I used to live in Lucretia's area and with the same climate zone, and she has exactly described how I grew my roses there. An established rose can go months without water and stay healthy, though after a while it will stop flowering. The once-blooming old roses are magnificent in the Pacific Northwest, and the longer I gardened there, the more of them I had. When I moved to Italy I took with me what I had learned in Washington state. Here too we have wet winters and dry summers, but with much more summer heat than in Washington, so that I can grow Teas and other warm climate roses. Here too we don't water established roses, and if they were happy to begin with--growing in the right spot--they don't have a problem with it. Two years ago we went four and a half months with one centimeter of rain, and lost just a couple of roses, one in very poor soil. We have heavy soil, which helps a lot, and we keep a thick organic mulch on the beds. Our roses grow relatively slowly, but the plants are strong. My greatest unhappiness with our practice of not watering established roses is that some years the rains start too late to ensure a fall flowering. I don't mind if the roses go dormant in high summer: I don't want to be out under the pitilessly bright sun that time of year anyway. But I mind it when the rain starts in October, the Teas, Noisettes, and Hybrid Musks build up for a magnificent flush, and then they can't flower because it's November and too dark and too cold. We have (for now) quite inexpensive water, and my main reason for being sparing with it is because I want my garden's needs to be satisfied largely by what nature brings it. Our water source is local and is surface water. We need to be careful with it in summer so that there's enough for everybody, but on the other hand we can't use it up, as could happen with an underground aquifer from which water is withdrawn faster than it's replenished. Melissa

This was the thread that helped me put a name to the style of garden that I love best. I have been working towards the cottage style for many years and never get tired of the evolution of it. Loved reading them all again today. Cheryl

Hello again all, Wow!! Thanks so much for the trades everyone! Please double check that I've got the details right from all the posts: Gardeng8 I'm looking forward to your: monkshood, Karl Forster grass, obsidian heuchera, ws siberian wallflower and Yvonne's salvia (any chance that you could find more to trade so I could get a 2nd or 3rd one? I'm getting some from Jeff too, but if possible I'd like to have enough to put some in my front yard too to give the other hummer in the neighbourhood somewhere to drink (she gets chased off by my regular gal), I'd give up the heuchera for that :-). I have you down for my: dark blue agastache, Hummingbird red nicotiana, sweet william pinochio, and hot pink cranesbill geranium. greylady-gardener/lois: I'm excited about the virginia bluebell and honeysuckle vine, do you have any more of the: short (approx one foot) iris-plain yellow. I have the following set aside for you: spiderwort navaho princess, sweet william pinnochio, gaillardia burgundy, agastache Heather Queen signet/heather: I have us down as trading your: mini purple iris, unknown name red lily, yellow canna, and hopefully you still have some of the medium height dark purple iris or if not some of the brunnera 'Jack Frost'- if you have more of it, for my: cuphea Starlet, rue, burgundy leaved coral bells, French tarragon, Hummingbird red nicotiana rosco_P: I have us down for trading your monkshood and kerria for my: sundrops, Lorraine sunshine. Is there anything else in my list that you would like in exchange for a 2 or 3 cardinal climbers? flowergirl_on/Merja: Thanks for the trade of your:tall white phlox, leopard's bane, white peachleaved bellflower, aster tongolensis star of wartburg, and white datura for my: lavatera Mont Blanc, giant snapdragons - chunks, cerinthe major, Monet's Choice orange cosmos, and Hummingbird red nicotiana nyssaman Jeff - Thanks for setting aside a couple of Yvonne's salvia for me I don't know what gives with my germination of these, the salvia coccinea pretty much all germinated in the same conditions !? I've set aside a couple of the cerinthe major for you, I got the seeds on a trade as a darker blue than the usual one. frogged: Yes I do have Signet Lemon marigolds - they are supposed to be pretty bushy with single yellow flowers I'll set some aside for your yellow iris barb from london: Welcome back! On the off chance that there is something of interest on my list I'd love some of your: dwarf purple iris - possibly darth vader. Mom of Three: I'd love some of your manure if there is any left, yellow daylilies, sunflower Carol - 3 if possible, or pink ground phlox if you have another division, for my: dark purple columbine, gaillardia blanket flower, hot pink climbing rose, groundcover sedum Dragon's blood, Hummingbird Red nicotiana, and some rose of Sharon. Bev_W: Do you have any Red cypress vine Ipomoea quamoclit (seedlings in 3" pots) left? I spring sowed them but they succumbed to something... I'd love 2 or 3 if possible, if not I'd like some Verbena (blue, perennial, ground-cover type, gorgeous) or Phlox paniculata (seedling of 'David") or either: Penstemon whippleanus "Chocolate Drop", Penstemon smallii "Violet Dusk" I have a bunch of white cleome and 2 cuphea starlet set aside for you, does anything else of mine tempt you? Thanks to everyone for the great trades! It's like Christmas to me to get such wonderful stuff. Cheers, Heather/Blueiris3

Marynj - I have a semi-circle, shady raised garden and have battled with it for years. What now seems to be working (this season will tell for sure) is Solomen's Seal, a perennial which has been in place for years and is spreading wildly now, and ferns (sorta new to me, have Christmas and Autumn varieties and both are coming up nicely this year, they're perennials too - I have little patience w/annuals). On the short term, seasonal end, I've also had good results w/deep color coleus and will do those annuals again. I tried to water root and over winter last year's plantings, but that didn't work. In my shady site, I've tried and failed miserably w/impatiens and begonias, to name a couple of my errors. This year I'm determined to do more with the ferns, corral in the Solomens Seal, introduce annual coleus again, and stop trying to fool Mother Nature. My garden/yard is fairly new - 'bout six years now - and every year it changes, mostly because of how my trees have grown and how their growth affects the light available to plantings below. Every year is a whole new learning experience .... Wheeeee ...!! I really do love this adventure!