🌹 Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) Identification, Treatment & Donation // Dr. Mark Windham

Dr. Mark Windham is an authority on diseases of ornamental plants. Currently the majority of his research is focused on Rose Rosette Disease, the most destructive ornamental disease in the U.S. However, Dr. Windham is also involved in research on plant health issues with hydrangea and flowering dogwood. Specific areas of current research are:

  • Resistance to fungal foliar diseases in hydrangea
  • Virus and eriophyid mite resistance in Rosa sp.
  • Ecology of eriophyid mites associated with Rosa sp.
  • Cultural and chemical controls for Rose Rosette Disease
  • Cercospora leaf spot management in cultivated roses
  • Powdery mildew resistance in flowering dogwood
  • Reintroduction of dogwoods as a nursery crop in the Deep South

Below is a link to the excellent, hour long interview video from The Rose Geek. (Simply click the video image to play.) Video Introduction: Mar 14, 2022 Dr. Mark Windham spoke with us during our monthly Rose Geeks Zoom meeting about Rose Rosette Disease (RRD). In this video you will learn about RRD identification, treatment, and how to help fight the disease.

Video Author: Kimberley the Rose Geek is a well-respected rose influencer with her own podcast, youtube channel and Facebook group. As she writes on her channel: “I am by no means an “expert” on all rose topics, but I have been gardening for over 30 years. I am a Master Gardener, a Consulting Rosarian, and consider myself an expert on my own garden.” Rose Geeks FB Page facebook.com/groups/284800443200767 Rose Geeks youtube channel: www.youtube.com/@TheRoseGeek.

Click the image to play the video

For the latest RRD Information: https://roserosette.org/

Dr. Mark Windham of Knoxville, Tennessee has been awarded the Joseph and Marion Klima Medal for Excellence in Rose Education. This award is given in fulfillment of the wishes of the late Joseph and Marion Klima of Kentfield, California. This award was established in the field of horticultural education concerning “The Rose.”

Windham, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee, is known for his rose education presentations across the nation, speaking at field days, grower meetings, rosarian workshops, master gardener events, extension agent trainings and Consulting Rosarian schools. He spent the last 10-15 years giving education presentations to rose societies across the country. He has been instrumental in helping understand blackspot, cercospora leafspot, downy mildew, and more importantly in the last 10 years, the dreaded rose rosette disease. Windham is considered the country’s leading authority on rose rosette disease.

Windham, along with Dr. Alan Windham also from University of Tennessee and Dr. Alan Henn from Mississippi State University authored the 2018 e-book, A Guide to Rose Diseases and their Management (www.rose.org/publications). Excerpted from Rose News, ARS press release June 13, 2023.

2020 Mid Winter Meeting Update on Rose Rosette Disease