From my own collection and what I saw this past weekend at my parents while putting in new hardscaping:

Mutabilis
Belinda's Dream
Rosette Delizy
Julia Child
Gourmet Popcorn
Distant Drums
Pam's Choice
Lady Hillingdon
Disneyland
About Face
Orchard's Pride
Pride of Oakland

Sydonie is in bud for its third flush in it's first year. It's just now reaching three feet after about 7 months in the ground. Boule de Neige, Winchester Cathedral, and Madame Lombard also are in bud right now, just about to bloom. Most roses aren't blooming or in bud right now though.

There are lots of things blooming besides roses though. A plethora of Begonias, a few Fuchsias, Agastache, Salvias of all sorts, a few Columbine, Lavender, Statice/Limonium, Globe Daisy (Globularia), Alyssum, Brugmansia, Arbutus (Strawberry Tree), Shasta Daisies, Dianella (Australian Flax), Nicotiana mutabilis, Cotinus, Centranthus ruber and v. alba, Penstemon, Coreopsis, Dianthus, Geranium, Citrus, a few Dahlias, Anigozanthus, Achillea, Gomphrena, the last of the Alstroemeria, Grevillea, a Correa (Australian Fuchsia), Delpinium, and surely others I'm forgetting including some new grasses.

Jay

Darcy Bussell is rocking it right now, despite 70% humidity and 90 plus degrees of heat. I'm totally loving the red Amaranthus I trialed this year. It's 10 feet tall and just beautiful. As usual, Tecoma stans is a showstopper, especially next to bright red Darcey. In my shade garden, the shampoo ginger has put up probably 100 bloom stalks and I'm looking forward to having the neatest fall arrangements in a few months.

Not looking good is Molineaux. I am rather disappointed in that one. The blooms were beautiful when it was cool, but they look like total poop right now. I might ship that one up to my mother in PA and replace it with Julia Child. My poor mother's yard is the dumping ground for all of my unwanted plants, but generally, if they aren't tropical, they like it up there better anyway.

I was almost upset with Graham Thomas for being stingy, but he has started to put out good blooms and ohmahgawd they smell like sweet spiced cider.

Evenie

Easter Basket for me too. That is one exuberant rose.

Bubble Bath.
Alister Stella Gray.
Jude the Obscure.
Comte de Champagne.
Vick's Caprice.
Queen of Sweden.
Buff Beauty.
Graham Thomas.
Everblooming Cecile Brunner.
Julio Iglesias. Speaking of garish ;)
Narrow Water.
Rainbow.
Perle d'Or.
Mrs. B.R. Cant.

A few others, most of which are Austins. I am just now beginning to prune and dead head since Japanese Beetle season is beginning to close.

I am not crazy about this time of year though it hasn't been as bad as most years. The heat. The humidity. The bugs. The allergies. Mosquitoes. Poison Ivy seems to travel on the wind. Everything gets too large and jungle-y. It makes me grumpy.

In defense of glads and dahlias...

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I do have to plant them each spring and dig them up in the fall but they're reliable color in the garden. And I think they're lovely!

The 'new perennial' movement is all over europe, with its unbelievably limited pallette (thanks a bunch, Karl, Piet et al for foisting the same dozen dreary brownish things with minuscule flowers upon us all

This, too, shall pass.

Seil, I'm not a big fan of dahlias, but yours are lovely--and your glads are gorgeous! Too bad glads like to grow at such odd angles!

Kate

Boncrow, I just love that hibiscus! And I love glads too. :)

I'm trying Dahlias for the first time this year and I'm quite pleased with them. They make for nice cut flowers, the plants have been very healthy, and I appreciate that I can get large purple-red or dark red blossoms without worrying about rust or mildew here on the coast. I have seen some raggedy, mildewy Dahlias around, but I seem to have lucked out. The linked picture is from two months ago, but the plant still has flowers.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Dark Red Dahlia

This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Wed, Jul 30, 14 at 0:10

I should amend my previous post -- it's actually strangely cool for this time of year, peaking in the low 80s lately, sometimes only in the 70s. And I didn't mention all the roses (or other plants) blooming now -- only those that seemed unfazed when the big heat set in a few weeks ago, and had little or no pauses between blooms.

