When I retire from my two jobs in a couple of years, Kim, I'll consider it! Meanwhile, I will offer a selection of (ahem) "well-composed" photos. It is wonderful to catch each shrub or suite at its peak, so when you get a couple of 90 degree+ days and everything turns to ashes, you at least have a good memory...The garden really is a great refuge, anyway, though, when life gets tough.

Wowzers. They all look great for triple digit heat. I've lost my desire to work outside right now bc everything is so over grown and more weeds than ever. Grrrrr. They all look beautiful Beth!!! Judy

A local nursery guy said Weeks had to toss most of their 2017 crop because of RRD. I'll quote his newsletter: We purchase roses from STAR, the largest rose grower in the World, and from WEEKS, the second largest rose grower in the U.S. Many mail order distributors get their roses from the same 2 growers. The big (and unfortunate) news this year is that a significant portion of WEEKS' rose plants were infected by a fatal disease (rose rosette) and as a precaution, much of the crop was destroyed. The ripple effect from this will be that all distributors (including us) are scrambling to get roses from the other growers causing certain popular roses to be in very short supply. If you are a long-time rose grower, you will notice that many famous roses are not on our list this year. Many other varieties are only available in very limited quantities.

There are great bloomers that are more than a century old--Souvenir de la Malmaison comes to mind--and it was introduced in 1843. There are new releases from 2018 that are complete duds. You have to realize, Weeks is in the business of selling roses. They make the most money off the very newest introductions. Never trust 100% anyone who is trying to sell you something. That goes for everything, not just roses. Its better to look at what performs well in your local region than it is to focus on the newest roses. If your local rose society has a website, often there are suggestions for good performers, or you could attend a meeting or two and ask around for suggestions. Or of course there is this forum, where it helps to pay attention to suggestions from those in climates similar to your own. Rose performance is very localized, so get local information. What is a stellar rose here ('Iceberg'!) is in most of the rest of the country a blackspotted failure. It's also important to buy fresh, healthy plants that have not been sitting in a small pot on hot asphalt for months in summer. It's also important to be a little patient. Not forever patient, but three or four years patient. A newly planted young rose doesn't bloom as much as a well-established plant with a big root system. First year sleep second year creep, third year leap is the old but true saying. I do not live in JB country, but from reading this forum JB's will eat anything and scent or no scent they are a problem.