Question
My David Austin "Charles Darwin," planted in a large planter box (2 yrs old) was going great guns this spring (Oakland, California)-- it was all ready to bloom, had buds, vigorous foliage growth, and then suddenly (over 2 weeks or so) all the leaves turned fried brown, buds died. I have grown roses for years (mostly Jackson and Perkins mail order, btw)and have never seen this. Leaves started turning brown around edges and then completely browned. We were still having plenty of rain, so it wasn't thirsty. Is this Botrytis Blight?

Thanks very much!

Answer
Hi Maureen........  listening to all that you have said, my first question would be "is there standing water in the planter box?"  and "Have you sprayed fungicide?"  Also, has there been any "overspray" from a weed killer of some kind?
Or what about over - feeding?  You mention that you are a seasoned-rosarian, but, sometimes these little things happen to the best of us!  
    I get in a shipment of 150 new roses a year to sell and when they leaf-out I invariably forget that the new growth can't handle the fungicide immediately (it spots and turns brown and falls!).....So, i go back and mix up a special weak batch to spray those roses with and that usually goes well........but, not before i have to clean up my prior mistake!    
    This is not to say that it could be something else(blight)  .......i would remove it from the planter and place it in new soil (humus,etc) in a regular clean black plastic nursery pot(3 to 5 gallon depending on the root system)
Baby it.......and let me know.  God bless,j.williamson
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