Yikes! Be careful with *fresh* chicken/bird manure. Dunno about emus but chicken manure is HOT and should be composted first. This is because of the concentrated ammonia compared to other manure. Ingrid, re: drip... I think drip is a solution of circumstance in each location: water thriftiness, time, location in the yard vs closeness to a water bib, etc. For us, since we are not full time at the mountain weekend/retirement place it started as a necessity, so unlike my old pre-marriage house I couldn't procrastinate until I had planned it ever just so. Also, it sounds like we may have less property, just 1/4 acre in all. *As far as unsightliness*, almost all of the 1/2" line is run either along the fence line, or under the rocks defining pathways or garden plots and doesn't show. The 1/4" line on the roses on the fence don't show at all because of the bushes, the rest where it shows now, the bushes are either growing to cover soon or I guess I can't care cause it's not much. *As far as clogged drippers*, I'm with you on that one, but that's an easy one to fix at least for me and a time trade-off with watering, but I think I come out ahead. Have you tried 'FLAG DRIPPERS'? As I've mentioned umpteen times here on the forum our WW water you can 'bout stand a spoon in it is so hard. Flag drippers are great because the end (flag) can be either twisted or removed. Twisting usually releases the mineral buildup, if not or if there is debris in the line, you can take the end off to clear the line. The latter mostly happens on drippers to the end of the line. In the summer I do this when the drip is running ;-) The ones that I get aren't anything special, I get them at Lowe's. For roses, with the hard water, I usually use two 2gal drippers per plant (none are more than 6x10'). Since, ad nauseum, we are so hard, I check to see if they are running well every couple of weeks, but still, this is less time than watering. This last year, after oh, 3 years I guess, I got another set of drippers to change out so I could soak the existing ones in hot vinegar to clean them. I'll swap them out as I prune/fertilize again in a year or two now that I've had this idea (saves time on the knees/back to do it all at once). *Re our environments* Well, I think I can top you on dryness, it was 9% 'humidity' when we came up on Friday morning, BUT only 70deg. In the heat of our summer we only get a month hovering around 90+. When the daytime gets warm enough, I switch the drip over from morning to evenings so the plants have more access to the water. This is a foreign idea for me growing up by the coast as evening watering of anything only promotes fungus; however, someone up here suggested it and since we are so dry it made a lot of sense and I could see the improvement. *Re since you asked for opinions* Ok, since you asked (and just my opinion, you know how I love to share ;-) so not a judgment) but based on a small slice of similar weather, humidity, and as I recall you also have decomposing granite soil as a base, a couple of thoughts... You said your roses get enough water, but it would seem not the case if they wilt so quickly, right? - OR, so to speak maybe the *AVAILABLE* water could be improved (???), which is where I *subjectively* anyway think that the drip gives me an advantage, at least on my weather/dirt - more water gets to the *deep* roots, less to evaporate, and better still, less weeds. Otoh, I do still need to hose water to work in fertilizer, alfalfa, etc. All that said as I contemplate, I DO have an advantage of our pines that filter here and there a little bit during the day. Otoh, I do have more UV radiation at my elevation. TOO MANY VARIABLES!!! ;-) I may have inferred that you had drip at a former house? If that is the case, it would be a really interesting experiment in your current location if you ran a short drip line off from your hose bib (you could put in a Y so you could still use your hose) and see if the dripped roses do better than before. That would be really interesting!!! As for mulch, I keep adding over time and as everyone says, it just keeps improving, I've now actually found earthworms so I guess it's working ;-) My very best to you, I hope you get this figured out so it best suits you and your garden! Kerin

