My huecheras have some sun scorch, but all of them have made it through the worst heat and are putting on new leaves. I plan to divide two of them this fall instead of waiting until spring because there are so many other things to do in spring. I think they will make it.

I don't have a lot of roses blooming in the garden because of the heat, but temps are starting to drop and that should make a difference quickly.

Smiles,
Lyn

We're finally getting some weather that is typical for the season, which for August means dry. Not as hot as would be typical, but the daily deluges have stopped and parts of the garden could use a good watering. I've been so out of the habit of watering I keep forgetting! Seeing the first signs of fall, dewy cool mornings and hardy cyclamen blooms are popping up.

The Japanese beetles are slowing down and I'm at least getting to see some buds open. I hope to enjoy a nice last hurrah of rose blooms with cooler temps.

Normally fall kinda makes me sad, but this year I'm actually looking forward to it. The rainy summer kept all plant growth in overdrive and it was a struggle to keep up with weeding, taming growth of desirable plants, and mowing. A friend nearby said she mowed a swath to her barn, and the next day mowed around the swath- the grass had grown an inch in 24 hours! I'm tired and ready for a break...

Neal ...

I am tired, too, but for the opposite reason. It seems so dry up here and plants are frying ... except for the weeds which continue to jump for joy. It seems like no matter how hard I work to get things under control, the next round of weeds and is ready and waiting to pop out of the ground shouting, "My turn !"

Ah.... but now, the fall chores start.

Smiles,
Lyn

A crew from the local utility company just walked through my back yard and gave me some news. There's an easement along my back fence with a big PG&E pipe running through it. The pipe is old and has to be replaced. Consequently, they'll have to dig up the plants along about 150 feet of fenceline to get to the pipe. About half of the space is shaded, so it's mostly dogwoods, hydrangeas, and rhododendrons. The sunny portion is taken up by roses, of course. There are about 45 of them along the fence (or more, depending on the width of the trench they have to dig).

Luckily, PG&E is a very reasonable company. The crew told me that another crew would be sent out to dig up the plants and either move them to other spots, replant them in the same spots after the job is done, or junk them and reimburse me 2 for 1.

The first option is out because my garden is so packed full of plants that I have no other spots. The second option sounds good because it would give me a chance to really clear out all of the bermuda grass, which creeps over from across the fence, before the plants are replanted. The third option may be the best because most of the roses I've planted along that fence are not favorites. Some are OGRs that I got stuck with when a couple of Dave's Garden members in other states asked me to shop for them at Vintage Gardens and then never paid me for the roses. Others are junky roses that were put back there because they weren't pretty enough to be in more prominent spots (my one and only Knock Out rose, for instance). It doesn't sound so bad to get reimbursed for twice the cost of roses I never liked that much.

Wow, that is a most unusually accommodating utility company! I hope the mess they make will not be a serious inconvenience.

Wow, what a job though! Isn't your Brothers Grimm and Alchemist along that back fence?

They promised not to make a mess, Porkpal, and I tend to believe them. After the septic tank guy dug up my plants and replanted them in the same spots after the job was done, you never would have known anyone had been working there. He even replanted all of the little columbines and violets that had been between the roses and irises.

I have more than one Brothers Grimm, Sue, and Alchymist is easily replaceable. I think my Alchymist is own-root and I'd much rather get one from Palatine. The only thing back there that's really nice and doesn't have a duplicate somewhere else in the garden is California Dreamin'. It might be hard to find these days, so maybe I'll move that one.

Wow--Zuzu
Really?
WowWowWow--that is incredible! A utility company that sends a crew to dig out the plants for you, offers you options-- move them for you, or replant them for you, or replace them for you at 2 to 1???
A septic guy dug out your plants for you and replanted them all for you in the same spots, including the little ones between the roses and you couldn't even tell some kind of septic job had been done???
Are you serious?
Is it a California thing? I am astounded--in all my experiences with that sort of thing in other places it has always been much more disastrous for my gardens and plants.
I am really quite jealous. I have a Bermuda grass and saponaria and weed tree problem along my property line, along with some utilities and too many plants. I'd love to have viable options and the work done for me!