'Rosa moschata' and 'Reverend Seidel' came into their own as it got hot, but these were their first blooms for the season. "Darlow's Enigma" and "Secret Garden Musk Climber" have also put out a few blooms, ignoring whether it was hot or not, but they're focusing more on growing and so their blooms come sporadically. Also not ever-blooming but still putting out sporadic blooms during the hottest days were 'Eugene de Beauharnais', 'Mlle Blanche Lafitte', "Sophie's Perpetual", 'Souvenir de la Malmaison', 'Louis Philippe', 'Napoleon', 'Abraham Darby', 'Golden Celebration', 'Jude the Obscure', 'Tamora', 'Yellow Sweetheart, Climbing', 'Golden Buddha' and 'Georg Arends'. The quantity of blooms on these was nothing to write home about, but I can't really say for sure how they'll do when they're fully mature (this is only their second year since coming as bands).

Non-roses blooming now include all the Achillea, Agastache mexicana 'Champagne', Campanula 'Bavarian Blue', some of my Type 2 Clematis, all the Coreopsis, all of the Echinacea, Geranium 'Dilys' (which has spread to a 4' diameter, hugging the ground, and hasn't stopped blooming since a few weeks after I planted it this Spring) and the others ('Nimbus', 'Rozanne' and 'Tschelda'), Ligularia 'Desdemona', all the Nepeta, the Phlox paniculata cultivars, all the Salvias, some of the Sedums are beginning to set buds, all the Stokesias, and the Verbena bonairensis (which hasn't stopped blooming since June). Unfortunately, much of this is "supporting chorus" and I'm noting a need for July/August divas for next year -- Trumpet and Oriental lilies.

Of course, the annuals I put in pots with my red HTs haven't stopped blooming since they were planted, but that's what Petunias, Verbenas and Vincas do.

:-)

~Christopher

The verbena has already burned out, literally fried, dried. The petunias were cut back twice and sprayed regularly with Spinosad to take care of the bud worms. They, too, have already fried. The vinca are coming into their own, though the weaker ones have also fried. It's rather difficult to keep anything not woody alive in close proximity to stucco, plate glass and acres of concrete when there are twelve-plus hours of direct sun and the daily temps are 95+. Surprisingly, the red annual salvia are exploding without frying. Kim.

The only rose in my garden that is currently is full flush is the modern rose 'Jacob's Ladder'. The brilliant red just glows in its corner of the garden. It doesn't really belong in my garden, being far too modern in appearance, but I get more compliments from visitors on this rose than on any other plant I have ever grown. It seems that I am stuck with it.

As for the rest of the garden, there are scattered roses here and there, one or two on a plant. Somehow that hardly counts.

As for other flowering plants, the white cleome looks stunning in the evening and pretty nice in the daytime as well. Pretty as the pink and purple are, I grown only the white to keep the strain pure. It reseeds nicely.

And at ground level most plants have finished up, but the coreopsis 'Moonbeam' is a carpet of lacy soft yellow. I don't have much yellow in the front garden, but I do like this one very much.

Rosefolly

Karl Foerster's garden near Potsdam is very colourful. I don't think he deserves to be compared to Piet Oudolf's bland plantings although he inspired Oudolf to use grasses. His borders at Wisley are the ugliest I have seen (are they still there?) but even he made better gardens elsewhere, in Sweden for instance.

The Foerster garden has very few grasses. I've visited the garden twice in early summer and can remember only the molinia Transparant and two tall grasses. Foerster bred 600 perennials of every colour, the rudbeckia Goldsturm among them. He's called the Father of Delphiniums in Germany because of the 60 varieties he bred.

This post was edited by mariannese on Wed, Jul 30, 14 at 6:07

Blooming in my garden right now? Crape Myrtles are going nuts along with my lantana.
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Roses? Munstead Wood, Pretty Jessica, Wedding Cake, Peach Blossom, Lavendar Crystal, Princess Alexandra of Kent, and my Lotus

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My lotus

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Peach Blossom

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Princess Alexandra of Kent

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Wedding Cake

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Munstead Wood

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Pretty Jessica

It is 4:30 in the morning and hasn't dropped below 84 degrees. Supposed to get up to 105 today and we are having quite the thunderstorm right now. Celestial music which is keeping me awake. UGH! However, am glad to see everyone's beautiful yard and flowers.

