Lynn, Cynthia and Luxrosa, I so appreciate your encouraging and also practically informative posts. The support I've received has been so heartwarming, and with all your encouragement, how could I possibly give up? Lynn, I've been really happy with how well my crape myrtles have handled the heat. They look good all the time and the bright green leaves make the garden at least look cooler. Luxrosa, I have the feeling that even though you may not be getting much rain the fogs carry so much moisture that your environment is actually quite different from mine. If I watered my roses in the summer only twice a week many would not survive. I know that's difficult to believe but the strength of the sun here on the side of a hill with so much open area on which nothing is planted is tremendous. My skin begins to hurt and burn in five minutes. Sometimes I'm amazed that the roses can survive at all. Cynthia, I have no plans to ever leave here, especially since I now believe that, for at least the foreseeable future, I'll have at least some roses. Roses are not all created equal, and I'm finding that some are amazingly resilient while others are weak sisters. It's going to be my job to research which are best and to find the most advantageous places to place them. I'm going to move Souvenir du President Carnot to a shadier position tomorrow. Last year it bloomed beautifully and did well in the heat and this year it's had two blooms and is mildewed, in spite of lots of water and mulch. If that doesn't help it will be gone. It's all going to be a learning process, and I'm happy that I won't have to do it alone. Ingrid

Here are more...Aloe congolensis.. .another wimpy species when it comes to cold. Still, makes a great cluster of plants Aloe cremnophila also makes a nice cluster of aloes, though a much different look. These get sort of aggressive and I have to constantly cut them back Aloe dawsonii 'Jacob's Ladder' is a nice plant, but I have it growing in a lot of shade, so coloration is a bit disappointing... always flowers exceedingly well, though This is not really a recognized species... Aloe decaryi. Not sure what it's a mixture of, but sure looks great in the garden No idea what this is, but I like it. Is obviously part tree aloe as it's becoming a small tree... flowers great. One of my more interesting Aloe dichotomas... has a nice twisted trunk This is my best A dichotoma... great living bonsai plant Aloe dinteri, called the Namibian Partridge Aloe since it looks sort of like the 'real' Partridge Aloe (Aloe variegata). Aloe distans (now called Aloe perfoliata, though still can't believe it since it grows so much differently than the other forms of this plant). Aloe divariacata- one of the easiest of all the Madagascan aloes Aloe duckeri... one of the 'typical' spotted green aloes NOT from South Africa... nice flower Aloe dyeri... one of the aloes that tells me aloe season is coming, since it blooms before most of the others (September) Aloe elgonica, a nice, sturdy, easy aloe (takes up a lot of room, though, since it suckers fairly aggressively) Aloe ellenbeckii is sort of a small, somewhat uninterestint species, but nice brilliant flowers Aloe erythrophylla (red on right) and Aloe fragilis on left

General Cavaignac blooms intermittently all summer. The camera is making him out to be more red than he actually is. It is more of a lighter red/deep pink, but it varies a bit by season. As my Portlands go, General Cavaignac, Comte de Chambord, and Arthur de Sansal, if I can get one to survive, are the most regular bloomers. Rose du Roi does rebloom, but not much during the heat. It's too bad because I like that one. The others, Blanc de Vibert, Duchesse de Rohan, Duchess of Portland, and Rembrandt are basically fantasy rebloomers, at least in my garden.

Great pictures of everything. I have a peony that was given to me 3 yr ago. It was given to me by one of the old Laotian lady's on the next block over. "You take, you grow, you like". I'm going to find out what it looks like this year. It's got about 1/2 dozen buds on it.