Be aware that early Summer is thrips time. They can be controlled to some extent by spraying with Orthene every three or four days. Don’t spray directly onto the blooms as it may damage the petals. The idea is to eradicate the thrips in the general area. In addition, and do this anyway to help the blooms, whether you use Orthene or not, take the bloom in both hands and ease the petals downwards slightly, thus breaking the seal caused by bleeding petal edges sticking to each other.

To explain in more detail – the process goes like this. Spread your fingers under the bloom, and with the thumbs above, and on either side of the bloom, touch the outer petals with the thumbs and ease the petals downwards. For petals further inside the outer ones, press a little firmer and ease them down (you will definitely hear the “crack” as the seal is broken). This separates the petals, spreads them, and allows one to spray the water between the petals, washing the thrips into the base of the petals. If you check next day, you will find plenty of dead thrips down below, and for exhibition, remove with a fine paint brush.

Then with your hand spray, flush the bloom out with water. Try and wash thrips down into the base of the flower where they will drown. That’s really the only effective way to deal with thrips, and after Xmas (in Australia) they are largely gone anyway, and that is also why we get such great blooms of Souvenir de la Malmaison into Winter, in the dampest conditions. The rose can handle that, but we must help it when it comes to thrips damage. The same practice works for all rose blooms at that time of year (early Summer).