Kuzariprincess - I just LOVE L.D. Braithwaite. What sumptuous roses!! Divine!! My 4 year old plant is about 2 feet X 2 feet and will grow taller. There are lots of buds on it! Souvenir de la Malmaison overwintered in your garden? Great!! I bought it this year. Really weird that it survived and your Morden didn't! Shazam - 50 buds!!! Wow!! I bought Bonica my first year growing roses and it died overwinter. I'm reluctant to try it again. Although it SHOULD survive winter here. Maybe I just didn't know what I was doing that first year. Janet - I wish we were at the "just enjoy it stage." We still have SOOOO much work to do. Oh well, it's fun! Well - BLANC DOUBLE de COUBERT won my first rose race!!!! Followed the next day by J.P. Connell!!! They both have around 50 buds each. Roses rule!! Carol

Yes. Lots of roses look their best here in autumn. I went for a drive around the neighborhood the other day and all the hybrid teas look amazing. I am having serous mildew issues this year, but it only seems to be the potted ones that are affected. Devoniensis and all the in ground roses are clean. I did some reading and apparently overhead watering prevents mildew from forming. The roses in the soil get sprayed by the reticulation system, so it seems to be true. I've started hosing down the leaves when I hand water and even after only a few days the mildew isn't so bad. Devoniensis doesn't seem to get BS here either. It's very healthy.

Wow. You guys are great! Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement. It helps a lot. And I see I'm not the only one in this boat! I do know that things will get better, and I can always plant new roses, etc. But it's just the loss of the rare roses that pisses me off. Why couldn't it be the more common ones that are easily replaced? Of course that's not the way it goes, altho there were a few of those too! And it's my fault for planting the tiny own-root bands in this crappy soil of ours before they've grown to a decent size. And it's my fault for not keeping on top of the sprinklers to be sure they are covering the entire beds, and my fault for not getting the most invasive weeds and underplantings pulled out when they were smaller. But... that's because I've been so busy, and overly obsessed and buying waaaay too many roses. I'm not growing and cultivating them, I'm collecting them. That's what I do. I collect things. It's sad. It's a sickness I guess. I know that in the coming seasons I will get all the beds done. And Bluegirl, yes I am doing what you said. I plant a rose, or weed part of a bed. In this heat, that's all I can do. It's slow going, but it's nice when I do get something done. Right now tho, I also am now dealing with the death of my 98yr old mom. We've been expecting it for sometime, but it's kind of surreal now that it has finally happened. My brother just flew out from Upstate NY and my sister is coming up from SoCal, so we will be dealing with all the estate and stuff over the next two weeks. I'm not going to get much done in the yard for awhile, except watering. Which is ok, since it's been too darn hot to work out there. By then it will be cooler and easier to do stuff outside. The only drawback now is the days are getting shorter, so I won't have as much daylight to get things done. Oh well, it'll get done when it gets done. LOL My life will be so different now. I'll have more time and less stress. Not that Mom was stressful. It was my niece who is my partner in the shop, and who lived with her. She's got mental issues and was a nightmare to deal with regarding Mom. Our lives revolved around her needs and wants, and my younger son and I had to go stay with Mom whenever she wanted to have time off. Now I have freedom, and so does Mom! She was trapped in her bed in a body that didn't work and a mind that was basically gone. I will miss her, but I will not miss the ordeals we went thru with my niece. And I will think of Mom when I'm out there working in the garden. Being out there will help me get over her passing. Judith, your chickens sound wonderful. We only have room for a few. (In fact we're not supposed to have more than 2... which is totally ludicrous... why bother?) Anyway.... we built a decent little shack for the girls and have a run that's 8'x24', but we're going to add another 10-12' in length and use our old satellite dish to put over part of it. It's going to be a fun and funky set-up for them. And next yr... I want some of those Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Brahmas. Can't wait! Oh and I also am using weed barrier under some of my potted roses. Saves on weeds that's for sure. Altho they still get in the pots. But now I am sort of cultivating some weeds. Those are the goodies for the chickens! They love it when I bring them their "greens!"

Thanks Jim! Lily here's a pic of MOP. Hard to tell a lot but she's prob 21/2 by 3 right now and loaded with buds. Love her! Judy enabled me on this one and many more lol We are quite hopeless when it comes to roses! And lots of other stuff haha!