Question

margaretmerrill   my new margaret merrill planted last autumn/ winter
has shown signs of poor growth this year with black spot and stem die back;
what should i do?

i changed the soil and used friendly fungi when planting (where an older rose had been)
though then replaced it to make spacings with the next rose wider (and so between all roses more even.)
i used rose feed twice and cut back the die back and sprayed anti fungus.
we live on the east of england with clay soils and had a mini monsoon season spring/ early summer this year.

thankyou, philip jones

Answer
Hello Philip,

My first reaction is your rose has settled after planting.  That would explain the slow growth.  Wait until it goes dormant and raise the plant to where the union or canes are above the ground about two fingers high.  Sorry  I do not know metric.

Settling is a problem ii you dug up one rose and put in another new rose.  I know this all too well as I have done it myself.  Your heavy rains also make the soil settle and the plant ends up too deep.

Very easy to solve.

Jay