Hi - Roses do very well here in Fla., sounds like you got some Black Spot also they were too dry, being in pots they dry much quicker..... The Bradenton-Sarasota Rose Society has a great web-site with lots of information how to grow roses, plus pics of recommended varieties for south Fla., there is also a fantastic rose garden at the Ringling estate in Sarasota, was planted by Mabel Ringling, so you can see what does well here..... HD roses are not suited for here they ship them in from greenhouses who knows where... it is rare to find any that do well here from the big-box stores..... I get my roses mail-order from K & M roses in Miss., they are grafted on Fortuniana which is recommended because of the nematodes in the soil here...... when you plant them here you need to prepare your rose-bed with lots of organics such as Black Cow, Black Hen, Alfalfa pellets, cottonseed meal, Milorganite.... and work in lots of leaves and mulch, and then mulch heavily..... pots are OK but work against you and are more difficult to maintain, they get too hot and too dry...... and need to be huge to give the roses room to spread the roots.... and roses need planty of water, I have overhead sprinklers and run them several times a week, depending on the amt. of rain.... I have several rain-gauges around to keep track of the amt. of water they get, they need several inches per week so the ground under the mulch stays damp, but not wet..... I am all organic no-spray, and find a well-fed roses doesn't usually need any spray, and if it does get too much Black Spot I replace it with a more resistant variety...... you can do a lot of research by going on Google and typing in 'roses in Fla' or 'rose growing in Fla', and various wordings...... also on the Garden Web there are several Rose Forums with helpful folks..... Good Luck, sally

I want to talk about gardens. I want to know what you've planted, what's WORKED, what hasn't, and what you THINK ABOUT successes and failures. Yes Chelone you did in deed ask for folks on this forum to stand up and confirm that we have been discussing gardens and what has worked. Here is a small sampling of of just my posts over the last year I will let others speak for themselves. Winds Of Change http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0309151530324.html Lichens 101 http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg1208312016418.html 2007 Banner Year For Hydrangeas http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0719523023282.html Placement Of Art Within The Garden http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0711380532201.html Animal Vegetable Miricle http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0812105513812.html Arnoldia http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg112004007319.html This Weeks Outstanding Plant In Your Garden 9/21 http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0912173323175.html Notes From The Garden http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0318200314943.html Notes From The Garden II http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0520543527553.html This Weeks Standout Plant In Your Garden http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0709060615999.html What Lights Your Fire http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg011855044376.html This Weeks Standout Plant In Your Garden 7/16 http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0707481519564.html Juicy Little Tid Bits http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0807142426910.html Rare For A Reason http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0118313617296.html Photos Of Plant From Near And Far II http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0300394111111.html This Weeks Stand Out Plant In Your Garden 8/8/07http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0819375627586.html Ken Druse Real Dirthttp://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0517342117168.html The Dirty Secrets Of Your Successhttp://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0707452118167.html Soil Temperature http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0513592316754.html Thread That Stiches Your Garden Quilt http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0820220327472.html You are What You Growhttp://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0417224813611.html Evolution Of A Garden Design Conundrum http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0608362112234.html Backyard Utopia http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg060650336923.html Monrovia Partners With The renown Dan Hinckley http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg081756141189.html Family And The Garden http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0607504627312.html Observations From Neglected Commercial Landscape http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0709091629794.html The Dumbing Down Of Gardening In America http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg040935319659.html Using Photographs To Show Climatic Changes On Flower.. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0607140127523.html Hairy Bittercress http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0612402328891.html Plant Challenge http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0607305227478.html Longwood Garden Photos http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0719342019285.html USDA Announces Colony Collapse Disorder http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/neweng/msg0708274115749.html

Sign me up! I missed the last one because of illness and was just wondering what I was going to do with all those named daylilies that need dividing. Now I know!! Also will have named iris and some other perennials that are out of their space as well as cute garden 'stuff' that I just can't resist. I went to a plant swap about 5 years ago in Jonesboro sponsored by Butterfly Ranch and it was great. I'm looking forward to meeting some other Memphis area gardeners.

You did an amazing job - I think most pool builders could learn a thing or two from what you have accomplished here. As someone who has plumbed hundreds of pools with similar configurations I just want to provide you with a little bit of insight into your underground plumbing chase. While it is clear that you took a ton of care to have a clean raceway to run the lines it, you made a few key errors that anyone looking to reproduce your results should avoid. In the areas where you have needed to raise one pipe over another you used double 45's to create a saddle. While this is the right choice from a system efficiency and friction loss standpoint, having underground 45's like that can be a problem. You will not be able to sufficiently compact under the saddle and as a result the top pipe will sink over time as the ground settles. Even a tiny movement of the pipe with rigid lines can cause a failure - and the 45 saddle is a weak point for a failure. As much as having back to back 90 fittings is bad, they are able to take the compression of ground movement better than an unsupported 45. Again, amazing job...just want to lend some experience. One more thing worth mentioning is that when you have a pipe penetration through the shell it can be a good idea to 90 down immediately. If the rigid pipe comes straight out, again it has to endure the force of the ground settling around it. By turning the pipe down with a 90 you do increase the friction losses in he system but relieve this leverage point which is a known failure point in swimming pool design. I hope this info is helpful!