U.S. rose bush producers account for the bulk of that business and face a growing challenge from rose rosette disease, which can kill roses within three years. Rose rosette has been known since the early 1940s — and was once hailed as a possible way to eradicate an invasive plant . This virus threatens the rose bush business, valued at more than $200 million in 2015. In Louisiana, where rose rosette disease was first detected in 2015, it’s spreading at an alarming rate in commercial and residential plantings in Bossier City and in Shreveport, where the rose society’s American Rose Center is located, said Dr. Raj Singh, an LSU AgCenter plant pathologist. The centre’s 40 acres (16.2 hectares) with rose gardens are free of the disease so far, said the society’s executive director, Laura Seabaugh.

Source: National Post September 19, 2018 17:47 UTC