This experience got me to thinking. What other plant diseases are commonly introduced into the garden by bringing in plants from other areas? I recently traded for some wild species roses from someone in VA. Is there a danger of introducing disease into my garden with these plants that I wouldn't likely have to deal with otherwise? What types of plants are likely to present a danger if brought in from other areas and not properly treated/quarantined?

Fire ants scare the fire out of me...

Introducing plants into new areas have caused quite a stir - these are the reasons for no American elms and American chestnuts!

Rebecca

Or as we like to call them...Armor Plated Possums.

All the recent material I can find, including a lot of recent AHS material, seems to indicate that rust can overwinter in many places in zone 7 and is almost universally hardy in zones 8 and warmer. Also, evergreen and semi-evergreen varieties are likely to keep the rust going through winter. Since Knoxville is now zone 8 and surrounding areas are probably at least 7b, I'm not convinced that an average winter (now that we've warmed up) is going to reliably eliminate the rust.

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I think the disease I was worried about on the roses was rose rosette disease. Looks like I'm going to need another slow day at work to research it. I just re-found Ann's site about RRD, so I guess I'm off to do more reading.

There are some other real nasties out there:
Chili Thrips are a major scourge in south Florida that are spreading along the Gulf Coast and points northward. And there are many, many potential host plants. I really want some Meyer Lemon trees, but until I am sure that a sterilization program exists for soil and plants, I'll be lemonless.
The also nasty oak diseases from the western US can come in on plants as well. I know someone in SC who got it into his soil two decades ago when it was less known.

I don't worry about 'us' all that much. Everybody here is pretty much on the ball and will notice something is wrong and do something about it.
I DO worry about neighbors who might bring a plant back from Miami and thing that its distorted leaves are supposed to be that way.

Ann, are we talking about the same 'us'? LOL

I see lots of swapping going on here on Gardenweb. If plants are bought by the average non-plant person at the big box store, chances are at least fair that the ag inspector has checked the stuff out. When Gardenwebbers trade stuff, who knows what's hiding in the dirt or plant material. And, while there are some very knowledgeable people on this site, there are many many many more that are plant nuts without anywhere near the needed knowledge of pest and disease issues. I'm constantly amazed at the number of people on Gardenweb importing rank 1 invasives into their garden. I'm pretty knowledgeable about a lot of plant stuff, but I'm sure there are LOTS of nasty stuff out there that I wouldn't have a clue about how to handle. Daylily rust is a perfect example. Until I started studying it a little in the last few days, I didn't know much about it at all. If I thoroughly investigated every plant of mine that was less than in perfect health, I'd never get anything else done at all. I try to keep on top of important pest and disease issues, but I sure don't trust myself and am constantly concerned about those that I trade with.

Have you seen the daylily rust pages linked below?
The plant inspectors have an organization called APHIS and they have some info on potential pests and what cures are currently available. (Mayo used to have the Fertilome systemic fungicide mentioned) Right now, I"m just lucky that the rust specfic to roses hasn't made it into TN yet, although I've seen it on a major garden in SE PA.

This sort of thing takes a lot of the pleasure out of gardening.