increasing for them and we shall see if they remain disease free.
Palustris....who knows. There are roses sold as palustris that may not be. Very few plants of palustris are in gardens nowadays.

Answers will probably come from the Arboretum in Lexington KY.

Desertgarden- I haven't had RRD in our area, but I've read that it might help to mix in perennials with the roses. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden did this, when it redid their rose garden after RRD problems. Initially it seemed to help...but I haven't seen anything recent about their progress.

I always mix in lots of shrubs and perennials with my roses. Also, we don't have the same problems with wild roses (too dry) for them to grow anywhere but along fence lines and ditches. They seem to get more water and snow melt here...maybe that helps.

I doubt that the perennials themselves would have any effect, but the space between roses would slow the spread of RRD within the garden. A rose touching an infected rose is very likely to be infected next.