These evening rains are testing my resolve to not spray fungicide.... Some roses are showing signs of wearing down. Sigh. But I enjoy sleeping because it's finally around 70 again in the evening. I also need to deadhead but this weekend is going to be very busy. How is everyone and their roses? Pictures please. :)

First bloom of Queen of Sweden --- no smell but pretty color, hoping that successive flushes are a little bigger, I don't know if it's a cut flower or not and it's giving me sprays instead of singular buds

TODAY

YESTERDAY

The two other Austins, the Pilgrim and Claire Austin, have not budded yet. Tranquility also only gave just that one bud last week.

msdorkgirl some of our roses are newer own-roots so right now there concentrating more on growing roots and leaves... So no bloom pics until later...

Just took this pic now... These D. Ko roses have some blooms on them the entire season as they are 3 years old... These are my workhorses here... But I can't keep taking pics of them all the time...lol

Since I only grow own-root roses it will take 1-2 more years to have more constant blooming with our other rose bushes...

Patience is a virtue that I have very little of hence me not buying bands anymore ;)

I like pictures in general, even if they're the same thing.

We had knockouts at the Urban Garden Center, moved them and they are NOT doing well (probably because not enough water where they were moved).

Jim

I remember what you and straw said about raised beds in the north country area .

Where I work, my boss wanted me to put a flower planter boxes 3 feet tall, on the north east side of the restaurant out near the deck, and I told him the roots would freeze , and today I saw arborvitae on the north side that goes around another restaurant died this winter from the north wind. They were planted in a raised mound. The mounds on the east and west survived and were green . the north ones were orange.

Yes I think raised beds stop at the Mason Dixon. Unless just used for annuals or vegetables.

I made a buddy today: Poor little guy was having trouble flying... He/she wanted a drink but was having trouble so I soaked a small piece of bread in water and gave to the bird: He hung around for about 1 hour then off he went...

Msgirl: I posted pics. of my garden in the other thread "Clay soil". Your Queen of Sweden bloom is big .. you'll like that one. It's known as a no-spray roses. It's 100% clean in my garden for 2 years, I gave it away since I can't cut the blooms for the vase, and the myrrh scent can't compare to Mary Magdalene.

Jim: that bird is a cutie & I love your orange zinnia, so tall. I went grocery shopping today, there's a guy who works in the produce-section. He's always friendly & talked to everyone. I saw him only once a week, but he made an impact in my life. Today was his last day of work, everyone in the grocery store miss him, including me & many shoppers. It's NOT what we do for a living, it's HOW we do it. Are we cheerful, or are we grumpy and negative? My posting here has more quality, since I'm much happier here. In the other forums I was too busy defending myself .. it was pain in other forums.

Sam: I'm glad you join us, all your posts are nice and honest. I respect you since you don't have any hidden agenda, you are NOT here to promote stuff, or Bayer, or chemicals like folks in other forums. It's great that we are here to save money & have healthy plants, and to share life & roses with each other.

I try to stay positive and to keep learning & experimenting with ways to achieve a nice rose garden without chemicals or having to spray anything.

I am up the road 4 or 5 hours from Jim. I have a quarter acre house with a little garden which is my escape. I try to stay positive. I like to hear about peoples garden and get ideas. I was excited 10 years ago after hearing Bayer works I drove to Pennsylvania to get some. But ended dumping it out. What's the point in all the miracle grow and wood mulch if you just get the soil right you don't need all that.

Msgirl: I love that color on your Queen of Sweden. Mine Q of S. blew fast when it was in partial shade ... but it was a continuous bloomer.

Thank you, Sam, for a good intro. You are right .. Kimmsr (1st poster of this forum), kept telling folks that healthy soil is the key to healthy plants. Yet MichaelG came in Organic rose to recommend spraying with Bayer, then recently FALSELY accused Kimmsr of being divisive and argumentative. See how wrong that is by googling way-back in this forum. There are other corporate-sleuths who came in here to recommend chemical-spray, despite Gardenweb's guidelines for Organic Rose. They stopped when I listed all the health-hazards of spraying, and I stated "There are some who are so desperate for profits that they would do anything unethical, be it slander or lying."

