I have a white one and a pinkish one , I also have rudbeckia maxima which grows a very long stem with a large yellow coneflower on the end. If you're interested send me an email but give me a day to update my current email address. Also if you have any tips on how to mail these flowers let me know. Thanks.

Kniphofia are pretty tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, so not sure you can make any hard and fast assumptions as to what your specific soil may be like just based on them. They DO need good drainage however, else liable to crown rot, so that may be one reasonable assumption. There are various home tests you can do to help understand your soils. 1) Testing for soil texture 2) Percolation/drainage test 3) pH test. This does require the purchase of a home pH test kit, available at most home improvement stores and garden centers. They are quite inexpensive - around $5 or so - and perhaps the most accurate of any of the home testing kits. But be sure to use distilled water as the testing liquid - regular tap water will skew results. And I'd encourage you to rethink your priorities with regards to the soil. The soil quality is the foundation for any successful garden and any time, effort or expense you devote to it is an important investment. It is far better to spend some bucks and some time in improving your soil before you plant than to waste money on unsuccessful plantings simply because your soil quality is not adequate. Many new gardeners make this rather unfortunate and hard to correct after-the-fact mistake. Also, because of your location in a pretty arid climate, I'd look into drought tolerant/xeric plants. Once established, these will need minimal attention in terms of watering and are often happy in lean or less than fertile soils. Many of those mentioned above would work provided your soil is suitable. High Country Gardens is an excellent resource for these types of plants. Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

Yikes! Be careful with *fresh* chicken/bird manure. Dunno about emus but chicken manure is HOT and should be composted first. This is because of the concentrated ammonia compared to other manure. Ingrid, re: drip... I think drip is a solution of circumstance in each location: water thriftiness, time, location in the yard vs closeness to a water bib, etc. For us, since we are not full time at the mountain weekend/retirement place it started as a necessity, so unlike my old pre-marriage house I couldn't procrastinate until I had planned it ever just so. Also, it sounds like we may have less property, just 1/4 acre in all. *As far as unsightliness*, almost all of the 1/2" line is run either along the fence line, or under the rocks defining pathways or garden plots and doesn't show. The 1/4" line on the roses on the fence don't show at all because of the bushes, the rest where it shows now, the bushes are either growing to cover soon or I guess I can't care cause it's not much. *As far as clogged drippers*, I'm with you on that one, but that's an easy one to fix at least for me and a time trade-off with watering, but I think I come out ahead. Have you tried 'FLAG DRIPPERS'? As I've mentioned umpteen times here on the forum our WW water you can 'bout stand a spoon in it is so hard. Flag drippers are great because the end (flag) can be either twisted or removed. Twisting usually releases the mineral buildup, if not or if there is debris in the line, you can take the end off to clear the line. The latter mostly happens on drippers to the end of the line. In the summer I do this when the drip is running ;-) The ones that I get aren't anything special, I get them at Lowe's. For roses, with the hard water, I usually use two 2gal drippers per plant (none are more than 6x10'). Since, ad nauseum, we are so hard, I check to see if they are running well every couple of weeks, but still, this is less time than watering. This last year, after oh, 3 years I guess, I got another set of drippers to change out so I could soak the existing ones in hot vinegar to clean them. I'll swap them out as I prune/fertilize again in a year or two now that I've had this idea (saves time on the knees/back to do it all at once). *Re our environments* Well, I think I can top you on dryness, it was 9% 'humidity' when we came up on Friday morning, BUT only 70deg. In the heat of our summer we only get a month hovering around 90+. When the daytime gets warm enough, I switch the drip over from morning to evenings so the plants have more access to the water. This is a foreign idea for me growing up by the coast as evening watering of anything only promotes fungus; however, someone up here suggested it and since we are so dry it made a lot of sense and I could see the improvement. *Re since you asked for opinions* Ok, since you asked (and just my opinion, you know how I love to share ;-) so not a judgment) but based on a small slice of similar weather, humidity, and as I recall you also have decomposing granite soil as a base, a couple of thoughts... You said your roses get enough water, but it would seem not the case if they wilt so quickly, right? - OR, so to speak maybe the *AVAILABLE* water could be improved (???), which is where I *subjectively* anyway think that the drip gives me an advantage, at least on my weather/dirt - more water gets to the *deep* roots, less to evaporate, and better still, less weeds. Otoh, I do still need to hose water to work in fertilizer, alfalfa, etc. All that said as I contemplate, I DO have an advantage of our pines that filter here and there a little bit during the day. Otoh, I do have more UV radiation at my elevation. TOO MANY VARIABLES!!! ;-) I may have inferred that you had drip at a former house? If that is the case, it would be a really interesting experiment in your current location if you ran a short drip line off from your hose bib (you could put in a Y so you could still use your hose) and see if the dripped roses do better than before. That would be really interesting!!! As for mulch, I keep adding over time and as everyone says, it just keeps improving, I've now actually found earthworms so I guess it's working ;-) My very best to you, I hope you get this figured out so it best suits you and your garden! Kerin

Wow, Rita, you have some gorgeous reds.I love CARNAVAL IN BRAZIL.Thats a beautiful DL.INSIDER TRADING is a real beauty, too.Hope my HEARTS OF FIRE will looks as pretty as yours this spring. Love, Love that Lush Red of MAURAUDER. RICKET BLAST is SOO pretty and looks like it has a thin wire edge around the peddles.So pretty,and BETTY FORD is breathtakingly beautiful.Wow,shes so gorgeous.I just love all these reds.I have really injoyed looking at this posting with all these beauties. Jean