I had elephant ears that did well on the north side, but there was a lot of humidity because I also had an aviary there under a tree canopy which held the humidity in. I would think they'd need extra moisture in May and June - IF we got a monsoon in July & August. All you can do is try.

Interesting. I haven't seen this before. What is puzzling me is that not all the buds on your scapes are black...some are green. Or are my eyes deceiving me? If it was sunburn, wouldn't all the buds on a single scape be affected? Hmmmm. I can tell you that this was the worst spring for daylilies that I've ever had...lots of short scapes, mishapen flowers that bloomed several weeks too early, yellowing foliage, rust, etc. The good news is that I've had above average rebloom (on nice tall scapes) and the rust has gone dormant. And I have bananas growing for the first time! All the tropical plants are doing great thanks to the mild winter. Julia, I'm curious to know if these black bud will produce normal flowers. Or do they shrivel up and fall off? I'm assuming you've pulled one off and checked inside for worms, insects? Be sure to give us an update when/if they start blooming. Kathy

Bon, If y'all have a weather radio with the alert feature, most county emergency management officials will ask the NWS to set off the warning alert tone when a fire evacuation is ordered. Otherwise, check tomorrow with your local emergency management officials or the fire department (paid or volunteer) nearest to you to see if they have a notification system. Some counties have a reverse-9-1-1 system that calls residents to alert them when something like this is occurring. In some counties, you have to sign up to get these alerts. In others, it robocalls all the residents. Some county emergency management officials tweet out news like this. All I can suggest is you listen to your weather radio or local media for instructions. It always is advisable to have an emergency evacuation plan and a "go bag" ready for each person, including your most important family papers and medications. If you have animals, have their pet crate or leash, food, etc. packed and ready to go. With the weather we are having now, every one of us needs to have a plan, and a back-up plan, on how we'll leave our property QUICKLY in the event a wildfire is moving our way. You should, if possible, have two ways off your property. Last year, our next door neighbor put a big cattle gate in the fence between his place and ours, so now we both have two ways to leave--via our own driveway, or by driving across a pasture and through that gate to the other adjoining property. Hopefully, we'll only use the cattle gate for cattle, but it is nice to have that as an option. Despite my years of involvement with our VFD, last year was the first time I seriously had to figure out how I could evacaute myself and our pets if I was home alone. It wouldn't be easy, but I wouldn't leave them behind. The scary thing about fire is how spotting occurs, where new fires start from embers blown ahead of the advancing fire line. Wind-driven fire is more dangerous than wildfire on a calm day with low wind, but remember that fires create their own wind and own weather. If I hear anything about Payne County, I'll let you know. I usually rely upon the Oklahoma Forestry Service, NWS or local media for anything outside my own county. For my county, I have the fire radio, of course. If your county has a website online that they keep updated, check it. Good luck. Just keep your eyes and ears open and be prepared to flee at literally a minute's notice. Usually, when the call comes to evacuate ahead of the fire, you must leave without a minute's hesitation. That's why you need Go bags packed and ready to grab and go. Most people who perish in a fire do so because they do not heed the warning to evacuate immediately. When my county evacuates, the word goes out on the weather radio, the fire/police radios, etc. Anyone with a scanner can hear the radio traffic and know what's happening even before the weather alert is sounded. Our EM director also texts out news like that via nexle.com. Check with your county tomorrow to see if they use that or a similar service to keep their residents in the loop. Fire Departments may or may not have time to sound the storm sirens at their stations (not all departments have those) to warn residents because they all may already by out in the field fighting the fire. Probably you and I will not be able to figure out any other way tonight for you to find out what is going on, but tomorrow would be a good time to find out your options for future fires. There are and have been several large fires the last few days, including a 140 acre one in LeFlore County, a 500 acre one in Johnston County, and a big one now in its third day in Creek County. I'd say the summer fire season is upon us, ready or not. Dawn

Not all floribundas do well at high temps. There is a GREAT deal of diversity among floribundas as to size, bloom production, heat and humity tolerance, fragrance and foliage health. For very easy care, constant blooming and good health I think you'd do VERY well with any, or several, of the roses in the Knock Out family. They are planted in filling stations and in landscaping around public buildings in San Antonio so that tells you they are easy to grow and extremly tolerant of adverse growing conditions. The only one I haven't grown or seen is the Yellow Knock Out. Grandma's Yellow rose, discussed on one of the threads here, might be a better choice if you want yellow. However a blend of the pinks and reds might be prettier. Rainbow Knock Out is a low spreader and would be best planted to the front of the others. The others can be kept at the size stated on the link below by hard spring pruning. Knock Out roses are readily available at most plant nurseries and big box stores. Happy Knock Out gardening! Here is a link that might be useful: The Knock Out Family of Roses