De-lurking here to say it's not just you! We had a strange spring with wild weather swings (up to 40F from daytime to night), and I have to say...this is the crappiest rose season I've had in 8 years. Very abundant number of buds--probably the most ever--but the quality of the individual flowers just stinks. Like the worst thrips damage ever, but each and every rose has it. Some roses had stunted/balled/withered buds, others had blackened petal edges, still others didn't bother with blooms. My Queen Elizabeths, easily the most prolific roses in my garden, haven't bloomed yet. There are some old, established bushes that hardly went beyond their pruned size and only spewed a few deformed buds. Thrips are normally a problem on my light colored roses, but this blight is affecting every color. The later developing buds are better--if on the small side. It's the roses that developed first (late April to early May, which is quite late for us) that were the worst. Surprisingly, the roses that seemed to shrug it off best were some of my David Austins--Jude, the Dark Lady, and a few others. But some of the DA's (Abraham Darby) and other shrub roses and climbers (like Sombreuil) were just horrific. My mom came over and said "you know, if you just look at the roses from the house, they're not so bad." Sigh. And we had such a lovely, rainy winter (for us) that I was sure the rose flush was going to be awesome. And the numbers were truly impressive--hundreds of buds on some of my small (3 ft) bushes, which is the best I've seen. But again, the actual quality of the buds was the worst I've ever seen. Some tried and true winners from my garden were hard pruned just because I couldn't bear to look at their browned/blackened/crinkly/balled horrible little blooms. These included: memorial Day, Queen Elizabeth, Sheer Bliss, Peace (sob), Marilyn Monroe, Daybreaker, New Zealand, Just Joey, blue Nile, Evelyn, Abe Darby, Charles Darwin, Autumn Sunset, Golden Something(normally gorgeous downturned sunny yellow blooms, but this time they didn't even open!),Chicago Peace, Tamora, Pink Peace, Mirandy, Mary Rose, Secret (double sob), McCartney Rose, Tiffany....I could go on, but I'm feeling kind of nauseous. To put it in different terms: I have over 160 rose bushes with few repeats, and this year I have only brought six cut blooms into the house. SIX. But who can really blame the poor roses? Last week we hit 100 degrees on Monday, and on Thursday the high was 54 with rain (snow in Flagstaff, poor buggers). What is a plant to do in these conditions? Apparently, they sulk. Now it's getting to be blistering hot again, with humidity in the single digits. Spider Mite season. I won't likely see a good bloom until September, and then the deer and javelinas will be moving in for their Autumn feast. I'm thinking of getting into daffodils. At least the lilies, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, and cannas are doing well. And the glads look like they might actually open this year (last year they were all duds). I'm off to sulk myself. Heather

i watered with a full flow garden hose every two days. we were in what I call a drought (not sure if we were scientifically)for almost two months around Easter time. i enjoy walking around watering everything with the hose. I did give it some osmocote. i made sure that it wasn't root bound too. It was very happy and growing very well then all of sudden the leaves turned brown. it started at the beginning of the week and by the end they were all totally brown. i did put a single stake in about a week before the browning started because the SE wind was causing it to lean. i tied it to the stake with a pair of nylon stockings, so that shouldn't have harmed it. maybe the osmoscote. i was once told not to fertilize anything that just came from the nurser since they keep everything well fertilized??

Not calling it quits, but definitely entering the autumn mode. Have been moving around a few perennials. At first I worried that it was too hot, but then I reasoned that I canÂt leave everything until the last minute. Then I finished planting my potted stuff. Clematis, kiwi, and a mugo pine. Still have to take cuttings, dig out some plants, decide which I want to save seeds from. Then there will be the general cleanup and starting to winter protect. I am feeling a bit weary of watering hanging baskets, etc, havenÂt been as devoted. But, I guess I am a person who enjoys his yard. To each his own, but some yards in my neighborhood are pretty basic with just grass and a couple of shrubs. Not that my yard is fabulous, but I guess somewhere down the line I decided that I wanted to have more than just the basics so I guess the extra work goes with the territory. But, even a hobby can feel overwhelming at times but I think you guys have a great idea to make a "to do" list. I usually enjoy later fall (October) more than early fall. Maybe itÂs because earlier in fall my mind is still trying to hold onto summer. By October, the annuals are mostly frost bitten and I have come to accept it. Plus, in a way itÂs neat to finally clear out that overcrowded flower bed and see bare soil, to see the branch outline of trees, etc. Hunnerbun, I read on our local weather channel that for the period of Apr 1st to Aug 31st, Thompson has had double their average rainfall. Something like 600 mm when normal is approx 300. Be careful with your tomato plants. I found that slugs were actually crawling onto the ripening fruit that was fairly close to the ground and making little indentations. Vine ripened tomatoes are so precious but I couldn't bring myself to eat that tomato. Glen

Nice to see the REAL you, POOH! lol MY facebook pic is older than 20 years! LOL guess I should step up to the plate too! Beard is looking good... but promise us ONE thing ..... that you wo't start looking like ZZ TOP!