Thank you, Sam, for re-posting "Environmental reasons for NOT spraying" in Rose Forum. Unfortunately that shows up in google-search instead of my original posting, so people see MichaelG's slander against Kimmsr, rather the actual info. I posted originally in Organic rose, see below:

"Bayer, the maker of many chemicals for roses, is among the top offenders of corporate crimes, compiled by "Corporate Watch Research.com", here's some excerpts from link below:

"Bayer, IG Farben and World War II: Slave Labour and Deadly Gas
Bayer (along with BASF and Hoechst) was an original member of the IG Farben group. During WWII, IG Farben built a synthetic rubber and oil plant complex called Monowitz close to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Inmates worked as slave labour for IG Farben,[216] and when they were too weak to work they were killed in the gas chambers. "

"Bayer, IG Farben and Human Experiments[222]
IG Farben also conducted experiments on humans. Eva Mozes Kor, among the 1,500 sets of twins experimented on by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele."

"Medicaid Scam[233]
The American unit of Bayer AG agreed to pay $14 million to settle charges of causing inflated Medicaid claims after defrauding the government by setting prices that were too high on drugs such as Kogenate and Koate-HP, used to treat haemophilia and Gamimmune, used to treat immune deficiency diseases"

Bayer donates over $500,000 a year to the American Heart Association (AHA), which may explain why the AHA has endorsed only Bayer aspirin.

PCB [255]
Bayer also produced polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, under the trade name 'Clophen.' During the 1970s, the health risks associated with PCBs (including skin ailments, reproductive disorders and liver disease) became a major consideration due to several well-publicised incidents.

... See link below for other illegal toxic chemical dumps that Bayer did."

Here is a link that might be useful: Bayer war crimes, scams, bullying, and poisons

Like Sam I myself bought a bottle of Bayer fungicide back in 2009 but never used it! I think I still have it down the cellar...Not sure how to get rid of the crap! Any ideas?

Great info Straw!

We have decent soil here but it still has some flaws and challenges. We have a very high water table underneath our ground.

So my plan of attack is finding very diseases resistant roses that will grow in my wetter conditions without the need to have raised beds...

I topdress with compost etc. to keep the earthworm population up so they can keep tilling up the soil...lol

What do you think of Honey Bouquet Straw??? Would it be hardy in my zone? 6a Heirloom Roses say zones 6-10

Today was a hot dry day near 90! To hot to even do much outside.... I waited until it cooled down a bit and did some deadheading of roses and flowers.... We actually had a week now of dry weather... Suppose to rain tonight maybe though...

I took a short walk alittle bit ago to look at that Julia Child rose bush someone has 2 blocks away... Its planted at the side of there house by itself and it looks like it gets decent air circulation. Every year I watch that rose bush...lol... (5 years now...) And every year it seems like it blooms very well! Right now its in full bloom! But it does have BS on the bottom 10-12 inches of leaves up from the bottom right now... It will probably have more severe BS through August/September. Leaves do not seem to drop much on that rose bush but the leaves on the entire bush will probably become very unsightly with BS by September...

I'll keep watching to see for sure... Past 5 years it has basically did the same thing year after year...lol

Jim: Good to hear from you. Your friendship, Msgirl and Sam's friendships more than make-up for the hurt I went through in other forums. Serena in KS helped me a lot too. She left, thanks to the bullying-chemical-gang. Her username is Organic Roses-honeybee garden in HMF .. she posted great pics.

Your wife will like Honey Bouquet .. absolutely gorgeous, fantastic scent like honey, and lasts many days in the vase. It will be hardy in your zone, Jim. It died because I moved it. But it gave me so much joy for the 2 years I had it. I'm a perfectionist in my garden, everything has to be just right, so I move things around. Other folks raved about Honey Bouquet, and not just me, as to disease-resistant. I see that Heirloom roses have Kordes Winter Sun on sale too, but Winter Sun is floppy, like an unmade-bed, and blooming on cluster isn't as pretty as blooming throughout the bush, like Honey Bouquet.