I'm with Seil in the sense that I'll make a more convincing case for my nominees with pictures, though I admit I don't have photos of some that are true contenders. Like Kate, I left the Austins for the OGR list, and there are plenty of moderns to compete for the spots: Apricot: AARGGGH - this was my (second) toughest category...Abbaye de Cluny? Polka? Bonita Renaissance? My beloved Versigny? Since I've posted one of Versigny recently, and the others are more Austin-like, I'm going with Celeb that I rarely see mentioned here on GW. Bicolor: OK, for a lover of weird roses this is the only category that could be harder than Apricots. Heart 'n' Soul - already won my "best of Shrub" award. Edgar Degas - heartbreakingly lovely en masse and not too shabby individually. Red Intuition definitely but I don't have a photo. I'll have to go with the kind of rose that anti-modern rosarians hate, that's garish contrast, stiffly formed petals, and virtually indestructible lasting blooms. This could be either Love & Peace or Dream Come True, but my photo was better of Dream Come True. Mauve: Poseidon would be my vote simply for the health and vigor of the plant, with very nice blooms too, but I don't have a photo. Elizabeth of Goshen and St. Elizabeth of Hungary were in the running but their pictures were blurry. I'm going to go with Pillow Talk below, which is much more purplish than this photo shows, though Nimbus will always have a special haunting place in my heart (but is it really mauve?) Orange: OK, I thought about sneaking in Oranges and Lemons or Andre Willemse since they're orange stripes, but in the spirit of the thing I stuck with the solids. It came down to Buffy Sainte Marie, Liverpool Remembers, or my final selection that's something indefinably lovely more than orange, Gilbert Becaud: Pink, warm/light: Aloha and Savoy Hotel are definite contenders for me here, but Spiced Coffee allows me to squeeze in a color blend without exactly cheating on the bicolor category: Dark/cool pink: Wayyy too many contenders here, as half of the roses seem to be some variety of pink. So once again I'll cheat and put in a lovely eye-catching pink that has an intriguing contrasting flip side (not exactly a bicolor in my strictest interpretation of that term), Shades of Autumn Red: As much as I love the modern reds and particularly the deep dark burgundy reds, there were only two serious contenders here for me. One is the elusive Messire Delbard, who arrived in mail order with the most heart-stopping intriguing quartered blooms in a deep romantic dark red. Being a climber, he's of course a diva, and so far this summer he's sat in his corner and sulked like the four-year-old he is, refusing to bloom. I'm swayed by a pretty face, so he stays in hopes of future glory. The winner anyway probably would have been Nigrette. I first saw it in a rose garden in Goteborg Sweden when I was on business there in late May. Not the best time for a rose garden visit - almost the only thing in bloom was Nigrette, but my jaw dropped and I resolved I simply had to have this rose. It really is this deeply sensuous dark burgundy red purple black as in this photo, which makes up for it being a scrawny, gluttonous, blackspotted knee-high mess of a diva as it is (thankfully, it's hardy or I might have to bash my head against something hard to stop planting it every year) White: I have quite a few whites but none that excel over the others. Cream Flower Circus would probably be my pick, but it's too pink to be exactly white. I have PJPII and Bolero, but I couldn't catch them being good, so I'll put in a photo of Lorise that has hints of pink on the petals that are NOT officially bicolored (ahem), so I'm not cheating Yellow: Sutter's Gold was jumping up and down to get my attention and I almost succumbed, but it's sort of a bicolor, and you know I wouldn't dare to put a bicolor in this competition outside of its category (snort). I'll go with Michaelangelo, who lives up to a rather ambitious name quite well. Russet: See, I'm not even cheating with bicolors in my bonus category - here's a solid color russet that has earned its favorite spot not just for deeply saturated russet double blooms, but for sheer tenacity in the face of my zone 4 pocket and several clematis that have threatened to strangle it, and nearly succeeded some years. This is Terra Cotta. Of course it's impossible to pick the most beautiful roses, and my undying loyalty is absolutely swayed by the fantastic choices here, well, all but Nigrette. I guess I have a weakness for scrawny mutts with big dark pleading eyes. Cynthia

Perennial blue flax (linum narbonense) 'Heavenly Blue' can be grown from seed. It blooms in the morning, then the flowers are gone as the day heats up. The next morning, they are magically blooming again. They don't change color, but the bloom sequence is fairy like. I love this flower and it reseeds. Taking little room, you can weave these through other plants. I have some at the feet of roses. Linaria 'Canon J Went' is a toadflax that reseeds a lot, but the pale pink delicate spires on blue foliage is so nice. The blooms are constant and they look like teeny tiny snapdragons. My allium christophii bloomed back in April, but I still have the sparkler looking remains standing in the garden. I use wooden skewers to keep them upright at this stage. Some folks paint them, too! If you could use yellow and burgundy (looks good with blue), then I highly recommend coreopsis 'Redshift' as it changes from pale yellow and gradually turns more burgundy into autumn. It's about 3 feet high, but mine are very upright in full sun. I don't deadhead these and they just keep on blooming. Cameron Here is a link that might be useful: Heavenly Blue Flax

wow...I hadnt heard of Madame Scipion Cochet before this - and she comes from two of the loveliest teas as well ! shes amost edible hehe. Not to mention Mme Caroline Testout... Well heres mine.. Mary Magdeline - late summer last year, so she is rather pale..very floriferous considering you can still see the remains of spider mite infestation on her leaves. then this Spring - unfortunately shes gone into hibernation this summer it would seem.