You are entirely correct, Mariannese - Karl Foerster was a plantsman of the highest calibre....and, in truth, I do like many 'New Perennial' gardens and approve of the underlying concepts......but just find myself rebelling against prescriptive planting rules and the dictates of 'fashion'. Of course, few people are as intolerant and opinionated as myself....and even worse, I don't even have the courage of my convictions since they change with the wind.......
Mostly though, I regard gardening, especially against the odds, as a triumph of the human spirit - curiosity, experimentation, trying, failing, trying again - all good stuff really, regardless of plant choices....and something which connects us to the fundamentals - life, energy, food, shelter, community and so forth.

Seil I love your dahlia's and glads. I also grow both.
This year we are having a hot (85 degree) and dry summer. Both of these are flowering famously in our garden. The hummers love the glads. And the bees love them too.
Somehow this time of year a garden seems to need a riot of colors. While our roses are holding up, I notice that the blooms have shrunk in size.
What a wonderful time of year.

In our 57-67F heat, most roses are pushing new growth. Felicia's in between little bouquet was shattered by rain and I relieved Tamara out of it's misery, especially as I'd failed to spot the army of aphids sucking the juice out of it. Ballerina's June flush just finished, while Sweet Chariot is clinging bravely to it's 3 blooms.

While the roses prepare for their next flush, Kalimeris incisa bluish tinge, bachelors buttons an clematis Arabella contrast with the yellow eyed Rudbeckia Hirta and the mission bells.

A shady wall is covered by the gigantic Cematis fargesii "Summer snow', trying to convince a pinkish Ville de Lyon clematis of his honourable intentions.

At the edge of the driveway, turkish and flanders poppies, grow peacefully with feverfews and nasturtiums in the gravel.

And last but not least, the Japanese morning glory, pictured below....

Mustbnuts, when did you get your Wedding Cake!? It seems that Rogue Valley only offers it these days and it is just never in stock. What unique and interesting flowers. Thanks for sharing.

Jay

Just noticed the Magic Lily blooming throughout the woods. It is a shade early this year, while everything else is late. It usually begins in early August.

Ingrid,

Have you ever tried bulbs to do a work-around of your blistering heat and dryness? They are designed to go dormant under these conditions. Of course you would not be likely to get Summer bloom but they should survive well and bloom in due course.

Cath

cath41, the only bulb-like plants I have are daylilies and repeat-blooming irises. Now that I think about it, one of the yellow irises is blooming right now. Even when they're not in bloom they contrast well with the billowy rose shapes, and in my climate they do repeat reliably practically throughout the year, as long as I water them. I don't think anything except a rock would survive in my garden without watering.

Ingrid

Ingrid,

Still quite a lot in bloom north of the Golden Gate, but in nothing like the heat that you have. Now blooming:

Cl. Cramoisi Supérieur

Crépuscule

Devoniensis (sparingly)

Cl E. de Hollande (one bloom last week)

Ghislaine de Féligonde

Gilbert Nabonnand

Kronprinzessin VvP

Lady Hillingdon (amazingly)

Mrs. B. R. C. (new growth only)

Mrs. Oakley Fisher (has been glorious)

Monsieur Tillier

R de Rescht (stopped last week after weeks of profusion)

Rosette Delizy

Souvenir de St. Anne's

Le Vésuve

Also blooming: Various Polyanthas and Teas

Larry

P. S. Ingrid, I find that the fortnight lilies (dietes) laugh at heat; with a little water, they bloom right through the summer.

With their strong sugary scent, the Belladonna lilies are popping up right now.

ArbutusOmnedo, after Ralph Moore passed, one of his staff opened her own nursery (Burlington Roses) where she sells a lot of his roses. That rose is 2 years old. When I got them, they were pretty much sticks and that was it. I also got them on their own root. This particular rose seems to do better grafted. I still went for the own root instead. Here is the email address for her. BurlingtonRoses@aol.com.

