Question
Last year my Son bought me a beautiful yellow rose tree for Mother Day. This year by Mothers Day , it was full of roses again.. But then all of those blooms died and the leave became splotchy colored and dried up and fell off.
Most of the branches look as if they are dieing. There is one new rose and one new bud, but the tree looks really awful and I don't know what to do for it. Do you have any advise on how I can save this tree ? Thank you
                                 Sherry

Answer
From your description it sounds like the rose had a problem even before you got it. The problem from your description is in the roots. Check to see that there isn't any growths the size of a golf ball near the base as rose canker can cause the problem. It also could be rose problem that gets into the sap and causes the same symptoms. Discoloured leaves usually mean that a chemical is lacking in the soil but from what you describe, lack of a certain chemical doesn't mean the leaves fall of or go dead. I would prune all the top back to 6 inches. Sprinkle some rose fertilizer all around the base and also put a mulch of anything you can get in your area around the base too. Roses love cool roots and this will give it to them. The tree should be watered about every five days. Really soak the mulch when you water. Another thing you can do is spray the leaves with a foliar feed of fish fertilizer. 1 tables spoon to 1 quart of water. This gets the nutrients right to the leaves. Do it every two weeks. I hope this helps. If not then get back to me.