Julia Child's scent makes me nauseated, like that Bengay cream that old people use. That bush isn't pretty like Honey Bouquet. What annoys me about Julia Child is when the boom gets old, it fades to white. Honey Bouquet is a deep yellow that doesn't fade. One year Heirloom roses didn't cut the price 1/2 until August 14 .. so I hope what you like Jim: Carefree Celebration and Honey Bouquet will be 1/2 price in the next few weeks. I would pay $20 for an own-root that I like, if it makes through the winter. Winterize the pot in my garage until May is a safe-bet.

I went to HomeDepot today to see if Buxom Beauty drops the price from $20 to lower. Nope, but it looked like hell, all covered with black spots. The original price was $27 ... way more expensive than Menards' $8 per gallon, or Sam's club $8 per gallon (many buds). Two weeks ago Buxom Beauty looked good with 5 buds ... now it's BS-fest. What happened was: the constant rain stopped a week ago, and they start using alkaline tap water, has UNSTABLE calcium hydroxide which binds with phosphorus & potassium, making them less available. When calcium is bound up in a solid with phosphorus & potassium, calcium is NOT available either, and what you get is hardened soil that hurts roots.

This year was my first time ever doing a raised bed. I set up a 2 feet by 2raised bed for basil at the restaurant where I work. I planted around July 1st it works so good I love raised beds its 18 inches high and I also dug the ground below it to loosen the soil now I have basil bushes.

I use my own compost and topsoil. And a bag of perlite.

I also have 4 half barrels with flowers. At the two entrances.

2 Scarlet begonias. 2 with red white and blue petunias. The begonias have a heavier clay soil with 2 inches of compost and the petunias have a lighter potting soil who with 2 inches of compost top dress. I will take pictures soon so you can see.

Yes pictures Sam! :-)

Thanks Straw!

I will order roses next Spring as its getting to late. Takes 2 weeks to get roses after ordering so it would be in August before I got them planted...I like to plant small rose bushes at least 12 weeks before our first frost (Mid October)

New Earthsong was planted July 17th... So roughly 12 weeks before frost date..

OK cool. I am going to camp at the Pocono Raceway. When I get back.

Have a great time Sam!

OK

I am thankful to have you 3 here!

Straw I got a email from Serena recently... She got two new tree roses for this year and she still has a few of her old roses... She's been busy with photography so not much time for roses...

I shipped her a Distant Drum Buck rose a few years ago she still has that one also...

I'm going to take out some soil at the side of the house where those morning glories are planted next year... If I do it right I should be able to plant some Zinnias in that space next year.... Hopefully...lol... Morning Glories can be rough to get rid of...lol

Jim: morning glories are a pain before frost hits .. I had to spend time pulling the dead vines from the trellis.

Sam: Yes, would love to see your pics. Agree with: heavy soil for Begonias (likes it wet), and lighter soil for petunias (less need for water).

I start a new thread for googling purpose "No-spray roses worth buying, winter protect roses, and Japanese beetles". That's for our discussions plus helping future generations when they google.

I was looking at our roses this morning and all looks good... We have had 7 days without rain now in a row. Mostly Hot & Humid!

Own Root Prairie Harvest has a couple new basal breaks coming up! Very good growth so far...

Easy Does it is also doing well in the growth dept.

Thomas Affleck shooting up some new basal breaks... Seems to be concentrating on growth instead of blooming which is fine with me. No fertilizer has been given to TA. Just Horse Manure/lime applied in April to TA...

New Earthsong growing well... More new growth in 10 days then RMV Earthsong grew in 2 months...

My sisters rose starting to sprout new leaf buds...Few leaves that are on it are green...

