Question
I live in Missouri and this is my 2nd year with roses. I pull the faded blooms off regularly and noticed that on only one rose bush that the rose hip was brown (not black) and soft. I could pull it apart. This was on 2 hips. This plant is in the most shade. Is this something to be concerned with? What should I do? The only thing that I have done is spray soap water on them to keep the bugs off. But I sprayed all the bushes and this is the only one haveing problems.

Thank you,
Rena

Answer
Hi Rena-

First of all - how much sun is this rose getting?  If it is getting less than 6 hours of sun a day - you may want to move it to a sunnier site.  In the past I have had some brown soft buds myself - all I do is trim them off and usually within time the rose will get healthy buds again.  But if this is a chronic problem with the rose planted in the shade - I would definitely try moving it where it can get at least 6 hrs of sun a day.  Without enough sun - roses won't produce healthy buds or bloom properly.

Thanks!

Carlene