You know, I'm getting really tired of this heat.. my poor roses are fried to a crisp. I've lost probably 5-10 to being fried,... but I can't water any more than I am. 4" down below the mulch the ground is cool & moist from watering, but the tops of my new roses are just burnt to a crisp. I know they won't survive the winter. Mind you, we haven't had hardly any rain at all this YEAR.. a few weeks that were wet, but no snow during the winter so the metro is drying up pretty badly. :( :(

From the Denver Post:
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Today was another hot one for the record books, as Denver set a new high temperature for the date.

The temperature reached 96 degrees at 2:18 p.m., snapping the record of 94 degrees set in 1969, according to the National Weather Service in Denver.

The 30-year average for Aug. 28 is 84 degrees.

The city's official monitoring site at Denver International Airport has hit record highs on four of the last seven days.

Last Thursday, Denver shattered a 98-year-old record high when it reached 99 degrees, beating the old mark of 96 degrees.

It was the latest date in Denver history that the temperature has hit 99 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Wednesday's high of 98 broke the city's record high for Aug. 24, which had been 97 and was also set in 1936.

Tuesday Denver tied a 2-year-old record high for the date with 98 degrees at the city's official monitoring site at Denver International Airport.

The city also tied a 25-year-old record high for Aug. 18, reaching 98 degrees last Thursday.

Denver has had seven straight days of highs between 92 and 99 degrees, and 20 days above 90 this month, a time of year when things usually begin to cool off. Normally Denver has nine such days in August, and last year there were 12, according to the weather data.

Denver has seven other days this month in which the high was between 87 degrees and 89 degrees.

In July, there were 20 days of temperatures above 90, which is five more than normal, weather records show.

The metro could catch a break on Monday with a high of 88 degrees at a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before noon and again in the evening.

Temperatures rebound into the 90s on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters said.

We're breaking records too: Time magazine said that we have had 44 consecutive days of temperatures at or over 100 degrees, beating the 1980 record of 42. Since publication of that issue our temperatures have stayed up so the record may already be re-broken. We are also having the driest year since the 1950s - double whammy! Surprisingly most of my roses are still alive, even ones I can't water! They don't look great but they're hanging in there! Who says roses are difficult plants?

Toni, I can't plant anything in the ground here in Bakersfield from the late spring through summer unless it's in shade because everything would fry even with daily hand watering, but all my irises are delivered in July plus I've been receiving daylily orders all summer too; so I pot everything up and put them on makeshift plywood tables using those big umbrellas I get from Costco and Sam's Club angled so the plants don't get afternoon sun, and then by September everything is well rooted and I can plant them in the ground and they really take off without being harmed over the summer. Plus when they're in pots on the tables I only have to water them every few days.

Here's what it looked like after I received my first two iris orders in early July.


Is there some way you could pot up your roses when you receive them and give them quite a bit of shade, particularly in the afternoon, to carry them through the first summer? Or even create some sort of shade device for plants in the ground? I don't think I could stand to have my plants fry over and over the way you describe without getting totally discouraged and burned out. I still lose one or two each year, but considering I probably get over 200 plants I think that's acceptable. Just a thought...

Betty - Only problem is that they have to get established so they can survive my winter. You don't have a winter. I do.. and it sucks big time. Normal winter temps are between 10-20degs with lows down into the neg 10s. My roses HAVE to get a good root system during my short short growing season, and I pretty much am stopped with the planting by mid June. I've found out the hard way that, unless I take some extra precautions, roses that I plant after July 15th just don't make it. :(

I hate Colorado. LOL

I still say that I admire your determination. I would have given up after a couple of your awful winters.

yea, but the native plants out here are boring. LOL And I'm a glutton for punishment. What the really really tough part is the altitude. Ever go up into the mountains? Go up to the mountains to at least 6000ft (I sit a little bit over 6100ft) and put your face towards the sun w/your eyes closed. Feel that intense heat that seems hotter than back home? That's the way it is here. Ugh. But at least I can breathe here.. when I lived in NY at 47 ft, I couldn't breathe well at ALL. Felt like I had an elephant on my chest all the times. Here? Much more comfy.. I've always lived at higher altitudes (childhood at 3000ft, teenager years between 7000 & 9000, college at 3000, then 3 years in NY at 47ft.. what a altitude difference!!).

Ugh, it is NOT cooling off at night like it has in past summers.
My roses are doing better than I am.

Its warm and sticky here .I spent the day cleaning the camper out so we can take it to the family reunion this week end I love to camp but with every thing thats been going on in our lives we havent in a couple of years I got super news to day !!! due to a nasty divorce I had a grand son that no one has seen since he was a baby HE GOT AHOLD OF ME on face book !!!!!! and he wants to come meet us I am beyond excited

OMG, that is so exciting, Gloria!!!!!

yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)!!!!!!!!!!

what special and exciting news Gloria!

Good news indeed! It is great that he remembers he has more family to "adopt".

he was never alowed to see us or his dad she kept moveing so no one could find them but hes in collage now and on his own !! I just knew SOME DAY would come

IT'S RAINING!!!!!!!!! W007!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!! I put in 2 more roses from Cliff in the ground yesterday & have 2 more to put in (I think these are the last of the roses from him as I finally got an invoice)... so the ground will be nice & soaky wet!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First real rain in WEEKS!!!

Toni so did you just plant roses or did you play in the rain a LITTLE bit ???

Gonna put the last 2 in tomorrow. I want them to soak in their buckets for an extra day.. they seem to get jumpstarted much faster that way. And it hardly rained here at home. :(

well POOOO sorry :I had visions of you dancing in the rain

No rain here in in the north metro area. Just lots and lots of wind.

No rain here for months. Do I sound bitter enough yet?

It rained for about 20 minutes at work.. not a drop here at home. getting tired of no rain. and my water bill is ridiculous.

PPal - I'm so sorry.. your area has been the hardest hit with the massive drought.. I'm surprised that anything you have is still alive!!