Ann's idea to contact your county agricultural extension agent sounds like just the ticket to me. We contacted our county extension agent once a long, long time ago, in trying to find out why we were having a problem with growing azaleas and rhododendrons in one particular area of the yard but not in others. With all the budget cutbacks they might not still do that, but it's a wonderful service. Someone actually came out to see the problem here onsite and didn't charge us anything to do it. The fellow who came out was extremely knowledgeable and pleasant to deal with. He almost instantly guessed what the problem was, semi-confirmed it by shifting a few plants within the ground from pushing gently on their stems, and sent some soil samples off to the state lab for confirmation: a moderately heavy infestation of nematodes (the bad kind of nematodes) that were eating away at the roots of the plants. I know this isn't your problem, but your roses might have something that a local county agricultural agent can diagnose just as quickly there. Our service was free, and I assume yours would be too, or at least not too expensive. Even if your agent isn't quite so sharp as ours was, you still probably wouldn't lose anything by spending a few minutes with him/her. We've had two (very mild) cases of downy mildew here. I double-checked those photos and the roses didn't have any ridges on the canes. But perhaps ridges might have appeared if the disease had gotten worse, so telling you this might not be especially helpful--unless you can look or have pictures of the plants in different stages of coming down with the disease. If the ridges are there from the very start of noticeable symptoms, then it likely isn't downy mildew. Your county extension agent is just the right contact for checking out Ann's other ideas regarding the potential for verticillium wilt and sudden oak death. Since they affect plants other than roses too, he might have had a better chance of hearing first about the presence in your area of those diseases before someone mainly concerned with growing roses would have. (I hope it's neither of those diseases. Fingers crossed for you.) One other obvious thing to think about that I didn't think to mention earlier... Try analyzing in every respect the locations of each of the plants that have come down with the disease, and be sure to tell your extension agent about the locations of the goners and whatever connections you might be able to come up with from an analysis of those locations. Example: You have your 180 plants spread among 6 different beds, but all the plants but one that died recently were located in the front beds as opposed to from the back of the house (maybe more likely something like a gradual spreading of chili thrips?). Or, you have losses in all your beds, but they all are located near the new stone edging you've given your beds (maybe too much reflected heat added now?). Or, your losses are in front and in the back, but started out only in those beds that you added some extra bags of ___ to last winter to improve the soil (maybe the bags' contents weren't insect/disease free). Or, your losses are all in places less protected from an especially cold winter that might have set up the roses for succumbing to the first disease to come along. Or, the losses are all close to the swimming pool (spilled some chemicals intended for a pool there?). One other suggestion that might help would be adding mycorrhiza, though it's some trouble when you already have the rose planted, and if it's something like verticillium wilt it might not help enough anyway. I once added mycorrhiza to two ailing established plants and I don't think I'd ever bother with that again, though I do still think mycorrhiza is overall a good idea and we use it when planting a new rose, when it's relatively easy to use. Those two roses I was hoping to help were virused and no amount of adding anything would have changed that. With this kind of (extensive and serious) problem that your roses are having, it might amount to a situation such as ours was. Or maybe not; it's hard to know, especially since the problem is still unidentified. In favor of adding mycorrhiza... would be the firm conviction of someone very knowledgeable in organic gardening circles that plants with this added boost actually can more easily repel disease, and that it's not simply a matter of additional pathways for more water and nutrients (that's a good hedge during droughts and also especiaally severe winters). You can't know whether or not a plant thus reinforced can repel something as serious as verticillium wilt, but if you are willing to go to the trouble, it's unlikely to cause harm. At least what I did in adding it to our already-planted roses caused no harm at all that I could see. For adding to established plants, use something like an especially large and long pencil for punching holes in the ground. (I had an extra knife sharpening steel that was about the diameter of two and a half pencils and it worked perfectly.) You want to punch 4-6 holes in the ground all around the rose, starting from maybe 6 inches out from the center of the plant and directed at the center of the plant maybe a foot down. Pour a small amount of mycorrhiza into each hole, and then spread the dirt back into and over the holes. You're counting on at least one root making contact with some mycorriza, either directly from the hole placement or soon as it grows some more to that spot. If you do decide to try mycorrhiza, be sure to never use any fertilizer that is higher than 1 or 2% in phosphate, as this will harm the mycorrhiza and might end up killing the plant that will have become somewhat dependent on the mycorrhiza working for much of its water and nutrients. One last thought: I still think it's a good idea to water very deeply every now and then if you can, because of the potential for a soil PH that is too high in a low-rainfall climate. This would be true even if your roses have enough water available for takeup; what you want is a flushing of the soil downward to get rid of any salt buildup, if one might exist (though it sounds as if you're giving a good bit of water). In a desert climate, there ought to be plenty of dry soil underneath the plant to take up the excess coming from a heavy watering, and a system flush is unlikely to make matters worse. If this summer was a bit hotter there than in the previous years where you've not had these problems, a higher-than-ideal PH might combine with the main problem, whatever it is, and make it worse by creating extra stress overall. If you are able to fill some watering cans for spreading water around while doing some deep watering, it wouldn't hurt to add a tiny bit of cider vinegar to the watering can, just on a guess that your soil's PH is very unlikely to be too low already and that adding a tiny bit of extra acidity probably won't do any harm. Big beautiful roots likely means no severe root-eating nematode problem. That's all I can think of. In spite of lots of people thinking about your problem from afar, I doubt that you are going to figure this out via internet suggestions. But if possible, do post pictures. The county extension agent idea is probably by far the most important suggestion to try. Best wishes, Mary

