So.... it's not too hard/stressful for the plants to get pelted with rain and totally soaked in their first day out? I don't care about getting wet when I'm out there planting, it's not like it will be continuous rain and I shouldn't need to step into the soil in the garden to do my planting (I have stepping stones/boards throughout the garden beds). I was just under the impression that the plants wouldn't transition well if they got inundated right at transplant time. Thanks for the quick feedback... I'll plan to get those cool crops in this afternoon and the tomatoes this weekend as planned!

Thank you, Kate, for posting those gorgeous pics - I love them, esp. Elle. Your garden looks like paradise with healthy plants. It has been raining here since Sunday, I haven't seen the sun yet. Thanks for posting those pics. which brighten up my day. Canadian_rose: What's the secret to having 43 blooms on L.D. Braithwaite? I love to see your soil test report. I visited Cantigny rose garden in all seasons, and saw a handful of blooms on mostly leaves Austins. Chicago area doesn't have much sun like other places I had lived (MI, CA, CT). Thanks, Seil, Jim, and TNY for reports on loaded bushes. I'm always glad to hear from Predfern - you are right about Bolero having a great fragrance. The public garden has many loaded Bolero bushes - these can jazz up a small area with tons of blooms. Both Queen Elizabeth and Bolero are elegant, compact, with more flowers than leaves. I spent 10 minutes at the rose park looking for Double Delight blooms, but could not find them. With hubby's help, I found spotted Double Delight blooms buried in a jungle of leaves. The Austins are also messy in the fall, like a few blooms buried in a jungle of shooting canes and leaves. At the park the floribundas and grandifloras really shine in the fall - still loaded with 3/4 flowers, and 1/4 leaves. I planted Austins since my garden is mostly shade, but if I have more sun - I would go for other types with more blooms.

Hi Moni! You have my sympathy. Whenever we visited DH's family in Pennsylvania, I never took the right clothing and was always freezing cold, even in July. More rain didn't fall, but it stayed cool, cloudy and misty. There's a tornado watch to our southwest, so I guess if that storm develops further and moves our way, we still might get a little more rain. We were in Dallas most of the day and drove home through a lot of rain but that rain stopped before we reached the Red River. Caroline, The maple is gorgeous. You have better color there than we have here this year. I hope the rain helped your pastures and ponds. Our pastures are still so dry and our ponds remain empty but eventually enough rain has to fall to start refilling them. A neighbor of ours who has a spring-fed pond says it is the lowest she has seen it in the 15 years or so that she's owned the place, and worries her spring may be on the verge of drying up. Lisa, I bet the rain was wonderful for the flowers you planted. Almost all my stuff froze on the night we went down to 25 degrees a couple of weeks ago, but the brugmansias in containers are still blooming. One of them, and I think it is Lemonade Twist, has 6 or 8 flowers open right now and another couple of dozen about to open. I am going to have to carry it inside before the weekend freeze, but it has handled a lot of cold weather already. We didn't get a lot more rain, but also didn't have any grassfires today....which is a change. I think there were grassfires every day last week. Of course, the dormant grasses will dry out quickly unless it rains again soon. Still, any rain is a good thing and this rain was a fairly slow soaking rain so the ground is not quite hard-as-a-rock now. Dawn

Hmmm... mine doesn't get PM. It's one of the most disease free roses I have. It's one of my best roses hands-down. Blooms all the time. And it's so photogenic, as you can see in these beautiful photos!! Kathy, I wonder if the difference in rootstocks has anything to do with it? I imagine yours is on DR HUEY? Mine was purchased many yrs ago from Hortico on Muliflora, and under its original name of MARVELLE, long before J&P snagged it up and changed the name. Our climates are very similar, and even with the recent colder temps and drizzles I see no signs of PM.