To set your mind slightly at ease, the first septic guy that came out here was a disaster. He insisted that a couple of huge climbers near the tank had to be moved (by me, of course) and then he wanted to demolish the deck because he still couldn't find the "second compartment." There was no second compartment. I could have told him that from the start, but he must have regarded me as a stupid woman who didn't know anything about septic tanks. I have an old tank with only one compartment. When he told me how much trouble he was having finding the second one, I fired him on the spot and hired a new guy, who did a great job.

now that's more like it--I have no trouble wrapping my mind around that story because it matches my experiences better--except my 'new guy' wasn't that great.
So good that you fired him and found a new guy that did such a great job!

Wow, Zuzu. California is very pro-consumer, that's for sure! In Kansas, (haha, pro-business!) we are not allowed to plant or build fences in easements. My last yard had a 15 ft easement in a 45 foot backyard, so of course I planted there. The utility company came out one time and told me they were going to be nice and give me a day to remove my fence and trees before they came and cut it all down in order to repair a cable. I had no way of removing anything in that time frame. The next day, the guys who came to do the work used a tool that tunneled and were able to do their work without removing anything.

Funny so many mention the heucheras. Several of mine flooded to death! I never realized they were so picky on conditions! I don't recall losing any to dry heat in the past, and we have sure had years of drought and heat.

I've been watching the Palatine site. Sadly, Sherry Parks Sunrise did not make the cut, and the one I ordered last year never broke dormancy. Maybe others had issues too, and that's why it's no longer offered? It's the only failure from my order of 17 roses. Sidonie also is gone from the catalog, and Magenta, Sombreuil, and William Lobb. Does anyone grow Summer Memories? It looks interesting. I have spaces for a good purple rose and another pure white. Suggestions, anyone? Climber, shrub, HT, OGR, I don't care.

Summer Memories is a great rose! Huge and vigorous and constantly in bloom. You'll love it, Cindi.

I've also been watching the Palatine site with despair. They don't have Susan Schneider, which I mistakenly overlooked in last year's order, and they don't have any of the hybrid teas I had hoped to buy as replacements for my struggling own-root roses. They always used to carry Las Vegas and Monika, for example, but they haven't offered them for a couple of years now.

Sherry Parks Sunrise was one of the roses I ordered last year but was too late. It was sold out in the first few minutes of the new season. They need to grow these roses in the field for at least two years before selling them, so they'll probably carry it next year.

They're still working on the site, but unless they add some exciting new roses, this will be an anomalous year with no Palatine order for me. I will be getting four or five roses from K&M and I'll check the local nurseries for something exciting, but I'll miss getting my Palatine order.

i have Charles de Gaulle - frag
Dark Desire -frag
Plum Perfect
Poseidon
Stormy Weather CL
Ebb Tide -frag
Twilight Zone - frag
I think Palatine has all of these.
I know I submitted photos of most of these to the database - here's 2 more - one of Twilight Zone and one of Plum Perfect.
For white I like Tineke. The Pope is pretty too (get it from Palatine).
Summer Memories is recommended for the Midwest from the book, "Roses Without Chemicals" by Kukielski.

Thanks! Margie, your list pretty much describes my purple bed, with the exception of Charles de Gaulle and Plum Perfect, which I don't have. They are on my list, though, so thanks for the confirmation. Summer Memories looks luscious.
I've wanted Brigadoon for years, and by now I think Palatine is the only one carrying it. I'm trying to limit HTs, but that one looks like it would be worth the extra time and trouble. Papa Meilland would fit in perfectly in my dark bed with my Cinco de Mayo and Black Baccara. I can't believe I kept Black Baccara alive for 2 summers now.