The soil is fairly nutrient rich, heavy clay with varying degrees of 'hardpan' about 8-12 inches down. None of it has great drainage, but it is not a permanent swamp. In summer it all dries up and turns brown, even most of that lush looking stuff. We'll see what that means in the next 10 years, maybe most of my eucs will fall over during that time period. But so far, those that have had problems are in the minority. The E. viminalis did hit the fence, but the fence wasn't damaged. Thanks for the thoughts... it was a beautiful tree. It had a better than usual weeping habit for E. viminalis, and narrower than usual leaves and smooth white bark. This winter has been stormier than usual.... one of the stormiest I can remember, in fact. 1996-97 was pretty bad but I think this winter has been worse. Now whose ready for a nice arctic blast? Actually, it doesn't look too apocalyptic at this point.... just another moderate blast, not enough to make this the next landmark winter. On another note... I went and visited the Chrysolepis population near Hood Canal in early November. I found a lot more trees than I had managed to discover previously, including some that can be viewed from Highway 101 if you know just where too look, and some growing deep in the forest far away from salt water. This is a very interesting area in that it is very wet, receiving 80-100" of rain annually, but still dries out sufficiently in summer to support extensive populations of manzanita, madrona and Ceanothus velutinus.

Heheheh our car down the river followed by the garden shreader,that one hurt to loose, car was insured. Never found the shreader. The car was about a mile away. Today I lost the BIG tape measure. About 3 inches square. It was sitting right on my little work table right under my nose and it only took me 20 minutes to find it. GRRRRRRRRRRRR Tamar I feel your pain. I took several doors off in this house and have them stored in the shop loft. I am so freaked I will loose the hinges and screws. I know where they are now even after 3 1/2 years but I think soon I will put them up with the doors taped to one of the door knobs. Did you look in a drawer on the armoires? It is fascinating I can find anything in my office work room when I am in the middle of a project. Glad I spent a little time clearing some of it up today. It was starting to bug me. Chris

Have not posted here in a long time, but wanted to say I make cement crosses that I then embellish with stained glass and I put a piece of 1/2" PVC in the center when I pour my mold. I print a small instruction sheet to give to the recipient. I tell them to FIRST put the rebar, that I supply for them, in the ground and then slip the cross on the rebar. It's amazing how many people look at me when I hand them a piece of rebar, They don't know what to do with it!!!!! And I figure will surely forget what I told them by the time they get it home. Each cross has a different lenghth of PVC, depending on the figurine I have used in the center, so I put the rebar in the cross and mark the depth with a piece of tape. I then spray paint the area that is to be left above ground for the cross to fit over and instruct them to put unpainted end in the ground. Copy of my instructions: When ready to display your cement yard cross, first push unpainted end of rod into the ground till it reaches the painted area. Leave the painted end above ground level. Now simply place your cross on the rod thru the opening in the bottom. Do Not place the rod in the cross and then push into the ground. Hope you enjoy your cross!