In the past year I have learned to like miniatures. (Always tried to save those little giftable roses with no luck; they were unhealthy, spindly, miserable things.) Last year I got two REAL minis from the nursery: Gourmet Popcorn and Rainbow's End and have thoroughly enjoyed both bushes. GP looks just like popcorn and blooms well, and RE has a really cheerful bloom. Both are trouble-free and very cute too. If I like a bush but it's in a bad spot, move it!!! Yves Piaget has suffered in the shade for years (tree branches grew over it). This spring I moved it to a sunny spot. Poor thing was in terrible shape (some would have tossed it), and I hacked a lot of it, leaving 3 canes leaning one way and 3 leaves too. It's in full sun now and leafing out beautifully. Looking forward to that first happy, healthy bloom. Not that I've learned anything, but the drought and need to conserve water is on my mind every day (especially today and yesterday with 100-degree temps). The rose beds have been mulched heavily. Didn't learn much from the linked article, but it might be of interest to others. I'd feel terrible to let the bushes go unwatered until they wilted as mentioned in the article. If we don't get some rain this fall/winter, we may come to that. I must deadhead a couple bushes more aggressively all summer (New Day and Elle). They are so big by fall that they block my view when backing out of the driveway. Probably won't bloom as freely, but oh well. Have enjoyed everyone's input here. Sorry if I wrote too much!! Here is a link that might be useful: Roses and drought This post was edited by socks12345 on Thu, May 15, 14 at 17:48

The weather this year has really be devastating as has already been discussed. I am concerned about what the winter brings. My 3 crepe myrtles lost some limbs but are now blooming. Both of my rose bushes lost limbs. One is a yellow climber and it lost all but 2 limbs and I have had to cut it back drastically. It has had only 3 blooms. The other one I had to cut back to the ground but it has come back somewhat. The drought is really hard on the veggie garden. Even with me watering 3-4 times a week I see distress. You can only water so much. It hasn't affected the zuchini though. I've had about 4 bushel off of 3 plants. It looks like it was fed steroids. :) The only thing that seems to like the drought is my black eye susans. They are blooming profusely... I drive Pellissippi Pkwy. every day and off in the distance you see quite a few of yellowed trees and the daffodils did not bloom along there this year as they have in the past. Lets hope we get lots of slow rain soon.

I've been successful rooting lantana cuttings in the fall. Early fall, I had to cut them back the end of Aug into early Sept when they way overgrew their area. They rooted very quickly. I don't think mine aren't awake yet.

I'm doing fine here, my kids bring food and hubby and I are doing daycare for our 3-year-old great-grandson. His Mom is a bank manager and working very long hours. Tonight we will keep him over as she has to work until ten. Our daughter is working from home, she's an Apple manager and doing conference calls 8 hours a day. I communicate with all my siblings daily on a FB chat. We have a ball. I call the grands often and I keep very busy. Do lots of cooking, more than I've done when the kids were little. I have no complaints except for the way our government has failed to step up. We all know who caused that. tsk, tsk.