Hi Brandy! Turning colors is what rugosas do best in the fall up here in the north. Most of mine develop into a yellow of some shade or other, some are bronze, a few are definitely orange. So yours are right in step with the season. I'd say you're in a warmer, more protected area there in the city, so your rugosas aren't as far along as mine are yet in the fall color department....but eventually yours could look like this: If some of your hybrid rugosas have a bit of blackspot at this time of year, don't worry. This late into the season diseases are not going to affect them going into winter. I commonly see some on the less rugose rugosa hybrids and other OGR's like the gallicas. And BTW, I've got lots of old apple trees here - no problems transferred to the roses that I've ever witnessed. I think you're doing fine. :-)

Janie, It certainly doesn't look very attractive right now, that's for certain. It has completely taken over that whole bed. Poor Elsie May and Midus Touch are being crowded out and the Daylilies I planted out in front are now under it! Gad zooks! That bed was just gorgeous last year. Well, alrighty then! :) I will be out there with clippers in gloved hand whacking away tomorrow. Then I can stick some good healed cuttings in pots of dirt and grow lots more (Shhhhh...don't tell Tom I said that). I cut back all my teas in March. They had gotten unshapely and gangling looking. They look terrific now. I will be mixing up some Bayer 3-in-one to give them too. My antique roses seldom need anything other than compost and a little composted manure, but my prissy teas really benefit from a dose of Bayer three times during the season. They even rebloom for me now! Many Thanks to those of you on here who talked about using that great product. Bye bye Black Spot & powdery mildew and so long chewing, sucking bugs!! No more munched rose buds and half-eaten blooms. We got a good 2-3 inches of rain last night and then a cool front move in late this afternoon (Monday) from Colorado (where it snowed!). The temps dropped down some 20 degrees. Going from 80+ down to 60 feels a might chilly. So tomorrow should be perfect weather for giving "haircuts". :) Thanks everyone for your much needed and much appreciated advice. ~Annie

Don't go away. Wordwiz meant that there are so many good tomatoes that telling someone what to grow is not an easy question. I saw your clippings so I think you have experience growing cuttings and potted plants. Tomatoes are easy to grow so I think you can try anything you like. I think you may have a good climate for tomatoes not any hotter than most of us in summer. 15 plants is enough to get a good sampling. Some tomatoes that others recommend may not do well for you so variety is good. I have read and read these posts and made a list for me. I changed it every day until I finally got my seed order in. Now I am trying to get Indian Stripe because Sand Hill didn't have it. This is my list. It is a gamble and some will not work for me. Last year most of my tomatoes came from about half my plants. The other half produced tomatoes but were not what I liked so much. Sun Gold F1 hybrid gold cherry recommended by many here Mortgage Lifter grew it last year pink beefsteak Pale Perfect Purple medium size pink liked it last year Eva Purple Ball round pink flawless like above tomato Granny Cantrell pink beefsteak I grew last year Lida Ukranian recommended in Carolyn Male's book Druzba ditto Anna Russian liked the description Jaune Flammee' orange small tomato ditto Neve's Azorean Red often mentioned here Opalka paste tomato said to be good fresh too - for salsa Rose glowing recommendation here Sioux from the red round reliable thread here Ozark Pink I'm in the Ozarks Kimberly & Bloody Butcher early tomatoes from the RRR thread I don't have any blacks. I would like to try Black Krim and Indian Stripe but last year my blacks would rot at the drop of a hat if a bug took a bite. They do taste good. Black Prince was easy to grow and produced lots but I want tomatoes to be red or pink. Many really like the different colors, but I am stuck on reds and pinks. Sorry for the long post.

Maybe you could wrap a copper mesh scouring pad around the base, 2 or 3 inches above the base, and a half inch or so below the soil line, so that you dont disturb the roots. If it's mice or voles, and you place traps, please place the traps under a bucket with small access holes at the base, and a rock on top of the bucket, so you don't injure someones pet cat or dog. The smell of cat pee might also frighten away mice and voles, you could spread wet sand from a catbox. Other scent deterrents are coyote urine, which you can get at a sporting goods store, or some gardeners have used soap, perfume or human hair. Some barber or beauty shops might save you a vacuum bag full of hair for this purpose, if they know about gardening. You could wrap some hair around the base, it will biodegrade. Looking at the ends, does the stalk look chewed or torn? The stalk could have been accidentally pulled apart by a dog or person running past that caught a foot under the vine. I had to put up a 2 foot chicken wire fence to keep out rabbits, a fence like this would also keep tripping feet away from the base of the plants. Good luck, hope you get some peas. If you know how to clone, maybe you could cut up the still fresh, detached vine into 4 inch pieces and put cloning powder on them and stick them back in the ground, to replace the lost plants, it might regrow faster than reseeding. Does anyone know if you can clone peas, would this work?