Many of my plants do this when we have a sudden heat wave. Last year I lost every flower on most of my rhododendrons. They are saving themselves rather than going to seed.

Andrea, Not all are sibs. Being they are FFO seedlings we really don't put any notes in the books. I think about 1/2 of them are sibs on the pollen side. Of course we made some seeds crossing amongst them and those are noted. swontgirl, Hmm guess I was alittle tired and brain dead! Yes we planted them indoors by the end of November 2008. I'll have to post a picture of the size of the plants! Julia, They are saying we're going to have below normal temps at times, but the temps will see-saw from cold to mild to cold all winter with more snow likely. Wish we could get darker and different colors than we are...oh well that gives us another trait to pursue! Thanks for the comments folks.

Maryl, These were planted last year and the seeds came up this year. Most of them were seeds my neighbor had collected from her blooms the year before. They are prolific self sowers, and do their own winter sowing (in spades!) as you can see. I don't think you would call them perennials, just self re-seeders. Thanks, Mantis. I love that rose. Jean and Lisa. That vine is about four or five years old. I bought it and it was beautiful the first year, but I left it out, and it froze, and I assumed died that winter. In the spring, it went into the compost pile and I noticed green a few weeks later on it; a lot of new shoots, so I pulled it out and planted it and it bloomed beautifully that spring. It goes in the green house each winter after that...if it wanted to live that much, it deserved help. It always a lovely vine even when I put it in the green house in the late fall, and doesn't go dormant unless I withhold water. Lisa, I have the red honeysuckle and this Mandavella, but most vines I have had tend to start growing rampantly and are tough to confine, so I don't do many...but there is a stephanotis vine in the greenhouse that was bought it as a twig, (you know those little two inch cube pots) and it is huge now, and it doesn't like being anywhere else, but the greenhouse, It bloomed beautifully this year (first bloom season) Go figure. I really don't know how to really treat it. kay

Dee, it sounds like you had a good day with your daughter despite the heat. Hope your plants did okay. Maybe your daughter would consent to you posting photos of her new garden? Again, I really miss my water powered hose reels. They made quick work of putting the hose away, and with a heavy hose, that cuts down on half of the time you are struggling with it. This year I leave my hose out a lot, but I try to drag it off the lawn so it doesn't burn a stripe where it was lying in the hot sun. I’m ordering a new nozzle this morning. [g] I had one of those small basic brass nozzles and I thought that would be a replacement that would last and not keep needing to be replaced, but I tried it yesterday and took it right off and went back to my leaky nozzle. I guess I am just used to the settings I use and didn’t find I could duplicate them with the brass nozzle. Which I will keep as an emergency back up. I did find a great sprinkler that I LOVE! I spent some time researching those last year because I was having trouble with sprinklers. Aqua Joe Sprinkler This has worked very well this year, in it’s second year. It gives a really high spray that covers a lot of ground and this is my preferred lever for getting the precise area. On other sprinklers the spray arm would get stuck in the same position, and that hasn’t happened to me with this one. It was $17. last June and I see now it is $22.! It’s 70F on my back porch this morning. Roxanna, we lived in a brick house one year and I was too young to notice, and I would have thought it might keep the heat out. I’m surprised that it does the opposite. No wonder you hate the heat so much. [g] We have oil heat and old plaster walls and didn’t want to have to install a whole new duct system for central a/c. I see they now have some different a/c applications with units that are placed high on the wall and are ductless. We are considering switching to that, but between the window units and the Whole House Fan, we seem to stay comfortable. It’s just putting them in and taking them out is the only problem. The WH fan, only helps if the temperature outside is cooler and less humid than inside. We also do what my Mom used to do religiously, pull the light blocking heavy window shades down early in the morning to keep the house cooler. I was in and out yesterday watering. I put milk crates over some of my vegetables that don’t like the heat. I still have broccoli, lettuce, etc trying to grow. I am trialing varieties of lettuce that reviews said do well in the heat. The cilantro looks like it’s about to bolt. I moved all my potted plants into a very shady area and by 2pm they were dry for the most part. Two large divisions of Aster were in full wilt, so I soaked them all again. My favorite rose, ‘Savannah’, that had just opened all it’s buds and looked very unhappy by late day. It was well watered and mulched but it didn’t make a difference. The blooms looked like I feel when I spend 20 minutes out there. [g] ‘Julia Child’ on the other hand, looked completely unphazed and opened her first four blooms.