Or perhaps the heading could even be "Roses can be glorious in August", and it would have been if my brain had been functioning as it's supposed to.

Ingrid

I am in San Jose and we are having 100+ weather right now. All roses that open in the morning are fried by evening. I keep cutting buds for the house though and they are as good as ever (maybe smaller). All in all, it is not so bad.

Ingrid-

I think your plantings look great! What are some of things that you have put in? A lot of them look drought-tolerant.

You should consider renting Casey out- he is GORGEOUS (looks as though he knows it, too, but then all cats do).

Laura

Ingrid, thanks for posting pics of your summer garden. It looks so nice, and Casey is a beautiful cat.

Here are a few pics of The Prince and Gruss an Aachen, in August.

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Ingrid---Your gardens look a whole lot better than mine-----I'm almost afraid to take a picture---they will kick me off the GW----LOL
I'll try tomorrow----LOL

Florence

It is interesting what a lot of rain and the resulting lowered temperatures will do for roses. I gave mine all a dose of alfalfa tea about Aug. 1 and then the rains came. All of my bare roses have leafed out again and are putting on buds. Now this is most unusual for north La. in Aug. but it is a very nice surprise! I don't have pictures today but maybe after the threat of Gustav is past. Even with the monsoons we've been having, there is very little blackspot. I attribute that to the alfalfa tea. It makes roses so strong and happy! Buff

It is a brave soul indeed that dares post pictures of their August gardens, and so kudos to you Ingrid! I love your terrace with the tiles and the curved railing in the third and fourth photos. It looks like you've blended your home into the landscape very well and have some drought tolerant plants too. Casey is a splendid cat indeed! Lord of the manor no doubt.

Buff, hold tight, hopefully Gustav will weaken and become a non-event, everyone is looking toward the Gulf Coast right now. Rain is good, but a cat 3 storm bearing down on LA is not. Keeping a good thought here for all of you.

Thanks for the replies and I'm still hoping for more pictures although I know some of you have greater worries, namely Gustav. I hope and pray everyone will stay safe.

Krista, your roses are lush and gorgeous, a treat for the eyes. I'm sure in my garden they'd be desiccated little corpses. I will say that some of the teas such as Blumenschmidt, Duchesse de Brabant and baby Le Vesuve are holding up quite well. Carding Mill surprisingly keeps blooming in a very hot location.

Laura, some of the companion plants I have are crape myrtle, butterfly bushes, day lilies, lantanas, Texas ranger, lamb's ears, lavender, irises (which are not doing particularly well), rosemary, penstemon, marjoram (a fantastic, almost everblooming plant that bees love and no one ever mentions), senecio, junipers, sea lavender and some I don't know the names of offhand.

Casey says thank you, he is a big lovable Maine Coon who loves to be where we are. His most endearing characteristic is that he worries when I'm out alone after dark and will not go inside, but rather tries to get me inside with meowing and body language. Strangely enough, this is the second gray male tabby who has exhibited this characteristic toward me. They only do/did it after dark, never during the daytime.

Ingrid

Ingrid, I enjoyed the pics of your summer garden.
I really like your garden companions, including your fluffy grey cat :-)
Most of my companion plants look worse than the roses right now.
A few of the exceptions that still look great right now are 'Goodwin Creek' lavender, alyssum, & Louisianna iris. Most others look sad.
As for the roses, it's the teas, chinas, and my one hybrid musk that look the best in this scorching heat.

Randy

Well I've had a horrible year, rose wise. But we had a lot of rain last week, and my roses have responded, as if they were just waiting for this. So I'm fertilizing in hopes of a great Fall flush.

Gail, your garden is beyond compare, just breathtaking. It almost makes me want to take a flame thrower to mine. On the other hand, it gives me something to strive for and the hope that time will improve my roses and other plantings. I'm simply amazed at how lush your garden is. I've always maintained that some people are simply better gardeners than others, almost at an instinctual level, although a lot of hard work also goes into it. (I remember that huge pile of soil in your driveway). Thank you so much for the lovely pictures.

Ingrid

I have to say that your garden looks very nice. The companion plantings are really nicely spaced throughout. We have not had rain either for quite a while. A few of my HP's are putting out flowers, sparsely, here and there. Arillaga put out three gaudily huge, pink blooms last week. The HP's seem to love the heat despite their European background; the dry, searing heat has helped to keep the PM off their leaves too. So I'm not complaining.

In response to your request for August garden photos, I finally recharged the batteries in my camera and went out to find something that looked alive!