I've actually received an order from Burling within the past week or so! She is terrific. I didn't see Wedding Cake on her availability list this year, so possibly it's only available by custom request at the moment. I'll ask her about that. I asked her about the then out-of-stock Sheila MacQueen this Spring after my mom fell for it during a visit to the Huntington. Several months later, it was ready to ship along with some choices of my own. I've been practicing grafting in order to eventually confidently bud some less than stellar own root varieties, so poor own-root vigor isn't a critical problem in regards to Wedding Cake. Thanks for the information!

Jay

My fruit and vegetable gardens have hit their stride this year, so I've been so busy harvesting and processing produce I've barely had time to enjoy the roses. Although I have noticed that I definitely have more blooms than I did last year around this time. At my house Molineux just finished a great flush, while Golden Buddha is in the middle of one and Daybreak is just starting. Over at my Mom's there are lots of blooms, Cramoisi Superior and White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth have both been impressive, it's their first year in the ground and they are almost always in bloom. Honeysweet, Boule de Neige, and Gruss an Aachen also keep blooming away, happy to finally be in the ground I'm sure.

I need to build my perennial collection, currently I have some salvias blooming but not much else. I did plant a bunch of Milkweed though, and they are filling the garden with garish orange and yellow - I love it. I always admire glads and dahlias, there are some gorgeous pictures posted in this thread! I've never tried to grow them though, maybe when I get my next garden bed finished...

Catspa, I love the thought of having a forest of Tiger Lilies, I think I'll steal it!

My summer has been surprisingly cool so far, and this is my garden's first year so I can't say that this will be the standard, but this is what has been blooming lately:
(sidenote- none of these are OGR, but several are DA, by this fall I should have some real OGRs & I just can't wait to see how they do!)

*Best:
Darcey Bussell
Chrysler Imperial
Julia Child
Happy Go Lucky (offspring of Julia Child)

*Pretty darn good:
Lady of Shalott
Lady Emma Hamilton
Rio Samba
Jubilee Celebration

*Good:
Munstead Wood
Golden Celebration

*Fair:
Ebb Tide
About Face

*Awful blackspot magnets:
Shockwave
Midas Touch

*too early to tell, but seem very promising:
Benjamin Britten
Jude the Obscure
Crocus rose
Crepuscule

Here is a photo of Chrysler Imperial from yesterday:
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Marigolds, coreopsis, caladium, torenia, Elena (always has at least one bloom from mid April until mid November), Carefree Sunshine, Perle d'Or (and she is impervious to Roundup, by the way), Champney's pink cluster and those darn Knockouts that remind me of Christmas lights, hot summer, cool fall, nice spring and everywhere I look and everything I see and all that is good or bad about roses, wildflowers or unstoppable weeds. They will be here after the nuclear holocaust has been long gone and praise God for something that is never fail.

I wish I had a picture of my tall phlox blooming. It's petering out right now but has been billowy and colorful for the last few weeks in white, pale pink, deep pink, lavender pink and purplish. Right now black-eyed Susan is blooming, Rosanne geranium never quits once it gets started, lilies have just finished up, and nicotiana sylvestris is blooming now. I had the nicotiana about 15 years ago and just last year some came up on their own from old seeds. I'm enjoying my annuals..begonias, coleus, vincas, petunias. There's a Wave petunia that looks like Sugar Daddy that does better than most Waves to me. I have some dolichos lablab vines blooming purple with eggplant colored pods. While the phlox is beautiful it is way too invasive for my rose beds. No matter how much I dig up, the clumps always seem to get bigger. Not long ago some red crocosmia was blooming. Pretty soon Obedient plant will bloom, and then a hardy ageratum . Both of those are also invasive. I have an invasive chrysanthemum as well that looks like a species plant so maybe it is ok. ?? It blooms in fall along with other pompon mums I have in yellow and purple. Some roses have been blooming but this is the worst year yet for Japanese beetles so i haven't been able to enjoy them much.

