I've had wayyyyy too much on my plate as of lately. I don't quite remember being this insane last year.. I really don't. Started out about 2 weeks before 4th of July trying to get the back yard ready for a BBQ w/friends, which was a complete disaster (rained all night, so their spoiled 13 y/o granddaughter didn't get to light fireworks and she whined about it ALL night.. she acts more like a 8 year old than 13, plus WAY more nonsense happened, but I won't go there.. let's just say that I think our friendship has run it's course), then with the extreme heat killing my roses left & right, trying to get plants into the ground but not dying from heat exhaustion (I don't care for humidity, so when it's 60%+ humidity and in the mid-upper 90s, I die. I truly die.), trying to get the stump out of my yard (which, btw, didn't work, so I worked around it), then with the car accident, my parents splitting up (again, for the 5th or 6th time in my life), etc etc etc, my life's been just a discombobulated mess. Then we add in work problems! Yikes!

So, I haven't taken many pictures. Which is good, because I've been neglecting my yard fiercely, and it shows. Last year, I diligently deadheaded everything every day that needed it and watered/fed regularly. This year, I've fed only twice and haven't deadheaded once. Mainly because the only times I can do it is before or after work, so I end up going to work completely covered in skeeter bites (I have 7 bites on my right arm, 14 on my left.. and that's with DEET applied!!). Plus my legs have been very swollen, why I don't know. ugh. And now, I have a veritible mountain of mulch in my driveway that I need to install this weekend, so at least I can get my cars in the garage!!!

Without further adu, here's a few picts that I managed to snap this morning. Here's Sterling Silver. Gee, big surprise that I would start out with a blue rose, huh.

Right next to this Sterling Silver is a RedGold. I just like the Blue/Orange pattern. But, if I had to redo it, I'd put in Charisma rather than RedGold. They just fade too fast (almost overnight!) here.

A little bodybag rose I got from Lowes last year, Picante, has been a welcome addition! Never complains, blooms constantly with big happy orange/coral blooms, long vase life.. yes, this was a very welcome rose! I highly recommend this baby to anyone. Grew from being cut back to the dirt this year (winterkill all the way down ), she's now about 2.5' tall.

We went to a local nursery in May (Nick's Gardens) and DH liked this rose. So we got it. I too like it.. smells wonderful, seems to be blackspot resistant (not that I've had much problems with BS this year, knock on wood). Here's Othello.

Mardi Gras just keeps on chugging along. She's not blooming as much as last year, but that's probably due to me not deadheading.

I purchased 4 Perfume Tigers this past May (May 2nd, I think) and I put them in the ground rather quickly (for me). Everyone decided that they wanted to sprawl around on the ground and act like a ground cover. I didn't care for that at all, no matter how pretty the roses are or how nice they smell, so I contemplated digging them up & giving them away.

Now I'm glad I didn't. They've finally decided to grow into an upright rose bush rather than creep along the ground. And, I think all 4 of them are blooming! However, with the nasty rain storm I had last night, only 1 had decent blooms on it this morning.

Last week, there was a discussion somewhere about extreme heat killing off tender shoots & green leaves on newly planted roses. And, I was lamenting that I had lost a few. One I was worried about finally bounced back.. a little. I need to take a more-accurate picture, though. I lost 2 RedGolds & City of London, definitely. But, Expressions is hanging on, if by a thread.

And, speaking of a mountain of mulch in my driveway, here is a side shot of it. Doesn't quite give you a good idea of how big it is in total, but, believe me, it's 8' wide at the base and almost 6' tall at the peak. Gonna take a lot of sweat to move that mountain. Thank goodness it's so lightweight. I wasn't planning on doing my mulch this early, but I fell into a great deal. Earlier this year, I'd emailed someone who was advertising on Craigslist free mulch, just pay delivery. And, seeing as I needed so much, I figured, what the hay! So I emailed him and he stated that he's rarely in my side of town, but would keep my info. Then, on Monday, I get a phone call stating that he's got a truckload, do I want it? Sure! Cedar Mulch is anywhere from $27-$41 / cubic yard, and here I can get 8-10 CY for $85. Yea, I'll take it.. I need that much or more.

It sounds like you've hit your yearly quota of stress. Is it vacation time yet? I hope things get better.

