What everyone said - the rose garden is a bit past prime, as we had a wicked heat wave a few weeks ago, but you may see some things back in bloom. If you ever visit a bit earlier, besides the Balboa Park rose garden, you definitely will want to drive up to the Carlsbad Flower Fields to see all the lovely Ranunculus in bloom, plus they also have a spectacular rose garden, as well as all the Ecke poinsettias in a tent. Worth the visit if you can time it right. And, the San Diego Botanical Garden in Encinitas is not to be missed. Very lovely and magical there. Patty S.

I was sitting at the kitchen table today at almost dusk and there were 5 hummers on my feeder and 2 more circling around.And of course there was the security guard up on the wire chasing away any other males that tried to stop by.They are soooooo much fun to watch and the only reason we buy sugar.I have to refill the feeders every other day. I to like this post. Congratulations Steven,and i know what you mean.Everyday when i open my shades i have to look at the messy porch across the street.Trash cans,nasty old string mops,cardboard boxes,big bags of dog food,etc,etc.It blows my mind that the owners can't see this.They own a gardening service that serves one of the most affluent towns in San Diego county,they do my yard and several of my neighbors.Yet their own looks like "Tobacco Road,WHY??? Makes no sense to me. Then we have another person in our neighborhood who has the raggediest flag i've ever seen.I kid you not it is torn along every stripe,and this is hung on the front of his house.This man is a retired Marine!!! I wrote up a big note one day telling him it was time to retire the flag and what a disgrace it is for him to have it hanging there,to disrespect a country that has given him so much. I put the note in his mailbox.That was over a month ago,and it still hangs there.I'm tempted to go buy a flag of his countrys origin ,cut it all up and send it to him and tell him to hang that one.Of course i wouldn't do this,but it burns my butt he doesn't remove it. I think i may call one of the veterans organizations and tell them about it. Kathi

We live in the northern county of San Diego in an area adjacent to chaparral. I've seen coyotes, squirrels, bunnies, hawks, gopher (yes, I actually saw the gopher - but my husband took care of that - RIP), and I understand there are owl boxes courtesy of our HOA. The bunnies are eating my husband's lawn (and sometimes my plants). The squirrels come in to eat too. The hills are dry this time of year, but we have kept our lawn and plants watered, making them yummy meals for the critters. We finished putting up some kind of fencing we were told is used to keep bunnies out. Ironically, the bunnies chewed through the fence where the back gate goes out to the wildlands - or from the wildlands into our backyard. A perfectly sized hole with nice little bits of fence scattered around the wrought iron gate. Although I did have to chuckle about it, we did work hard putting up that fence in the hottest part of the year. The rabbits were probably laughing too (rightly so - what a couple of dingdongs we are). Now my husband wants to shoot those bunnies with a pellet gun (he'd rather use something bigger, but I don't think that's legal - I'm not sure killing rabbits is legal in our area). I can understand his frustration, but I'm glad to see all the postings - you have my sincere appreciation - and will ask him to help me out with the bloodmeal and/or ammonia. I'll let you know whether it works for us or not. If those things don't work and I can't convince my husband to replace that fencing with something more sturdy, I'm afraid the rabbits will be meeting the gopher's demise. By the way, we did try other methods to deter the gopher (hair in the tunnel, plugging the tunnel) - then I read several posts and determined there was only one way to take care of the gopher; it was not the way I wanted, but the last resort. Best to all and your yards/gardens.

I’m in the same area as Sultry, so fewer nematodes, and heavily amended soil. I add a lot of OM, as my only real defense of the nematode attacks. More OM means more predatory organisms to reduce the number of root knot nematodes. I don’t think the own-root roses can “fight off“ the nematodes. My understanding is that some varieties have more mass to their root systems, and can afford a little nematode nibble here and there. Others don’t have as many roots, so nematode attacks hit them harder. It also builds over years, so some will start off ok, but over time, without intervention, the nematode infestation will overcome the plant, and it dies. The benefit of Fort, is the root mass. It makes so many roots, that it can handle a bit of loss to the nematodes. My own-root Lady of Shalot is doing very well, as is my Abe. I also have an Abe on Fort, and don’t see much difference at this point, except that the Fort needs more water. Both of these are young plants, only 2-4 years old, so we‘ll just have to see how they do long term. I do recall a post some time ago about the breeding of Austins being a factor; some have better background to do well here than others. If he calls it a musk or tea, I’m more inclined to think it will do well here. Gallica or damask, not so much. It‘s all one big experiment, really! I’m amazed at what will actually grow in my little microclimate...I’ve not shared any of these lists with any of my plants, and have no intention of doing so. :-)