Reporting from hot, drought ridden Michigan.
Well this was the most weird rose crop I've ever had.
With the mild winter almost all my rose canes stayed green
and with an extra warm spring the roses bloomed early but
with the heat came bugs and disease galore and my roses
looked a wreak by the end of June. Then of course the Rose Slugs and Rose Chafers did their
damage and now the Jap Beetles are here. Not as many but that could be
because of the dry conditions. I'm not convinced that the Milky Spore has made much
of a difference but if the numbers stay down I might then think MAYBE the MS worked.
My lawn is brown, crunchy and dried up. All I can afford to do is water my flower beds and small veggie patch.
Between watering and running the AC non-stop I can hardly wait for our next electric bill.
With the ungodly 100 degree temps all last week many of my younger/smaller ornamental shrubs have dried up
but I must put a plug in for Hydrangea Lime Light which seems to be the most hardy and drought resistant Hydrangea I've ever grown
and I have tried several varieties.
I haven't watered my big shrub roses (Some towering 8 feet now) and they seem to be doing OK but I'm sure mighty stressed
by this awful weather. I dug up several smaller roses this spring that have not done well.
I continue to weed out the slackers and do not plan to replace them with roses because I
have such an ordeal with the beetles ruining them. I'm going to replace them with Lilies because
they're fragrant and the beetles for whatever reason aren't attracted to them.
Busy, busy with work, babysitting grandkids, a bumper crop of Sebastopol Geese and raising 4 turkeys this year,
my first and I'm finding them to be quite interesting creatures.
Hope everybody here is doing well.
3 month old goslings
3 week old turkeys
Grandkids acting goofy at our 4th of July gathering
