Hi Chris, Yes, those cold winds are no fun. We're on a hilltop, mile high elevation, so do get buffeted by them quite often this time of year. We had them this weekend and now again today, although today doesn't seem that cold. Maybe I'm getting used to it after 18 years. : ) I don't winter protect my roses but sometimes I don't get out to rake the last batch of fall leaves so they often accumulate under the roses, probably giving a bit of protection. I mainly concentrate on growing roses that I know will do well in my temps - winter night temps in the 20s-30s and quite often in the teens, days in the 40-60 range with some 20s-30s thrown in to keep my favorite swear words up to date. ; ) Summers are mild with mostly 80s, some 90s but never triple digits. Snow is common in the winter months but doesn't last long. The roses don't seem to mind it. My native soil is decomposed granite so it drains well. Are you on the southern slopes of the SBs, Arrowhead area? If so you get more snow usually but are often warmer in the summer. If you haven't been there, try Newell's in Yucaipa for roses and other plants, as well. It's a very nice nursery. Another place I like that has good prices is Sunshine Growers in Ontario. They both have websites and Newell's has a newsletter you can subscribe to. Diana A winter pic. This isn't that often but this year was the exception, especially Feb. Way more snow and cold than usual. I have Day Breaker, Lady Elsie May, Easy Going, Livin' Easy, Otta the Blue, Lillian Austin, Fair Bianca, Rhapsody in Blue, Top Notch, Honey Perfume, Elle, Graham Thomas in the front beds and BP Iceberg outside the fence. All come through the cold and snow just fine. So do th hollyhocks - they're about 3 feet already. : )

Sorry to take so long to get back...life is crazy busy! My thoughts on Aeonium 'Kiwi': [I may be stepping into muddy waters. LOL] I didn't watermark my photos (as so many pix would take even longer to get posted), so I'm hoping anyone wanting to use any pix, would be considerate enough to ask me for permission first. Thanks! Long ago, (more than a dozen years), when I first bought my Aeonium 'Kiwi', there wasn't much information one could find on the Net about it. Garden forums were fairly new online. Info for plant IDs on the Net was (and still is) often mistaken. Some folks think just because they find it on the Internet, it must be true. I was told that 'Kiwi' was a cultivar of Aeonium percarneum back then. The rosettes are much larger than A. haworthii. My plant looks like that species (as you will see in pix below). Later, many said it came from A. haworthii or A. decorum. Books on Aeonium now say it is derived from A. haworthii. I understand it is called 'Tricolor' in some places (like Australia) & 'Kiwionium' in Europe. Examples (click to view larger pix): I also bought other plants over the years, tagged as 'Kiwi'. To me, they looked more like A. haworthii decendants or more like A. decora f. variegata, but I was not sure if it was because of the growing conditions. I had to wait & see~and then I was not paying attention, lost track~and now have a hard time when comparing them. June color: Fall coloring: May blooming: I'm hoping some pix will show what I mean & not confuse further. One of our rare freezes took out most of my original 'Kiwi' (here, beautiful colors before it died) & flowering branches later took out more. I only have a few rosettes left from the original plant. Funny thing is, NOW they look more like those others I bought, with smaller rosettes like that of A. haworthii. Ones I considered imposters: What’s left of the plant in the 1st photo: Hope it wasn't so long it drove you bonkers!!

That is way more texture on the Maui Buttercups than I was expecting ! That picture makes it look like a bright Drinking Gourd , which is fine with me that is a look I can appreciate. As for the Luna Moth, I don't know why, but it so interesting to see the original plant... It also seems to show the adult traits early. As to the second picture, What a nice range of colors ..it cheers me up having just looked at it. Next year we all need to hold some pictures back to share over the cold winter. I just hope I can get caught up with some of the great stuff that is posted here all summer long.

We are having wind in the high teens with gusts to 25mph. It is snowing right now (may be graupel or just go straight to styrofoam). This is a little better weather than yesterday and certainly better than Friday & Saturday. Tuff spring weather and it just seems like winter won't let go. . . David, your roof story reminds me of working on the big glass greenhouses back in my youth. Surely, you can find a younger person to get up there and do that work. During a windstorm, it seemed hard to decide whether it was safer inside the greenhouse or outside. Certainly, you'd want to be upwind of a large structure made of a single layer of GLASS! Of course, they'd often lose glass and if it got very bad - out we'd go with roof ladders, caulking guns, and replacement glass. Whoa!! You never realize until times like those that you can hold on, not only with fingers and toes, but with knees, ankles, elbows, and wrists. All the while, pinning a loose piece of glass down with your forehead, nose and cheek . . . I enjoyed something called "bouldering" during those days. It was just kind of a natural evolution from roof work. I mean, anything was more reasonable than climbing where your safety net was thin wood glazing bars and glass. . . . malfunctioning autoimmunity put a stop to all that, before malfunctioning self-preservation did. Steve