Suzanne, your gardens continue to amaze me.. I think your soil must be richer than mine, or you're doing a better job fertilizing than I am.. Everything is so lush. And Zuzu, I'd be happy if I could water once a week.. We're irrigating from a small creek that is close to dry. I've got a few areas that I'm watering from the well, but I get grief from the man of the house if he catches me doing it.. Most of the garden gets a reasonable soak about every three weeks. That's almost all day every day with one hose at a time. What's left of the lawn only gets once a week.

I've just torn out a strip of lawn that's 70' x 7'.. I'm planning on a border that includes Roses, Iris, perennials, etc... Looking for recommendations for HT's, Floribundas or other small growing roses. The Iris will be the primary stars of this bed.. I've got about 200 I need to plant

I think you misunderstood. I don't water once a week. I water all day every day, but each section gets watered only once a week. I have seven hoses, by a happy coincidence, so I've assigned a day of the week to each. Watering each of those seven sections is pretty much a full-time job with no days off.

I worry about my trees because I'm concentrating on watering each flowering plant and ignoring the spaces without them.

I wish I could plant 200 irises. I used to have hundreds and hundreds of them here, but after I enclosed all of the roses in gopher-proof cages, the gophers went after the irises, which are dwindling at an alarming rate.

No, I understood that your beds get watered once a week. Just not the amount of time it took you to do it.
It takes me longer to do the circuit to get things watered. The tank isn't as high as we'd like, so the water pressure is lower than from the well tank. In a couple of areas, the best I can do is a 2' circle at a time. Some beds have only had water twice this summer, and the poor orchard, only once. I've had to abandon most of the drip as it all needs to be redone.. missing emitters, broken lines, clogged lines etc. I've got one stinking little gopher under a raised bed that's really pissing me off.. Fortunately it's got wire underneath... but if he dares go any further, he's toast!

I kind of fell away from being active in the rose community for the past 15 years and no longer am up on newer hybrids.. or remember a lot of the older ones, for that matter. I'd been ordering primarily from Vintage, and have some from them that I couldn't live without (Shot Silk, Dearest, St. Elisabeth of Hungary, Festival Fanfare..). If you could only have 7 or 10 roses, which ones would you choose?

I've been hand-watering this year to conserve water, so that's why it takes so long. I think the worst is over, as far as water billing periods and the need for conservation are concerned, so now i'll go back to my earlier habit of setting sprinklers in several spots at once each day.

I've never had a drip system, mainly because I move things around in my garden so frequently, and because of the very reasons you've stated: "missing emitters, broken lines, clogged lines, etc." The people in my neighborhood with drip systems seem to spend much too much time fussing with their systems. And the gophers are a big problem in this instance too. They bite through the lines regularly.

I love to play the "favorite 10" game. In fact, there's another thread in the forum that might be useful to you.

The thread "grafted roses" in Roses forum

I noticed that many of the roses in my first and second "top-10" lists in that thread are virtually impossible to find these days, so here's an amended one:

Charisma
Paradise
Jean Giono
Pompon Flower Circus
Koko Loco
Pomponella Fairy Tale
Dark Night
South Africa
Pegasus
Rosie O'Donnell

Hmmm... You've got some really nice favorites Zuzu.. Some of these would go splendidly with some of my Iris-in-waiting.. I tend to like the warmer colors, although the pictures of the pompon roses were very intriguing.. I like their small size too.. Armchair planning

Brazilian Art with Dark Night


Adoree and South Africa or


Drinks at Sunset and Jean Giono or Shaman's magic


Abiding Love and Pegasus or Peach Pearl

Nice, nice combinations, especially Brazilian Art and Dark Night. I have to warn you, though, that some of the roses on my list get very, very big, and your climate's close to mine, so you can expect them to get big in your garden also. South Africa, in particular, is about 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and Pomponella is easily 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Jean Giono also tends to get rangy unless it's pruned religiously, but the rest of the ones on my list are smaller and have a more compact habit.