hoovb! Exactly! Eternal optimist here. I know we are in a drought, and many have it worse than us. We and our neighbors contracted to have our pot hole ridden private road paved, and guess what? It rained, and they couldn't pave. Project got delayed twice because of rain! And of course, rain a week ago and yesterday. But, only enough to turn the dust on the cars into a spotted mess. I worry because our soil is decomposed granite, and it drains so well, it does not stay wet. We are committed to 4" mulch, but we have so many grapevines and fruit trees, it's tough to keep the ground damp. Sigh. I should change my screen name to raindance! We should ALL change it to RainDance1 or 2 or 7001... Everyone in CA should! Suzi

Ooh, what I don't want is a warmer winter. This year we had a record breaking warm February and not much other cold during winter, either (just a weird Nov. Alaska blast that ruined things), and what we got as a result was a glut of yellow jackets and wasps infesting everything. The poor hummingbirds can't use their feeder, even with nearby traps full of bugs' nasty bodies. And I'm outside blasting the feeder with jets of water and stomping drowning yellow jackets that fall to the ground from the feeder. Ugh. What I'd like from El Nino is a moderation in the record breaking heat we keep having, and the severe windstorms that seem to be increasing--and of course, I'd like an end to our drought, too. It's hard to tell when we're in a drought because we receive so little precipitation, anyway, but we'll be lucky to end this year with eight or nine inches of rain, snow etc. All in all, it's the high winds when it's 100+ degrees that do the most damage that is immediately visible. I'm surprised I have any roses left! Diane

I call the plants with rotted roots ill prepared for drought, "spoiled brat plants". I have a lot of them this year. My rosemary is croaking I was driving back from New Mexico through all of this. I drove to OKC and then hear. My son's house in one of the lowest spots in San Marcus made the news for the second time in a year. He said he had 2' of water in his parking lot. He moved his car onto of the sidewalk up to his steps to his second floor apartment. I had a very exciting drive through the storms on Friday .

I only have two mature teas at the moment. Duchesse de Brabant looks the best it ever has, maybe a combination of less pruning and better care on my part. She still has all her leaves and they look good. She had blooms through New Years until we had temps in the teens. Madame Lambard, which was replanted early last year still has leaves. She's been acclimating to her new spot so hasn't put out a lot of new growth. I have two fairly new Mrs BR Cant that have done really well. They had lots of buds on them, but the deer ate them. They still have their leaves, but they are fairly small. Most of my HTs have lost all their leaves, but some are showing a lot of new growth (which worries me if it gets cold again).