It's the start of a hot month here. The forecast for Tuesday predicts a high of 101 degrees. Luckily, our nighttime temperatures will continue to drop into the low 50s, and one of the arbors in my garden has a mister hose on it, so walking through that archway provides instant relief. The mist is so fine that I can stand under it and feel cool without getting wet. Best gardening invention ever!

July is National Blueberry Month and this month's thumbnail photo is 'Blueberry Hill,' which is pinkish-lavender in the sun, but lavender-blue in the shade.

The shady photo of Blueberry Hill has a cooling effect too. My roses are already suffering from the heat. Our summers are mostly a matter of survival while waiting for fall.

Hello! I'm new here and have been reading this forum for a few months and decided it's time to introduce myself. I'm Krista and I live in Washington state. I'm newish to gardening but I have a plant stand and have a new obsession to roses and clematis, that I don't sell! I've been sucking up all the info and reading a lot on the plant look up you guys post pics on.

My first purple is my Heirloom

And this is my Arborose Quicksilver

I really like the vibe of this group and everyone seems so friendly. I think I'll be very happy here lol!

Temp here today 68 degrees, crazy!

Welcome to the rose forum, Kristy. Your roses are beautiful!

Kristy, we're happy to have you, and your lovely photos too!

Zuzu, Blueberry Hill is one of my favorite roses; I've grown it for at least 15 years. I exhibited this close-up of one from my garden in a photography show a few years ago. Folks always say it reminds them of Georgia O'Keeffe's floral paintings.

Welcome, Krista! Heirloom is one of my favorite roses.
Mike, that photo of Blueberry Hill is beyond spectacular!

Krista,
I'm in Seattle area and happy to see another person here who has been bitten by rose bugs.

Hi all,

I'm also new. Not new to roses, I've had roses casually for about 20 years. Previously I lived in zone 10 Florida, but, nematode area and it wasn't much fun to grow roses there. I moved to zone 5b a couple years ago and it's a lot more fun to grow roses here even with winter. I bought a couple test roses last year that did well and then bought 100ish this year. Didn't want to take forever to build my garden this time.

Anyhow, happy to be here.

, Jen.

Welcome here!

And we're happy to have you here!

Just messing around with an old macro lens with a shallow depth of field in the garden this evening...

Very nice!

Welcome to the forum, Krista and Jen.

Well it went from cloudy 68 to 80 and sunny practically overnight. Some of my roses got a bit sunburned so brought out some shade since they have all just started getting blooms. Here is Scentuous

By the way, since I'm new at this I bought all my roses at Home Depot to practice so don't laugh at me lol. Except for 2 New Dawn roses that my husband, a welder, got me and made me a very strong arbor for Mother's Day to support those monsters! We have an Amazing place not far from here called Christianson's that we found with a ton of roses!

What perfect blooms!

Welcome Krista!
When I switched orders from Regans to Menagerie, I lost an option to buy Scentuous, huge regret! Hopefully next year!
PS. Looks like this company will be selling Francis roses directly soon:

https://aprilandashley.com/pas...

Need more Tantau!! But today I have blooming Abraham Derby

Krista, Christianson's is my favorite local rose nursery and we buy roses there every year. They have many hard to find varieties and even have roses from Brad Jalbert (a Canadian breeder)! If you're interested in growing more roses, every January they release their collection on the website. Here is this year's list:
https://www.christiansonsnurse...

Thank you Aerith! I do feel I will be buying many more roses from there. The quality is excellent and makes a good day trip!
Elena your rose is beautiful also!