A Rose is a difficult plant to maintain and care for. My hybrid roses are giving me a tough time. I bought two hybrids from Lal baugh a few months back and within a few days they were attacked by fungus and lost all their crowning glories along with the leaves. I was in shock. What happened? Was the soil bad? Did I use too much manure? Did I plant them deep enough? I felt cheated. This was the time when my hydrangeas too suffered from similar fungal infection. The leaves were getting black spots and the mopheads wilted and died.

At least with my hydrangeas common sense and observation along with guidance from seed suppliers at National Market worked. The hydrangeas and roses were sprayed with fungicide, bygone spray and water. I moved my hydrangeas from the glaring sun to a semi shade place. New leaves began to appear within a few days and few flower buds have appeared. I saved my hydrangeas but with my roses I’m still at sea, new foliage has appeared but the buds continue to fall or get eaten. As it happens even my hibiscus plant’s buds are getting nipped. And I’m clueless as to the culprit since the hibiscuses are in the main garden and my hybrids are planted in the secluded kitchen garden. What the heck is happening?

In total I have ten rose bushes. Three are climbers that I had ruthlessly pruned but are now eagerly scaling the boundary wall, two I had picked up from a roadside seller which ironically are blossoming , two from Lal baugh that are damn snotty and beyond my help (at the moment) and three I picked up from another regular nursery. Four are in good shape the rest are trying to make it but seem to be pitted against an enemy I have little inkling about.

To know more about my faceless enemies I hunted for books on Roses. And most books were ‘IN MY FACE’ with all the pretty pictures of gorgeous roses. It was like salt being rubbed into my wounds. I felt like a failure and that’s an utterly new feeling for me. Stirring clear of coffee table gardening books I looked for simple books on Roses and that too which were written for the Indian climate. To my utter pleasure I found a book tucked deep beneath a monstrosity of a gardening Encyclopedia.

The title of the book was simple- Roses by Amitabha Mukhopadhyay. Somehow I managed to yank it out without disturbing the pile and was rewarded for my efforts. The author of the book was a senior scientist in the Indian Institute Of Horticultural Research in Bangalore. Bangalore? I was tickled pink.

His book is a treasure trove that all gardeners whether beginners like me or experts should have in their libraries. The first thing that I did was looked at the Disease and Pest section in the book; rest could wait. He talked about preventive measures but I was looking for ailing measures and got my answers which sounded very scientific given the names of the chemicals used to kill the fungus but in general I came to understand that the rose may look sturdy but it’s a plant that needs to be protected against nature’s creatures most of the times.

Like most Rose books this slim text gives all kinds of important information about the world of Roses and what goes into having thriving roses of different types in different Indian climates and the latter aspect makes this book so precious since we rarely find books on gardening in the Indian Subcontinent. Copies of the book are available at Blooms and Strand too has come interesting gardening books.

As far as my tea hybrids are concerned I am willing to give them a try but would like to warn beginners to try native roses before going in for the high end types since they require special care from expert gardeners.