Since I'm disbudding almost everything as fast as buds appear not much is blooming here!

If things WERE blooming the Over-achievement Award would go to Lady Hillingdon. A band last year, winter killed her back to the ground by this spring. Even now she's only about 18" x 18" but I have nipped off at least three full flushes with a dozen to 15 buds for each flush. My husband still ribs me about pulling up a perfectly good knockout and putting this little bush in its place. I just couldn't leave a knockout in one of the most prime spots in the yard. I'm thinking in another year or so when this plants gets some size it will knock his socks off!

ALMcD, Madame Antoine Mari, and the good Duchess of Brabant are getting the most attention in the emotional turmoil that pinching perfectly good buds off creates!

I went out & took what was looking OK this is from our community garden in Manhattan!

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The roses are revving up for another flush it been cool this year

I have to thank everyone for sharing on this thread. Being as my garden is still in construction stages, these posts are a helpful reminder of what to add next Spring to fill my current down-time. I still have plenty of room for companion perennials, which is good -- because I now realize that I focused too much attention on late Spring to early Summer, and Autumn, trying to find things that would pair well with the roses during their peak flushes. I also realize I'm aching for some yellow.

:-)

~Christopher

I also think dahlias are tacky, but I planted them this summer anyway, and they're doing remarkably well in our heat. It'll be interesting to see if the blooms survived the desperately needed downpour we had late last night and the deluge a few hours ago.

jannike

Claire Austin is new to me, but has not been without a dozen or more blooms at a time since she first started blooming, even through triple digit temperatures. I'm certain she must be bloomless now, though -- I doubt any of the roses made it through the heavy rainstorms of the past two days.

As you can see in the picture below, Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' is also in bloom. But then again, Diamond Frost is almost never not in bloom here. Same with the copycat euphorbias, such as 'Stardust' and other miniatures.

jannike

This post was edited by Sow_what on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 4:28

The water lilies seem to love the heat, and are blooming like crazy in the Poison Apple Garden.

jannike

The schizophrenic Carding Mill, with whom I have a love/hate relationship, is unfettered by a steady run of 100F + days.

jannike

Betty!!!

Actually most everything with a few exceptions I love the blooms on Yellow Sweetheard and want to see if rainbow has stripes this round. My poor potted plants, Don Juan was a deep orange and some unknown (my fault) HT makes me wonder that it is all the more since the color is washed out. I think I have helpers with the plant stakes

And Tradescant, whose incredible deep burgundy I have not been able to capture by camera, was blooming its head off through the sweltering heat, rather than growing. The hot sun did not affect it's rich color much. Its bloom flushes have finally started to alternate with growth spurts, so I guess there's hope it'll someday make it to the top of its arbor.

jannike

Lisianthus and angelonia have been blooming in the heat. I give lisianthus a thumbs down -- too much water and too much work. Angelonia, on the other hand, is pure joy. Drought tolerant, carefree drifts of color. And of course, the Diamond Frost handles the heat with grace, and can take almost anything you throw at it except extreme cold -- another carefree blooming machine.

This section is starting to take on the look of a weedy and abandoned roadside meadow; more so with the discarded Christmas ornaments. Exactly what I wanted for the Garden of Forgotten Dreams.

Spectacular, Labrea and Jannike.

In Houston it;s not just whether they bloom but how the blooms look at 95-105 degrees. So I will put what is blooming in two categories:

1. Blooming, but hard to love
I have M. Tillier in bloom but the blossoms are just 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches, blow quickly, and become a mess of reddish brown in about 48 hours; the brown mess persists till I pull it off. The plant keeps going and foliage is so good it seems churlish to complain but it is hard to love at this time of year. Spice has one inch blooms (about the size of quarters, half the size of what they are in April), persistently pushes them out, but they quickly go a sort of boring tan which clings for awhile before the petals drop. Foliage outstanding, a quite uncomplaining plant, but with minimal landscape impact. Mutabilis keeps going but the blooms are small and sometimes misshapen, crinkled at the petal edge, sometimes missing petals. Ducher also blooms, with rapid cycles of small flowers (though bigger than spice) that are quick to go brown; the plant is certainly vigorous and willing enough so again I feel bad complaining. I mention these because they are all roses recommended for the area, and most of them have earthkind status, but I have a hard time loving them in August.

