oh yes, melissa, water really is the life-blood of the planet. How fortunate we are to have enough of it too. There is no soil in my tiny garden - unless it has been carried there by my sweetheart and I so, basically, it is a pot garden. Very, very different to growing in the ground, no matter how disadvantageous the soil conditions are. We are ruled by the daily need to water. There is no point in trying to grow plants 'hard' because they have only two states - greenly lush.....or dead. I grow a few roses in the long thin raised 'border' and, they are enormous! Totally unlike the roses at my allotment, where, like you Melissa, irrigation is a one time only affair. The roses in the ground grow well, much more attuned to their environment (dry, windy, sandy) than their gigantic siblings in my garden(although I have been surprised by the enormity of my new Austins). So, although there is always the threat of a hosepipe ban (I would just use cans)we are able to splash water around willy-nilly....but, in my heart, i know this watery interlude is not going to last forever.

Wow...an extended birthday! Thanks to you all! Carol, I reserve the warmest spot in my heart for roses that are aristocratic AND goodhumored, and to my mind Cl. Etoile de Hollande falls in that category: such an easy rose to please, and such amazing color and scent. Glad to know you're a fan too. Betty, perhaps it's just the word pictures I paint, but I don't post photos, because our line is just too slow. Either my descriptions are creating beautiful pictures in your head, or you're admiring someone else's garden. I gladly accept that part of the compliment that's mine, and, thanks for the good wishes! One the matter of turning fifty, I'm fortunate to be in good health and to have generally healthy habits, and I'm either doing what I want or am in a position to be able to do what I want when I decide to; in other words, I am my own chief limitation, and so have room to act. I am fortunate. I like being fifty; my chief worry at this point is that I haven't accomplished that much with my first half century, and I want to become more productive. My garden is important; learning about plants and gardening is important. The next step is sharing that knowledge, and also figuring out how to earn a living doing so. Before my daughter was born I learned, rather late, how to earn a living, but I've never in my life had a paying job doing something I loved: and I would like to do so before I die. Of course I'm getting gray in my hair, my skin is coarsening, I'm getting a bit of middle-aged spread: nothing that will make me happier when I look in the mirror, but then I don't look much in the mirror: that's for the young. Now is my time of life to look outward rather than at myself. Middle age is for doing rather than being. I can do just fine. I have a lot to do. I'm looking forward to it. Valerie, thanks for the good wishes. The big plant order actually isn't roses this time, although I intend to order them too later this year. I plan on FINALLY installing the main section of our garden, and so am ordering (planning on ordering, depending on availability at the nurseries)the following: box, both common and varieties; lilac, species and varieties of S. vulgaris; rosemary and other aromatics and gray-foliaged plants; laburnums, viburnums, whitebeams perhaps, Italian pines, a golden bay laurel for a shady corner of the garden; two or three pittisporum; and a great many other odds and ends. Many of the these will go into hedges, either formal (box) or informal, and pretty much all of them are drought tolerant based on my experience here. Almost all are liners, as I have much more patience than money. I still to do some basic planning with stakes and flagging tape, and I don't think I'll have the nerve to make an order until it rains, which it's supposed to do starting today: the forecast is for an inch! Ha ha! Carol, Valerie, Lori, Patricia, Betty: Thank you all for writing and offering your good wishes. ...

We were on the way home, so we missed the whole show. Our neighbors saw everything. The tornado funnel cut across Lakeview Golf Course, which is just across the bay from us. It shattered trees on the course and at a house directly across the bay from us. It then entered the bay, becoming a waterspout, and spewed lake water all over the houses. North Arm is only about 1,200 feet wide at our house, so the funnel was about an eighth of a mile from us, 600-700 feet. Incredibly lucky for us, the funnel veered a little north and did a lot of tree damage three houses to the north of us. We just had one medium-sized willow branch blown down at our place. There was no rain falling at the time of the funnel, and the sirens started wailing just after it passed our house. We were without power for about six hours and without cable/internet for 18 hours. Another lucky pass...

I just received the most WONDERFUL box from Miss Sue! It was so big, it took 2 kids to carry it. :) And MERCY, I just about fell out of my chair when I saw how much it cost to mail! Prices are getting ridiculous!! I tried to keep track of everything as I unwrapped them, but I had 4 little helpers (the girls helped me...the boys couldn't have cared less- they know they're going to be recruited to help plant later on! LoL!) so I didn't get everything written down. But everything looks great, nothing is wilted! Which was SO surprising, considering the heat! I know there were 2 mini roses, red & blue salvia, many daylilies, 6 succulents, dianthus, lantana, rosemary & lavender. The rosemary & lavender made the box smell SOOOO good! If I've forgotten to mention anything, please forgive me! Thank you SO MUCH, Miss Sue! You outdid yourself with a WONDERFUL box, and I absolutely LOVE everything!