Roses

[Helen]

Does anyone know of curly leaf on roses? We had several severe frost days in a row, have lost a lot of plants. I pruned my roses after the heavy frosts quite hard as I didn't get them done last year! Two of the standards have a lot of curly leaf, have never seen this on roses before, they are old, planted in 1970's early 1980;s, they have plenty of flowers& buds, are they just getting old like me?

[Adam_W]

Sorry for the sloooow reply @Helen crazy-busy time of year...
Ok, the photo is a bit blurry but I'm going to go with insect damage on emerging leaf-buds as I can see distinct chewing marks on some of the leaf edges.
Looks to me like the pruners used may have been a bit on the blunt side too as I can see damaged wood on the pruning cuts - always use sharp pruners otherwise you can end up with die-back.
Keep them well-fed & watered in the warm weather, watch out for anymore bugs & cross your fingers they throw a few flowers out for you.

Bookmark for next year but here's one of my early videos on rose pruning

[Jason]

Great advice @Adam_W, many thanks for sharing. I'm sure @Helen and other community members really appreciate the advice. 

Jason

[Helen]

No, I pruned after frosts, I couldn't see any frost damage on the roses. They have flowered well, just coming into bud again. Some new leaves have grown out from curly ones. There is a lot of dead wood & thinking of replacing those older ones.Thanks for your post!

[Helen]

Thanks Adam_W, yes you are correct, my pruners need a good sharpen, now with all the dead wood I think I have caused their condition(sorryDad!) I will take some cuttings, thinking of replacing the older ones. Thanks for video, I know all this but it is a nice refresher, I shouldn't be so slack, it was a very rush job last winter!