One thing you should know is that, even in well-drained soil, most of the feeder roots are in the top 6 inches. This layer needs to be consistently moist if the roses are to grow and bloom continuously. Another is that the gardener's judgement of "moist" encompasses a range that may include not-quite-moist-enough. As long as they grow continuously, you are OK. New growth should start at the upper leaf axils within 7-9 days of deadheading or pruning. Almost all new shoots should flower as opposed to going "blind." So basically you need to judge water by how the plants are doing. 10 days without water in hot weather seems like a long time, though. Most gardeners who irrigate for maximum growth do so at least once a week. If you have a non-drainable layer a foot or so down, it may be better to water your shallow soil only 1/2" inch at a time but at closer intervals (perhaps twice a week). As you suggest, saturated soil can cause iron-deficiency chlorosis, but you ought to check the pH as well. Roses do best at pH 6-6.8. Narrowing of new leaves could suggest some other trace deficiency such as zinc. I wouldn't recommend cultivating rose beds. The feeder roots come right up to the mulch boundary.

Well it's been some time now, and our Ae-Ae bananas are starting to turn ripe. We've tasted a couple of them at various stages of "ripeness", but they're still not ready. So far, they taste a little like a manzana banana -- an apple flavor -- but still not good. We'll let them get more ripe and see if that helps in the sweetness department. Manzanas taste best when fully ripe and when the fruit is getting soft -- actually they're good when the skin starts to turn brown. Maybe the Ae-Ae is the same way. We'll find out. Here's a photo showing both the green and yellow/ripe variegated still on the plant. It's interesting how the green part turns "banana yellow" and the white part turns a light cream color.

Thanks everyone for looking and taking the time to comment! It's great to hear from you all. And I know it's fun to see new blooms. One thing that I will mention about The Royal Greens is that the first several blooms were very splotchy... but it whipped itself into shape :) A lot of my blooms have been splotchier than usual this season - like Glory To His Name was splotchy all the time - today is the first time I noticed non splotchy blooms, and it's about done for the season. Debra, Love In A Vacuum is definitely red, not purple - sorry if the color wasn't captured accurately. I'll include another pic below. I got LIAV from Hanson, last summer, so it wasn't me that outbid you :) Pink Panther Paws has a mauve-ish color on the ends of it on some mornings (depending on rainfall probably), but fades to light pink. Nancy, I believe Lotus Position is one of the parents of Pink Panther Paws. Sea Scape is one I bought to try something different from Davi, and I don't really care for it - ha! Brad, thanks for the info and your thoughts on the bites! My thinking last year after suffering with the bites for a while was that they were/are probably chiggers - I suddenly remembered about doing some volunteer work a few years ago at a state park nearby and they made sure that we were clothed appropriately and were sprayed with Deet. I hate going to the dr, but did last year when one of them got really infected... I think I had to go three or four times. The PA agreed with me that they might be chiggers, but she had never seen such blistering, etc. They were really bad, and I had dozens of them at a time - very itchy and painful and in bad places for blisters to be. I started wearing pants, and tucked them into socks, and sprayed myself down, but it didn't seem to really help. I know one of the sprays I tried last year had Picaridin (sp?). I need to try the sprays again. I probably have about 15-20 bites right now in various stages of blistering, scabs, etc. The other day I resorted to popping one of the blisters with a sterile needle, as it hurt so bad - it was going to keep growing until it burst anyway I think. Deet makes me a little nervous from what I remember back in my camping/backpacking days, but maybe I will get some from Amazon and try that as a last resort. We do have a lot of dragonflies (not sure about damsel or how to tell the difference) here. I'll look into permethrin clothes. Thank you! Anyway, if anyone has read this far, here's a couple of daylily pictures for your trouble :) Another pic of Love In a Vacuum Forgot this one - Westbourne Blackberry Cobbler - bought last year on a whim, added to an order I bought this one last week, had admired it last year when I saw it in person, Lemon Strawberry Twist And here's Davi's Dilemma, not sure if I posted it last year, I think I got it fall of 2018. I love it, even though it's pink :) I made a video of it last year, but never shared the couple of videos I made Thanks for looking AGAIN!

This post didn't work yesterday. Trying again, hope I can read what I wrote yesterday.. Favorites: Debra: Diver Down, Kara Louise, Dancing Flamingo kid Maryl: Acquire the Fire. Mine performs the same as yours, wonderfully. Sherry: Red Volunteer. It is indeed good for a shady area. Kate: Christmas Greeting, showy noid. Celeste--Marietta Warrior, Scarlett Pansy, Kenora Wildfire. David: Fire on the Mt. Persian Ruby. Nancy, Mama Drams, Insider Trading. Brave World Bombay Silk, and excellent flower in every way. Cherry Treat, finally after many years had a good year. Worth the wait, what a color! Cherry Cheeks Christmas Day. Always well budded, colorfast. Catastrophe Waitress more below