EASY DOES IT TODAY:

THOMAS AFFLECK TODAY:

PRAIRIE HARVEST TODAY:

NEW EARTHSONG TODAY:

SISTERS ROSE TODAY:

Oh this weekend was not very productive rose-wise but I finally moved out of my storage unit. Now it's a matter of sorting through it all... I have no need to buy any more graph note books. Hope everyone is well!

Jim so you're not fertilizing at all? I am impatient and would have given them a half dose of something. :)

Jim: All your roses look good and healthy, esp. Prairie Harvest. Agree that it's too hot to use fertilizer. We have been over 80 degree for the past week, and more 90 degree days today & this week. No rain either.

MsGirl: Queen of Sweden bloom was small for me, even in partial shade. Sufficient nutrients help with bigger bloom. When we were in constant rain May & June, the rose park's Old Garden Roses' blooms were tiny, 1/2 their size, due to leaching of nutrients. Calcium is the key element that helps to retain other nutrients. Early spring chicken manure was effective for my fruit trees thanks to 5% nitrogen, 9% calcium, 3% phosphorus, and 2% potassium. For roses I supplement chicken manure with sulfate of potash.

My rose fertilizing routine is simple... I apply a few inches of compost around & under Roses in October and that's it...(Entire beds will get done from now on because the flowers grew so much better in the compost this year...)

I deadhead and weed the rose beds out throughout the growing season and that's about it... Rest of time I try to sit back and enjoy looking at them...

I'll probably stick to growing all our roses in the ground..

I'm trying to eliminate growing flowers in pots also...

Nothing against pots but the extra work and extra water bill payments is what I'm trying to eliminate...

I was always taught to duplicate what happens in the forest/woods and apply that to my garden beds and I couldn't go wrong...lol

Ohh, have Serena take a pic of her Distant Drums? I moved him from his current location to a semi-less intense sun location and he's doing better (was very droopy with wilt but has recovered with no loss thank goodness).

I don't know, thinking about the work involved, if I ever do get space, I might still have some of them in pots. The plants are getting very leafy and I don't do a good job of pruning out spindly canes, I'll probably do a semi-thorough hard prune in the next week or two to encourage concentration of bloom size.

Be prepared, I'm going to take pics of everything this evening :)

Bring those pics on msdorkgirl!

I'll ask Serena to take a pic of her DD... Full Bush Shot? Just Bloom? I think it gets severe BS in Kansas so hopefully she will do it...

All of the above please. He's a constant bloomer for me, so it would be nice to compare size.

At Chicago Botanical Gardens, Distant Drums was the best looking bush in terms of foliage: lush, more leaves than blooms. They have at least a dozen Distant Drums in one bed, and the entire bed was like a green carpet with lavender blooms, no missing spots. They have loamy alkaline soil, with leaf-compost, pH of 7.4. That's the pH level of one-year de-composed grass in my garden. That's the pH level that I aim for most healthy foliage & full and lush bush. Chicago Botanical Gardens uses soluble fertilizer, since their soil drains well.

My local friend here also did not have much luck with Distant Drums... That's one reason I decided not to try and grow it here...

Are the roses at the Chicago Botanical Gardens totally no spray Straw?

Jim: on their website CBG stated they follow nature's way, with minimal spraying. That's why CBG has VAST bed of no-spray roses, and only 3 per fussy varieties: three Mr. Lincoln, three per hybrid-tea type, etc. Since their Distant Drum bed is huge, I don't think they spray that one .. it would cost too much money & time. Well-drained & fluffy soil, alkaline and well-absorbed SOLUBLE fertilizer will maintain the stability needed for health.

