Maybe the heat does lighten Munstead Wood a bit, but not by much in my zone6 Kansas garden. Here is the first bloom on the second bloom cycle of my new Munstead Wood. Temps have been around 90. I took this pic this morning. To me, this bloom is a bit lighter than the spring bloom, but not as light and red (with no purples) as the other pics posted above. For ease of comparison, here is the earlier pic I posted of MW during its spring bloom cycle. There do seem to be some darker shades and more purple in this spring bloom, but I don't see a lot of difference--maybe more petals on the spring bloom, but colorwise, they are close. Now the question will be, what color will my MW be when our temps reach and stay at 100+ degrees. You know that is coming--I'm just thankful it hasn't happened yet. Last year at this time, we were already stuck in the 100s! Well, whatever color it is, I still think Munstead Wood is one of the most gorgeous roses I've seen in some time! Actually, I'm nuts about her--with or without her purple highlights! LOL Kate

Don't forget that higher elevations with more rain and cold are also within mediterranean climate zones both within the Mediterranean Basin as well as here in California. There are local microclimates here in the SF Bay Area that receive up to 70/80 inches of rainfall, while less than 5 miles away it might be only 30 inches. They are both mediterranean climates as they get predominantly winter rainfall and dry summers. There is no typical mediterranean climate; as an example, Rome gets more summer rainfall than southern Spain, and it can and does freeze and snow occasionally in both Rome and Lebanon/Israel. Coastal California tends to get summer fogs which actually allow our version of coastal rainforests to exist, such as the mixed conifer/oak woodlands/coastal Redwood forests along the wetter slopes. California tends to have a longer dry season than most other mediterranean climate locations, South Africa's Western Cape tends to have a shorter dry season, but a much windier climate year round with resultant higher moisture loss due to winds rather than lack of rain. There is no "typical" mediterranean climate, other than the fact that they all have predominant winter wet periods and dry summers, which are a rarity in the rest of the world, and represent less than 2% of the world's climate zones. I would disagree about New Zealand not having microclimates that seem similar to a mediterranean climate. There are certainly areas that resemble one, with rather sparse summer rainfall, and generally mild year round temperatures. It might be interesting to note that tropical high elevation cloud forests often resemble climatic conditions of our northern California summer fog drenched mediterranean coastal areas, and Californian and other mediterranean plants do as well in these tropical high elevation environments as tropical cloud forest plants do in our foggy coastal California gardens. Knowing the locations, elevations and habitat conditions of mediterranean region plants and the temperature range and rainfall totals is a better predicator of success for replicating good growing conditions than overgeneralizing, as there are plenty of higher elevation plants that are prefectly cold hardy and wet tolerant and also from mediterranean climate zones. One generalization that is pretty easy to make successfully is tiny leaved, gray foliaged/waxy foliage plants from mediterranean zones will typically want full sun and excellent winter drainage to survive in higher winter rainfall zones such as the PNW, while succulent foliaged plants from areas that seldom freeze will be less successful in areas that stay very wet in winter and also freeze.

Oh geez. I was excited about this post, until you busted 'em. I listen to a lot of podcasts while I drive, and I'm always on the lookout for a new garden podcast to try out. Garden podcasts tend to be so localized due to weather and plants. Does anyone have a gardening podcast you like? At the moment I am addicted to Gardener's Question Time by the BBC. Its free and you can get it on iTunes. Despite the difference in climates between Britain and Texas, I hear about plants that we have here, and plants we could have here. Last week's episode discussed the Lenten rose for dry, shady areas of a flower border. I had several of those when I lived in Richardson, and I'm now on the lookout for them in Austin. Or maybe I'll just buy more the next time I'm in the DFW metroplex! At any rate, if anyone has any garden podcasts you like, I'd love to hear about it! Thanks, Heather

My all time favorite source for inspiration is "Phoenix Home & Garden" magazine. Although I live near Santa Fe in New Mexico, I've subscribed to this awesome Arizona magazine for years. They also have a great decorating website with many good inspirational pics. I'm adding the link to it below. Lynn Here is a link that might be useful: Phoenix Home & Garden website