Hi, everyone. Melissa, I don't know whar our annual rainfall is, nor exactly what kind of rock it is I have mostly. I think it might be the raw material for terracotta though. It is predominantly this very soft rock that in many places literally makes up the only "soil" that is there. It is a total b###h to dig and work this type of earth; as of now I have all the paths covered in mounds of this rock which I've removed in the course of making the beds. Once exposed to the elements, it starts very quickly crumbling into smaller pieces,which in time very gradually will continue to break down until it becomes clay. So I think it's very poor and alkaline. I gave in and watered some of the new implants the other day. Probably not necessary (none were wilting) but I felt so bad for all of the roses. Many have leaves that are turning yellow,so that means they are going dormant. There are a few, very poor quality flowers. I agree, sort of pointless when it's so hot and unpleasent outdoors,you don't want to encourage roses to bloom in July here in Italy at least. IMHO, they just exhaust themselves. Paul Zimmerman said he treats summer as a dormant time for roses, and I think he's right.Contrary to what tourist publicity wants us to think, in reality summer is the beginning of the year's decline. A few years ago, I tried soaker hoses, but gave it up:I'm still changing too much in my garden,it's on such a steep slope that I'm not confident that the water is being distributed evenly, and above all I just don't have enough stored-up water to really SOAK the roses. When I dug up some roses that I had watered artificially to move them, they really did, quite literally, have roots growing UPWARD to the soil surface!So, I stopped . Maybe one day I'll have my act together enough to lay down the hoses under a thick mulch, and use them to distribute water, not with the idea of watering the roses, but only in the spring, with the idea of maintaining the soil moisture as far into the season as possible.This past year, we had good rain during autumn and winter,but the "drought" (I put that in quote after reading about greybird's situation)in April messed things up. regards, bart

If you are sort of in the Cascade foothills area, you probably experienced even lower humidity than many of us during that freeze, which combined with the cold temps and strong winds zapped a lot of southern hemisphere things that are not adapted to handle that, and might endure lower temepratures if humidity were higher. Recall the air was exceptionally dry this time, even more so than usual - I think it's the first time I've seen a dew point of -22F in western Washington!!! This sort of thing adds the additional stress of dessication to being frozen. The Dec 17-18 pattern was similar but more brief and not as cold. Overall I would agree not to do a lot of cutting back until you see where new growth is going to come from. Maybe the Leptospermum will come back from the base or larger branches. I have always had problems with Edgeworthia, never seen a nice one outside of a rather sheltered spot. I am sure it is hardy to 0F or below but it really has problems with early and late frosts. I would wait on the Feijoa too; in a hard freeze it tends to drop leaves without any actual stem dieback. There was a lot of variation in how cold different microclimates got (of course that is no surprise but this time the differences were even more remarkable). I went through and compiled a huge list of the temperatures at various stations from Feb 12-20 in .xls format.... if anyone wants it just contact me. Believe it or not the Point Robinson weather Station on Maury Island did not drop below 32F anytime this winter.

I am in a different climate, SandraInSpain, and I hope you get some ideas from our Texas/Arizona gardeners. My climate is very much like the mountaneous north of yours (like in Burgos :o). My grandmother was from Texas and raised a family in Oklahoma and New Mexico. She grew and liked Porter tomatoes. There are other, much more modern, varieties that I have not grown but Porter takes our arid, sunny summers here very well. Thessaloniki is another heirloom tomato that I grow. As you can tell by the name, it was originally from Greece. It does just fine. Growing advice? Keep the soil moist. Maybe afternoon shade would help. Steve

I still agree with our traffic act ... that it's a privilege ... to drive on the public highway. Any person has a right, wearing a seat belt or not, to drive any vehicle, licensed or not, passed mechanical/emissions test or not, on private property ... but only if s/he owns it. Or has the owner's permission ... which makes that situation a "privilege" that must be granted, doesn't it? How would you like to have me tell you that I have a right to drive my car on your driveway? farm? In our area, a youth can only drive on the public road initially if s/he can pass a test showing that s/he knows many of the traffic laws ... and only if accompanied by a licensed driver, for some time, until s/he has proved her/his capacity to operate a vehicle within appropriate parameters (which until that time does not include driving on an expressway, or driving between midnight and 5 a.m., or with more than one other youth in the car, or with any trace whatever of alchol on his/her breath) at which time s/he is granted an unrestricted licence (except can't have more than 0.08% of alcohol on his/her breath). And if s/he transgresses those parameters, the privilege will be withdrawn ... for a period. In fact, I don't have a right to drive any vehicle on the highway, as is. When I purchase a vehicle, it must pass certain mechanical tests and limited emission tests before the government allows me to put a licence plate on it, and if I am caught driving it on a public road without a licence plate, I have some serious consequences to face, regardless of whether I possess a driving licence. Actually, if I don't pay a fee before my birthday next year, the "right", "privilege" or whatever we choose to call it, will expire, and if I put it on the road the next day, there'll be consequences that I won't like (if I'm caught by certain designated persons policing the rules). Plus, every couple of years, it must re-pass an emissions test and if it doesn't, they won't accept my fee in order for me to continue to exercise my "right" ... "privilege" ... whatever ... to continue to operate it on the public roads (but I can operate it on my own farm, even if it doesn't pass the emissions test). If it's been through an accident and an evaluator assesses that it has suffered structural, rather than merely cosmetic damage, I will not be allowed the "right" ... "privilege" to continue to have a licence on it. But this issue is beside the point ... my suggestion here was that everyone choose to make a distinct effort to re-evaluate and most likely upgrade their driving knowledge and skills. Probably we upgrade our computers oftener than re-evaluate/upgrade our driving skills. But the choice not to re-evaluate/upgrade our computer will hardly ever be responsible for someone's death or serious injury, whether that of others or our own. ole joyful