Note that Distant Drum is known as wimpy as own-root. Serena's Distant Drum is own-root, given by Jim. Distant Drum is best grafted on Dr. Huey for alkaline clay. Dr. Huey root-stock can handle heavy clay and alkaline water, since it can secret acid best. During constant rain, my grafted-Pink Peace was a loser, lower leaves with blackspots. I dug it up, saw the soil fluffy, tested the pH and found it acidic, also saw Dr. Huey going DEEP into bottom-clay for water. I mixed in dolomitic lime (pH over 9). At first the leaves were pale, then as it rained more, leaves STAYED healthy. The weather changed into hot & no rain, my heavy clay became concrete ... own-roots have to be watered to stay healthy, but Pink Peace looks good even without watering, since Dr. Huey can go really deep. I become flexible as I gain experience: For acidic &wet location, own-root is best. For dry & alkaline location, Dr. Huey is best. Next year I'm buying cheap $8 grafted-on-Dr.-Huey for locations near trees.

Cantigny rose garden does not spray this year, since even the "Baby Love" mini, known for disease-resistant, are covered with black spots, and half-the-leaves are gone. Cantigny has alkaline clay, whereas Chicago Botanical Gardens have loamy soil & better drainage.

Here's pics of some Earthsongs in a Ohio Rose Garden.... No spray at all and no fertilizer or deadheading... (Some type of test garden)

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.163079

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.163080

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.163085

Thread explains about rose garden:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2139251/anybody-have-a-full-bush-shot-of-earth-song?n=27

It took me 5 years to finally try this rose...lol

Thank you, Jim, for those links ... I looked through them all. Years ago when I researched on Rose garden in Columbus, Ohio, their website stated that they have SANDY soil, fixed with peat moss. So EarthSong clearly likes it well-drained. Plus rose park can't baby nor shade own-roots, so their Earthsong would be grafted on Dr. Huey, which likes it dry and alkaline. When they say water roses ONCE A WEEK, that's meant for GRAFTED ON DR. HUEY, and not for own-root.

When I bought Pink Peace grafted, the root-ball was about the size of Roses Unlimited's own-root. After 2 months in the ground, Dr. Huey went down twice deeper into the sub-clay area ... when I dug that up, I broke 1/4 of Dr. Huey .. yet it's still perky once I re-plant it. When I took the soil-chemistry test with 80+ questions, one question was which soil produce healthiest plant. The answer wasn't clay, it was loamy soil. It's known that loamy soil with most organic matter, produce the healthiest plant. Folks root roses in COARSE sand, to achieve the biggest root. The gardens with the most blooms on HMF is NOT clay soil, it's alkaline sandy soil.

Researching Earthsong previously he seems to be able to adapt to many soil types... So hopefully he is fine here... Time will tell...

One thing I liked when I was researching was that ES seemed to do well in many rose gardens and private gardens around the country.

http://kansasgardenmusings.blogspot.com/2011/01/earthsong.html

http://www.ph-rose-gardens.com/89175.htm

http://www.moyesii.com/earthsong.html

http://theminnesotarosegardener.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-minnesota-rose-gardeners-rose.html

I love those links, Jim. My favorite is Moyesii, that person told me he/she doesn't like forums, due to corporate sleuths hanging out.

I went to watch Terminator Genisys and had no daytime to play with the roses ... today though, today.

I'll try and take a picture of DD today ... he's looking pretty happy actually in his new location. Remember how he defoliated and then bloomed out for me? Maybe he likes to freak out, and then do good.

NICOLE CAROL MILLER - last bloom from this flush .. now to record how long it will take for it to set buds, bloom out :)

Msgirl: Love your sense of humor: "Since I've got the "buy Austins cheaply" checkbox completed, I'll make sure to research the next batch of roses for suitability in a vase."

In my case, I was tempted by the description "low-thorn" and NOPE, Q of S. is on the same par with the hybrid-tea. It's low-thorn compared to other porcupine Austins (Lilian Austin, Radio Times, Mary M., Wise Portia) all have nasty thorns. Evelyn is the best: low-thorn, makes great cut flower, doesn't fry in 90 degree sun. Crown Princess Mag and Golden Celebration poked me many times ... they are "climber-type", although they are listed as "low-thorn" in Austin Catalog.