The roses look great and that was a super deal on the mulch.

The heat killing roses? I'm confused. We've been in the 90's with high humidity (yuk) but it hasn't killed any of my roses. I HAVE had lots of blackspot though. Poor roses. But tell me more on heat killing roses----or give me a link to the thread. I'm curious if I should be doing something that I'm not.

Val - If your roses aren't dead, then you're not having a problem with heat killing them, huh. I believe that it's because we went from 50 deg one day to 97 the next, literally, and the tender new growth just croaked.

http://cubits.org/roses/thread...

Plus also, you have high humidity. I don't. If it gets above 50% humidity, it's miserable. We are very much like Arizona with the dry heat, and very much so like upstate NY with the dry winters. Let's face it: we're dry! Plus, I sit at about 6000ft above sea level, so I'm much more closer to the sun than most of the US on this board. So our air is a bit thinner and the sun MUCH more intensive, which is why I could sit out fishing for hours in NNY and never get a sunburn, but walk around a garden center for an hour here and end up looking like a fried turkey! Not to mention the peeling!

I love that picture of Picante. What a great color!

Zuzu - Does Certified Rosers only do bodybag roses? I haven't found any LGS that sell potted roses of them growing out... but that's probably just because of my area. Picante is such a wonderful rose and it's a shame that not more people are growing it!

Regan Nursery is the only place I know that sells them bare root and grows them out in 5-gallon containers. We looked into the possibility of a co-op once and found that wholesale orders have to be huge, so huge that a small or even medium-sized nursery might not have the customer demand to make the order worthwhile. As I recall, you had to buy the full line too, and most people have never heard of most of the roses and wouldn't take a chance on them. If they only knew how wonderful they are, though, people would snap them up.

How could anyone resist Hot Romance, for example?

Isn't that the truth... I was contemplating on getting together with our Denver Rose Society here and seeing if they'd want to do a bulk order like that. But, they mostly stick with High Country Roses (which I find to be the ultimate in boredom, but that's just me).

I'm so sorry to hear you say that Toni. I've done business with High Country Roses for years, there staff is awesome and very helpful!

Alan

That's good to know about their staff, Alan, but I agree with Toni about their assortment. The only thing I've ever wanted from them was Hula Hoop and I couldn't find anything to add to make the order worthwhile, so I just waited until I could find Hula Hoop elsewhere.

Len in DG loved High Country Roses. He said they were the best band-sized roses he bought, and he was buying them from everywhere.

I've seen their bands come through the Society's Rose sale.. about the same size as I'd get from RU. But, when the head lady at the Society hadn't even heard of BlueGirl, which is a rose that's older than dirt? WTH? I can't remember how much they were selling 'em for.. I think it was like $15/ea, which is not bad, but when you can get a 1gal band size for $15, or a 3gal rose at a LGS (Paulinos) of the same variety for $22, wonder what you're gonna take? Alan - I love bright gaudy colors, the more ridiculously blinding, the better. It's the Mexican in me..can't help it. High Country has mostly pinks & whites.. and the whites are actually pinks, the last time I looked at their availability (last spring). Since my garden is going to be a garish riot of colors (the gaudier, the better.. kinda like my Christmas lights), soft pale colors really don't work well.

Yes, it always depends on the nursery owner's taste. Greenmantle Nursery is a wonderful place to order roses -- 2-gallon own-root roses for $18 each. The problem, though, is that the owner has a passion for "rose-colored" roses and there's a limit to how many cerise roses I want in my garden. Boring...

Well as you all know, I've downsized on roses due to the economy, the high price of water, and just getting older, and wanting less to do. So I haven't ordered a rose on-line in some time. They use to have a very nice selection of roses. Maybe the times of changed for them to, and they are cutting back.

alan

Alan - That's one thing that I always confuse people with (well, I confuse people with EVERYTHING, but that's a different story). When they hear that I do nothing but roses & shrubs, no grass, they always say "isn't your water bill ridiculous?" and then I explain that my water bill has gone DOWN since I put in the roses and took out all the grass. Why people who live in deserts would want something as water-sucking as grass is beyond me. It looks pretty, but roses are MUCH prettier.

And I'd take your "downsized" garden ANY day of the week! Maybe in 10-15 years mine will be as gorgeous.. but I doubt it.