recent transplants do weird things ... including flower disruption .... you dont mention size .. but i will presume it is probably 5 to 8 feet tall ... if they live.. they will not be re-established for 2 to 3 years ... so.. since they do weird things... all you can do.. is wait and see ... we dont really care what established trees in the 'hood' are doing ... also.. micro-climates can add to the mystery ... give them a month or so ... and if they fail to live up to your expectation... talk to your seller ... they should carry a warranty ... your trees.. are.. most likely severely stressed .. fertilizing them will not help ... and i wonder if these large transplants were properly watered all last summer ... and i wonder if they were planted at the proper depth ... and i wonder if my MI winter will ever end ... ken ps: what kind of bulbs were you expecting??? .... do you mean buds???

Lynn, Cynthia and Luxrosa, I so appreciate your encouraging and also practically informative posts. The support I've received has been so heartwarming, and with all your encouragement, how could I possibly give up? Lynn, I've been really happy with how well my crape myrtles have handled the heat. They look good all the time and the bright green leaves make the garden at least look cooler. Luxrosa, I have the feeling that even though you may not be getting much rain the fogs carry so much moisture that your environment is actually quite different from mine. If I watered my roses in the summer only twice a week many would not survive. I know that's difficult to believe but the strength of the sun here on the side of a hill with so much open area on which nothing is planted is tremendous. My skin begins to hurt and burn in five minutes. Sometimes I'm amazed that the roses can survive at all. Cynthia, I have no plans to ever leave here, especially since I now believe that, for at least the foreseeable future, I'll have at least some roses. Roses are not all created equal, and I'm finding that some are amazingly resilient while others are weak sisters. It's going to be my job to research which are best and to find the most advantageous places to place them. I'm going to move Souvenir du President Carnot to a shadier position tomorrow. Last year it bloomed beautifully and did well in the heat and this year it's had two blooms and is mildewed, in spite of lots of water and mulch. If that doesn't help it will be gone. It's all going to be a learning process, and I'm happy that I won't have to do it alone. Ingrid

Another source of this type of info for New Englanders in on the New England forum where Belle Isis has a regular post - What is blooming in your garden this week of (fill in the date)?

we are getting a mulcher/mower for next year. bought it from a friend of our's. most of the leaves that i gathered are not mulched, and i am not in the mood to drag them out of the garden to mulch. dragging bags of leaves is hard on my neck, but i did it. i got tired and just put the whole leaves around the plants too. gldno, kittens are so much fun. we have one that someone dumped at the park. she is growing fast and spent yeasterday out front with us while my husband was painting the house. she buried herself in the large pile of leaves in the flower bed, and my husband almost stepped on her. i said that we now have to watch where we step on the leaves. she got on my ladder to watch me paint, and when i move the ladder to paint the bottom of the windows she ran in the front door, climbed upon the cedar chest by that window and watched me from there. i didn't know cats were that smart.