2. Blooming and lovable
On the other hand a handful of plants have both flowers and foliage, good all round even in August. In this category 1st prize goes to GD Otto Linne, new this year in a pot, weak start but took off in the heat, has a big cluster of blooms that have been a cheery pink for over a week. The blooms look good all during the fade; none have turned brown and crispy even yet. The color pops with blue and purplish things nearby (clitoria ternata, tradescantia, ruellia, purple oxalis). It makes me happy to look at it. I wouldn't normally comment on a plant only in its first year but others have mentioned its tenacity so I trust it to survive.

One that has surprised me is the Charlatan (Astronomia, Sweet Pretty). Strong abundant foliage; huge display in spring, when I counted over a hundred buds on it and then it slows down but never stops pushing out the blooms all summer long. Flowers are perhaps a tad smaller in heat but otherwise have good form, beautiful as they open, good on the fade, petals drop before they get really ugly. Literally always has some bloom, always. Mine is in its third year and gets better each year. This is an outstanding rose for Houston in my experience, though no one ever mentions it. (I wonder what went into its breeding? no one seems to know.)

I have had almost no luck with mini roses, which seem to start strong but always gradually decline and wind up bare sticks. Two exceptions are both Ralph Moore hybrids, which are only sort of minis. One is Blue Mist, growing in the ground in its third year. Like Charlatan it keeps getting better. This does have some leaf drop right after the bloom, but quickly puts out strong new growth. Right now it is about 3x3, a full plant covered with developing inflorescences just starting to open. Individual flowers fade quickly from a lovely strong lavender pink to pale pink, but the clusters are so big and open slowly over a long period so it has a nice impact overall. Repeats every 4-6 weeks even in high heat. Pretty foliage. I've read it does not like alkaline soil but it's doing fine in an amended raised bed despite the clay under it.

The other is Softee; I have an again off again relationship with this plant, since the blooms are really not that good in August; in full sun they do a quick fade through white to soiled brown in a matter of hours, but the plant is so willing and the foliage so good and it seems to really *want* to please me, as a dog would (dogwood?). So I've been seeking the optimum sun/shade combination for its flowers. Two years ago I moved it into a place at the house corner where it gets full sun only when the leaves go down in winter, and otherwise kind of dappled shade, and it seems to like it there. Canes are about five to eight feet, abundant, limber, pliable, and thornless and I have it trained to two trellises, so it is growing around a corner. Currently bearing both hips and flowers, the blooms in the shade are still a soft apricot, the sunny ones white fading to brown. It is willingly turning the corner and starting to cover the second trellis. This rose likes Houston but does need careful siting. Its great in winter.

Do any other warm climate growers have roses not on the list of "usual suspects" that are easy to love (ie not only survive and bloom, but yield blooms that stay pleasing even in August)?
Claire

Which are the "usual suspects"?

By "usual suspects" I mean the roses everyone recommends for hot climate growers: chinas, teas, knock outs and earthkinds. See my paragraph 1, "blooming but hard to love" for examples.

I don't mean to knock all teas and chinas, they do tend to be good plants, and they don't die here, whatever quibbles one may have about individual plants and their flowers. It's just that none of mine are doing anything especially stunning at the moment, and some rather unlikely roses are; so I wondered if there might be more "hidden gems" out there.

Well, the Austins I've shown in the pictures above are doing well for me in temps over 100F, but I'm new to roses, so I don't know if those are hidden gems. Doing so-so are Duchesse de Brabant, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Wollerton Old Hall (in shade, so . .) and Chocolate Sundae. Doing nothing are Hot Cocoa, Ascot, Crown Princess Margareta, and a butterscotch colored rose whose name I can't remember.

jannike

Jannike, I think your Austins might be hidden gems; your pictures are certainly beautiful, and I have not seen these particular ones recommended for high heat. I have not tried to plant any Austins here yet, but there are so many complex crosses among them, I should perhaps become more daring... (though daring is a money sink here; at least I've killed more different kinds of roses in Houston than I ever did in the frozen north).

