Ingrid Although roses are...well..roses, swapping some decorative yet drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials for your not-so-heat-tolerant roses might salve your separation anxiety and enhance the beauty of the roses that are keepers. In the thread "Are Roses your Favorite Flower," I replied that roses reside nearest my gardening heart but then proceeded to list all the other flowering shrubs and perennials that serve to court my queens. My supporting cast of of fragrant and colorful companion plants plays a role similar to that of the white butterfly bush leaves in your 'President Carnot' arrangement. The silken rosy sheen of 'Carnot' is a thousand times richer because it is framed by the silver grey foliage of Buddleia davidii. A rose alone is like a queen without a country. Because my lot is about 75% smaller, I currently have half as many roses as I did at my last residence. Through the process of necessary reduction, I have discovered which roses are like air and water to me, which are those that truly sustain my soul when regularly encountered in the intimacy of my own garden. I have also learned which ones are lovely to visit but equally enjoyable from a greater sensual distance. It's wonderful that they're in the world, but I don't need to be with them every waking hour. I feel confident you will develop strong feelings for those roses which are your own true loves, the ones that display a developed sense of reciprocity and offer as much as you give. These will be the loyal ones, the ones that are steadfast and determined to stand shoulder to shoulder through the thick and thin of passing seasons. If you are like me, you will love a few roses of weaker constitution. You will embrace them flaws and all and tuck them into pots so that you may carefully dote and savor. I predict that rose relationships which are delicious but benign flirtations will cool, and if you are surprised by chance encounters, you will remember these roses as you do high school sweethearts. The pleasant memories will remain but the heartache of separation will be a distant memory. New relationships: if you are seeking more Buddleias, please let me know. In all my previous experiments, butterfly bushes have rooted like rabbits. I can offer B. davidii 'Black Knight,' B. davidii 'Harlequin,' and B. 'Lochinch.' Sharing your challenges: Annie's Annuals has so many plants I'd like to grow, but the poor buggers just croak in my cold, wet clay. They scoff at my amendment attempts. Some examples of hot dry climate perennials/annuals I'd like to grow but can't: Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies,' Eschscholzia californica (any please!), Agastache, Calochortus, Geum, any lavender but L. angustifolia and the odd L. stoechas (can't grow 'Night Wings' or 'Madrid Blue' to save my life), Oenothera (please forgive me all who are trying to eradicate this one), Penstemon, most sages, and Nemophila maculata 'Baby Five Spot.' I'd (almost) kill for the last one! Maybe you and I will have an opportunity to experience vicarious fulfillment as we post photos of our gardens from oh-so-opposite climates. If you successfully grow any of the above as rose companions, please do not hesitate to share. You'll hear my mixed sigh of envy and joy traveling down the I-5 corridor! With gardener's sympathy, Carol This post was edited by PortlandMysteryRose on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 6:51

Thanks everyone for being as dismayed as I was. The thing that makes no sense still is how quick they left. I mean they didn't even wash out their cement mixer or their wheelbarrow. The PB said he'd be back on Monday with a trailer to pick up the other bags of diamond brite that I guess are out on the side of my yard hardening. Or maybe he's taking the mixer. I don't know. He told me he'd call his insurance man on Monday and the insurance would come out to look at it. He was happy we were taking pictures. I was trying to cheer myself up and asked him if they would at least put the light in the niche and get the wiring through the ground and that made him mad and he left. It's just surprising how the PB complains that it's costing him $30.00 in gas every time he comes to my house but yet they don't try to do everything possible when they're here. And they had tried to get the wire through the niche hole before they started the diamond brite by using a stick and nobody could see the stick outside of the pool so suddenly I'm thinking the conduit they attached to the niche before they shot the pool has sunk or something. So I didn't think it was an unreasonable request. When the PB arrived this morning the first thing he said to my husband was "I'm surprised you don't have the light hooked up" to which my husband replied "it's not my job". In answer to some of the questions: Bella-Orlando: Our pool is 12x24 and about 4.5 feet deep so yes, it's a small pool, but according to our PB today, that was $900.00 worth of materials ruined. I have no idea what his plan is, I've asked my husband get the PB to put in writing what they intend to do. I found out that I couldn't have filled the pool up anyway, since the light niche has an opening that leads somewhere out the pool, but might not be above waterline level. We're in Spring Hill, FL on the west coast. The PB sent my husband to get the plastic because gas is so expensive and because while he said he would pay for it, it was put on our debit card. I can assure you the PB is upset that he didn't get his final draw today, not because I was impacted. poolguynj: Thanks for the advice but I know that they're going to go over it. They're not going to remove it. They used stegmeyer (sp?) coping forms to make my pool coping. Something wasn't right with the mix. The pool builder tells me it's the best he can do. "You wanted the retro look, it looks retro". He didn't even know what the word retro meant until we met, and retro doesn't mean that it looks decayed and falling apart in two weeks. Here's a pic of my new coping along with what my pool looks like as they zoomed out of here. tresw: I didn't give them the plaster check. The funny thing is that when he popped over yesterday to drop off the mixer, he told my husband that because we're "strange" that he wanted us to pay him in cash. Fortunately my husband had to get on a phone call for work right after that statement was made :-0, I asked for clarification as to what made us strange. Seems that we are the only people that he has ever done any work for that actually point out problems like holes in the waterline tile grout, or coping that has cured for a week that dissolves when the garden hose water hits it. So he wanted cash because he was worried we might stop payment on the check.

Sorry, I totally forgot to put the pics I promised on here. Hi Jules~ I just printed out the words in a font I liked in my Word program at all the same height on my paper.(I did them on the bottom of the pages) Then you can just tape it up and use some kind of tracing paper underneath to trace it onto your wall. I had a ledge in my shower that helped me line mine up so I didn't have to worry about keeping it straight, but I guess you could use a ruler and chalk to make a straight line where you want it to be? Then just paint in your words with acrylic paints. That's all I did and mine's been in a shower in wet conditions for probably around 4+ years and had no problems. Hope that helps? ~Anj

Hadn't read Tina's post. True, if the chair bothers you, you could refinish it (or paint it...if you're not against painting wood!) I was looking at your pic again. Knowing how you love textiles, & especially homespun ones, you could put a seat cushion with ties on the chair. That would soften it. I'm not thinking about a thick cushion, but one that is very thin, maybe a hooked wool? Since you don't have a rug there, & there's a wood shutter rather than curtain at the window, a soft textile in the scene to break up all the wood might be nice. (I do see you have a doily under the plant!)