Hi Beth! Huntington Beach is a beautiful city, I was born and raised there, graduated from HBHS! I now live down the coast a ways, in N. San Diego County. If they're on Fort Your enemy out here is any rose that can't handle the moister sea air and is susceptible to fungal diseases - mildew, rust, black spot. So, pick roses that are more resistant and you'll thank yourself. Also, the rose societies out here are VERY active, so if you're a rose lover, think about joining. The San Diego Rose Society has Bob and Dona Martin, who you may know as huge Rose Society folks from Arizona! As to your roses you nabbed from J&P: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Will do well, very disease resistent and good choice for the beach Nancy Reagan: Haven't grown it, just know it smells heavenly. Beauty Within: Another I'm not familiar with Tahitian Sunset: The BOMB here in S. Calif. Big blooms, very fragrant, very disease resistant Gemini: Always in my garden because it makes an excellent cut rose. A standard here in S. California and a deserving AARS winner. Very fragrant. Angel Face: This is a personal favorite of mine. Looks delicate but is a very hardy little rose. I have grown this rose since I started growing roses in my garden. I just love how this rose smells. I think it is on my top 10 favorite rose fragrance lists! April in Paris (Ht pink blend), Disneyland: Popular out here for obvious reasons (and yes, it's planted all over Disneyland). Lots of blooms, does very well. Give it LOTS of light and heat, and it will turn all sorts of lovely colors of orange and apricot. Aromatherapy: Absolutely perfect color pink rose with an intoxicating smell. Big, upright, and heavy bloom producer. Love: Have not grown this one Lagerfeld: Gorgeous fragrance. I think in our area, though, you'll see balling and brown edges due to thrips and/or botrytis Olympiad: I don't grow a lot of reds, but this is a solid choice, AARS winner, an older rose so you'll see "nekked legs" but lovely clear red flowers. Saint Patricks: Great rose, AARS winner, very disease resistant, heavy bloomer, and will be greener the hotter the weather is out here (probably the same for you in AZ) If you're thinking of adding to your collection, be sure to check out Hot Cocoa, a very cool rose, unusually colored, Julia Child, 4th of July, Scentimental, Cinco de Mayo and I grow Glamis Castle (David Austin) in my area (6 miles from the ocean) like nobody's business. Patty S.

Pam, I used to stuff mothballs down the holes, and sprinkle moth flakes on the surface. They just moved on to attack another area. Then came back after the stink had faded. I think it may work if the infestation isn't too bad, but I was under seige last year. Chipmunks, another pest, will shove the mothballs out of their holes as fast as I drop them in. If I put a rock over the hole, they simply dug a new exit nearby. If the damage turns out to be really bad in the spring, I'll probably continue using mouse bait blocks, but sprinkle moth flakes on the surface. It gets so expensive that it's depressing. Money that could be spent on more hostas. I've read that the vole populations naturally rise and fall periodically, so I'm just in a bad phase right now. Papou~ Don't envy us. The January thaws have only been happening for the past few years. The gardens used to be frozen solid until the end of March. The freeze/thaw cycles wreak havoc on many plants and shrubs. Right now we again have snow on the ground. Who knows what will happen next week. Dot~ I do have cats, and used to let them out. I had no rodent problems, and they also cleaned out my neighbors yards too. Once I started keeping them inside, my neighbors noticed they suddenly had voles, moles and chippies doing damage to their lawns and gardens. One neighbor moved here with children who chased any neighbor's cats with sticks, trying to beat them. They called dogs to them and tried to poke their eyes out through the bordering fences. My cats were kept in as soon as I saw this. In addition to rabbits and deer, we also have possum, raccoons and skunks. Last straw was a fox family moving in. Some of these critters could kill a cat outright. My cats all have their shots, but...If a raccoon or fox had rabies and fought with my cat, the injured animal could come home with rabies saliva on its fur and pass rabies to us while we tended to it. Best to keep my kitties inside, and deal with the voles as best as I can (not well). Ken~ I am using bait stations, just not the PVC variety. They do definitely help a LOT. It's just hard to completely cover every area, and keep them refilled all of the time. I spend a fortune on mouse bait blocks. Between the bait blocks and the slug bait, I'm going broke. :o( Denny~ Pam is right. Voles can climb, at least a little. I've had them climb up into smaller pots sitting on the patio and eat the entire hosta crown. I suspect they may be the culprits who went up the drainage holes in my whiskey barrels and ate all of the tulips and crocus I tried planting there one year. I would also think that a pot could restrict the growth of a large or giant variety. A few years ago I transplanted a Frances Williams that had roots at least 2 feet deep. A year or two later I could see fat new roots spreading out sideways along the surface, under the pine bark. They were about 3 feet long, in each direction. I don't have any pots that big. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I've just been depressed and whining, looking for sympathy. Pathetic. ~Bunnycat (Nancy)

I don't like global warming, because I already live where it is too hot. Some short term problems for all gardeners in all parts of the country: With longer growing season: More bugs. More plant diseases. Also, some traditional old reliable plants in northern areas may not perform as well as they did. (We can't grow a lot of things in the Deep South such as Hostas, Peonies...there are a lot of them!!) More serious: Loss of trees. This more of a concern in zone 9. We had a very warm fall, and the leaves on our trees were not falling. If San Antonio were to become frost free, I think many of our deciduous landscape trees would decline and die. That's scary. Fortunately, we got some decent cold weather and the leaves have finally fallen from our trees.

I still haven't brought them in because the containers they are in are too big. I didn't plan this when I bought them, I didn't know anything about them and thought of them as annuals. I don't know if they will survive until the weekend as tonight it will be in the low 30's as will tomorrow. The only hope for them will be to dig them out of the containers, which will cause root damage. I'm not sure what to do. I grow orchids and my house is overflowing with them. I'm not sure whether to put the Plumerias in a dark place over winter or grow them under lights with the orchids. I fear bringing mites into the picture. I've struggled all summer with them on my orchids and think I finally have it controlled, but I'm sure the Plumerias have them. I don't want a reinfestation. I don't know what to do with them. I should have researched them before buying them. They won't survive much longer outside. Jane