Bad things can happen to good plants — even when you carefully tend to them.

It’s a sad fact that gardeners — and garden centers — deal with year in, year out.

That’s how it is with Anderson’s Home and Garden Showplace in southeastern Virginia

The garden center is selling no roses to customers and showcasing no roses in its display beds this season because of a deadly virus called Rose Rosette Disease.

"We have ripped out over 250 Knock Out roses in our parking lot to date that have been affected with the disease," says Jason Blanchette, vice president.

That act alone convinced Jason that it would be unfair to sell roses of any kind to consumers who may experience the same fate. Jason says he knows of more garden centers nationwide that are abandoning roses. Other garden centers in southeastern Virginia continue to offer roses because they have noticed no severe outbreaks or complaints from customers.

Rose rosette disease has been spreading through much of the wild rose population in the Midwestern, Southern and Eastern United States for years, according to research by Chuan Hong, a plant pathologist with Virginia Tech. Recently, it’s been confirmed in cultivated roses — Knock Out, Drift and Flower Carpet roses, to name a few popular types — in Virginia and other states. You can read his report at http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/450/450-620/450-620_pdf.pdf

"I received some rose rosette disease samples last year but nothing serious," Hong says.

"For sure, this disease is on the rise and we need to pay more attention to it."

The disease, first documented in 1941, is traced to the multiflora rose, which came from Japan in 1866 as a common rootstock for ornamental roses. Unfortunately, it was found that multiflora roses are bad because a single plant can produce a million or more viable seeds per plant; over time, the roses have become known as invasive weeds with enormous disease problems. Today, new roses like Knock Out and Drift roses are grown on their own rootstock.

Star Roses and Plants by Conrad-Pyle, developers of Knock Out and Drift roses are putting extensive research into the problem, according to Steve Hutton, company president. They hope some of the native roses will provide disease-resistance answers. A frequently-asked document about the issue is found on its website at www.conard-pyle.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/143/index.htm.

"Some of the U.S. species with resistance to Rose Rosette Disease are Rose palustris, R. arkansana, R. setigera and perhaps a couple others," he says.

"The disease can infect any modern rose such as hybrid teas. Seems like anything with Asian roses in its background is susceptible — again, this is a theory, not yet proven."

Small mites spread Rose Rosette Disease, and no effective controls are available for existing infected roses. It’s not a soil-borne problem, but some suspect root-to-root contact can help spread the disease because so many shrub roses are being used in mass plantings. Good sanitation — picking up dropped rose petals and foliage — can help prevent it and other plant problems. Pruning is also crucial to keeping the problem away or under control — roses should be pruned late winter.

Disease characteristics include witches’ broom growth, or clustering of small branches, as well as reddening, distorted, stunted and elongated leaves.

Easy Elegance rose production in Minnesota has seen no rose rosette so far, but the virus has moved into northern Iowa, which has impacted some of southern Minnesota, according to a company spokeswoman.

"If it’s found, our expert recommends doing a hard cut back on the plant, all the way to the ground — that way the plant can produce enough vigorous growth to not express the disease," says Kathleen Hennessy.

"He didn’t recommend spraying the plant with a miticide either."

Some rose experts recommend a drastic plant-removal process.

"Get a big trash bag, dig up the plant, tie the bag firmly shut and dispose of it," says Barbara Gelzer, a horticulture volunteer with the organic rose garden at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Va. She’s been growing roses since she was 8 years old, having had a collection of more than 200 plants in Ohio in the 1970s. The zoo in Norfolk lost its entire 70-plant Knock Out hedge to the disease, as well as many Flower Carpet roses.

"The mites may be gone at this point but don’t take a chance. Go back and remove every bit of root you can find. Don’t replant a rose in that spot. Watch all the roses both nearby and downwind from the infected plant for the next year or two."

Prevention is the best strategy, according to plant pathologist Hong. Buy healthy plant material, he advises, and fertilize and water plants as needed to keep their immunity strong.

"Regular pruning is an important part of rose maintenance, thus it’s advisable that people periodically sterilize their pruners and other tools to reduce local disease spreading," he says.

"People including myself love roses, and roses will continue to be an important component in home yards. A way forward is for rose societies, the public and science community to work together to find more effective control options for this growing disease problem."

If you want to avoid the problem totally, there are many other flowering shrubs that will provide months of color in place of roses, including Encore azaleas, butterfly bush, abelia, spiraea japonica, hydrangea paniculata, rose of sharon and tropical oleander.