I am mindful of brittie's interesting pictures of Xuchitl and Homere also. I deduce they must come from Rose Petals, a company I have hovered on the verge of ordering from for ages, but not yet taken the plunge.
Claire

Claire:

I admire your tenacity -- I used to live in Houston, and can't imagine gardening in that brutal humidity during summer. Our temps can get to 115F, but the dryness makes the heat much more tolerable.

Regarding the Austins, Claire Austin was recommended by Michael and others at Austin UK, and it indeed does well here so far. The picture below was taken several weeks ago when temps were already triple digit. Ours is nearly devoid of blooms for the first time this summer, since they are a bit fragile and since a recent pelting rainstorm knocked the roses off almost every shrub here.

Alnwick was recommended by no one, but I loved it so much, I took a risk, and it's doing almost as well as Claire.

Carding Mill was recommended by many on this forum, as well as Michael Marriot of Austin UK, and it also holds up very well in the baking sun.

Tradescant isn't my favorite bloom form, but it does have incredible color, blooms intermittently, and does well in heat. It was recommended by people on this forum.

Gotta run, but best of luck with your search!

jannike

I have been enjoying everybody's photos, and Suzy's wonderful rant.
We have had one heat wave after another here in Crete.
My poor flowers are having to look after themselves at present. It is just too hot to do more than just essential watering. No deadheading, no cutting back, I am not even sweeping the paths lately, it is just too hot.
This last week, there have been a couple of days with a cooling breeze from the north. Most welcome.
I went out and took a few photos.
The garden seems to be coping with the heat better than I am. It has grown wild. It will have to stay that way until it cools down.

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Munstead Wood

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The New Dawn

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An ageing bloom of William Shakespeare 2000.

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Madam Alfred Carriere up in the plum tree.

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Teasing Georgia

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Unknown rose.

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Buff Beauty.

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Unknown HT.

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Unknown rose.

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Pat Austin suffering in the heat. (Still smells gorgeous though)

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Gruss an Aachen with mildew.

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Aimee Vibert

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Colombian Climber

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Unknown rose

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Blush Noisette

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Marchal Niel

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Golden Celebration

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Perdita

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I couldn't decide between the photos of Lady Emma Hamilton.

A few more pics.

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Daisy

Daisy, it's so nice to see that you're posting again. It's been awhile and I really like your pink and yellow unknown roses. Thanks for sharing. As usual your garden is positively breathtaking.

I loved your post Starmade, it really made me take a look at my plants and think about them as indiciduals. This time of year, I tend to write them all off, because it's too darn hot to stay out there for too long without coming back in soaking wet. Like you, I have several roses blooming tons of dime and nickle sized roses, lol. They're lovely in Fall and Winter even, but August not so much. Trinity is blooming it's heart out right now, but the flowers are quarter sized. Tiny flowers are also coming from Archduke Charles, Serratipetala & Louis Phillipe, and Comtesse du Cayla pretty much burns immediately.

Larger August flowers (2 in. or more) that don't look terrible! come from Maggie, Prairie Star, Cole's Settlement, Leveson Gower, Edith Schurr (my puppy loves to eat this one), Blessed Child, Easy Does It, Julia Child (though they ARE smaller than normal), Munstead Wood, Madame Scipion Cochet, White Maman Cochet and Tipsy Imperial Concubine (though it balls in cooler weather).

Oh, I wanted to add also that in my post above, Xuchitl did indeed come from Rose Petals, though Homere came from Angel Gardens.

Ingrid,

It is not a rose but Nerine bowdenii is blooming here now. Nerine sarniensis is even prettier but less cold hardy so I haven't tried it. Because they are zone 8-10 or 9-11 (reports vary) and like good drainage, they might do well in your garden. How N. bowdenii survived last winter is a miracle I will never understand. I guess that is one of the allures of gardening, surprises.

Cath

I'm glad to see you posting too, Daisy. Your garden looks amazing, just like summer should look. It seems the only thing you are missing is hummingbirds. What a paradise that would be for them.

Crepuscule.