You Know Its Frost Free Time When...

The Aphids come along.

I have three rose bushes in my front yard garden. One is a the climber, New Dawn. The other two are pictured here. On the left is Rosa "Knockout" and on the right is an old Tea Rose I ripped out of my grandmother's backyard before her house was sold. I pruned the knockout heavy this year. The Tea is about 50 years old.

The leaves and bud on the old Tea

As you can see in the above picture, there's not one aphid on the Tea. Whole plant completely clear.

The leaves on the Knockout

But the Knockout, literally 18 inches from the Tea has a good colony of Aphids on many of the young leaf shoots. Why do they prefer the Knockout over the Tea or the New Dawn? This isn't particular to this year either. I don't believe it has to do with the hard prune, but does it? The Knockout can handle it though, its one tough mother.