This is a shot of 'Argentine Skies' salvia, Knockout, and Limelight hydrangea.
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Here's Blushing Knockout with lamb's ears, fall asters, and some remnants of Nicky phlox.
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This is my orange and purple border with orange cannas, heliopsis 'Summer Sun', rudbeckia 'Autumn Sun' and pennisetum 'Hameln'
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Here is a sad picture with dying rugosa stems (Fru Dagmar Hastrup), miscanthus 'Cabaret', some rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' and agastache 'Blue Fortune' that looks a little chlorotic.
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But even in August I can alway count on my cool green shade garden that I love so much!
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Here's hoping for a cool wet fall to perk things up a bit and have a nice fall show of roses.

Weeelll, they can be okay, but it takes extra watering starting early in the month. I have enough scattered bloom right now to be satisfied. I don't think of it as August, more like early September, since it's only been noticeable in the past week or so. But I've been deep watering (that means with a hose, horrors) each rose at least once, usually twice, since the start of the month. I actually have some flushes right now as a result. From late June thought July, roses are bust anyway because of the of thrips. The thrips are much less a problem after weeks and weeks of temps in the 90's, prolly because all the grasses are frizzed.

It almost makes me want to take a flame thrower to mine.

A hose might be better ; )

Well Ingrid, I think you are less interested in the European scene, however FWIW ... My roses have all taken a little break over the summer, but at different times (the benefit of growing all kinds of classes), so there has always been something blooming , although not comparable to the spring flush, of course! Looking through my photos, I tried to pick garden shots as opposed to close-ups. Here's my summer garden (please disregard the long grass and weeds, our mower is "en panne" as they optimistically say here about machinery that will likely never work again). Mme Isaac Pereira with Zeffy, clematis Anna Louise and Siesta in the foreground (mid-July):

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MIP, last week in August:

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Molineux in early July:

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Moly and Buff Beauty (both of whom have had a flush a month) in late August. We have just enlarged some of the beds so there is plenty of bare earth (and labels) showing at left.

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George Dickson with Ghislaine de Feligonde and the clematis Etoile Violette on the railings in late July:

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And finally, an experiment ... growing annual Morning Glory through Albertine. So far, A seems undaunted:

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I have to say, Casey IS the showpiece of your gardens, but I also love the hardscaping, the pathways, terrace, retaining wall, all very classy. Have you tried Nepeta as a companion/filler? Mine seems not to care whether it gets water or not. I have the Six Hills Giant variety.

MayBee

Ingrid, you are far braver than me. I basically refuse to go outside at this time of year. I love Casey..just how big is he?

btw..is that a hydrangea I see there?? How do you grow it there??? DETAILS!!

Mari

Ingrid,
Patience, my dear, they will be gorgeous in no time! I'm trying it too.
Mary

We have the opposite problem here - too much rain. Every thing is lush and green, but there are brown, rotting rose buds every where - this includes Abe Lincoln, Elina, Eden, F Mistral. The resilient ones include Golden Celebration which is blooming it's head off, Parade making a good effort of keeping up, Evelyn, and Mdm Alfred Carriere. However, brave as they are, all their petals are tarnished and stained. But then there is Mdm Isaac Perierre, blooming away, with still perfect petals, trying show all the other roses how it should be done.

At times like this, I am glad I have "other" things to distract visitors to the garden - the hostas, Japanese maples, bamboos, etc, all seem to shine in the rain. And then, there are the containers of aquatic plants that perform as long as it stays warm enough.

Oh, and the slugs are the biggest I have seen so far - I picked up a couple of 4-inch long slimmies this morning.

MayBee, au contraire, I love hearing from you in France and your garden is beautiful! I was born in Austria so your pictures were very evocative. The background of older stone buildings and walls lends so much atmosphere and you have so many blooms. By the way I haven't tried nepeta because Casey is wild about catnip and those poor nepetas would be crushed and rolled upon to the nth degree. The plant you see him reclining on must be related because he sits on it even right after I've watered it and rolls his face in it!

Linrose, in your garden I hardly notice that only one rose is blooming because you have so many other interesting things going on. Love all the companion plants!

Mari, you've forced me into a terrible confession. The hydrangeas are silk flowers! I bought them last year for my outdoor wedding and they look so real that I've simply kept them in a large decorative pot by the door. Tacky, yes, but it pleases me so I'm not letting them go yet.

Casey weighs 15-16 pounds and none of it is fat. He's just a big boy.

Ingrid

Be careful with that morning glory. It can take over and take over quickly.