Nicole Carol Miller is so pretty. I gave Q. of Sweden to Seaweed. I don't keep roses with no scent, although Canadian_Rose raved about Q. of. Sweden's scent ... she keeps it in potting soil, which enhances the scent. My alkaline clay, high in magnesium lessen the scent on many roses. It took 3 years before William Shakespeare smelled good.

My Queen of Sweden bloomed constantly in 4 hours of sun, with deeper colors. My 4-hours of sun in late fall is very weak, compared to 4 hours of Hawaii sun. Here in Chicagoland some year I don't see the sun for the entire November. Can't locate Queen of Sweden in my Olympus directory, but I found a picture of my pot-ghetto when I bought band-size roses:

I found an old post in Organic rose forum, Seaweed posted the pic. of Q. of Sweden that I gave to her. I told her to keep it in partial shade, like David Austin catalog suggested, and she fertilized it with fish emulsion (plus gypsum). She kept it in a pot in her southern CA garden.

seaweed0212

Thank you kindly of this gift Queen of Sweden, English pink rose, so precious and such delicate beauty, I forever appreciate this rose from you, now it is graciously living in my garden, lucky me!!!!

It does start of that pretty soft pink, then goes very light shade towards the end ... and only lasts a day, or two at the most. It has 12 buds this 1st flush though, so it's not stingy at all. A keeper, but not a show stopper.

From left to right: Queen of Sweden, back is The Pilgrim, front of it is Distant Drums (need to repot from its original 3 gallon) and Tranquility in big green pot.

Some fantastic shots of your roses msdorkgirl! Can't wait to see your Distant drums!

Nice pink rose shot Straw!

I decided to spread some compost today on the entire bed which Earthsong, D. Knockout, Prairie Harvest are planted in.... (I did put my compost under and around D. Knockout last September) but never applied compost to the rest of the bed...

I might just plant a rose bush where that tomato plant is next year... I'll just grow a tomato plant in a giant pot... Look at the neighbors...lol

Looks really good, Jim. How do you make your home-made compost? I make mine in the shade, just dump stuff on the ground ... it's NOT stinky. I'm going to get all the leaves I can this fall from the neighbors. Chicago Botanical Gardens' roses are ridiculously healthy, they use leaf-compost. When I took that soil-chemistry test, it stated the highest content of leaves is made out of carbon. Carbon (brown stuff) is good for the compost pile, a bit of nitrogen (green stuff) is good to speed up the decomposition.

My most-blooms were when I used EarthGro Organic humus & manure ($1.26 for a 40 lb. bag from Walmart) to winter-protect, and in the spring there's zillions of buds ... way better than chicken manure. Here's a review on Walmart website for EarthGro bagged Humus & manure:

5.0 stars 4/1/2012 by oklahomagirl1989

"I made a flowerbed last year and planted 2 tiny roses into it...the flowerbed consisted of nothing BUT Humus and Manure Mix from Wal Mart.....my Roses have exploded with blooms during last years brutally hot summer when everything else died.....and since then, they have at least quadruplet in size....I couldn't be more happier about this product, in fact, I recommend it to all of my customers, since I work in the Garden Center and I always get asked about which soil is the best. Right now we are sold out of it and I am a bit upset myself because I want to buy lots more of it.....I would recommend this product to ANYONE at ALL TIMES!!!!!

Here are the buds on Sweet Promise in spring when I winter-protected with EarthGro humus & manure (sold at HomeDepot and Walmart). Yay to the power of humus !!

More spring buds on Francis Blaise when I used bagged humus & manure to winter-protect. Well-rotted horse manure is good too, but it's a real pain to scoop that into my car. I didn't winter-protect last year, since my kid's 6th-grade gifted-program was stressful for me. Growing healthy roses is easier than feeding a picky kid. I put money in her lunch-account, but she refuses to buy lunch from school, so I pack her lunch everyday. How do you pack lunch for a kid who doesn't like cheese, and is allergic to peanuts? Any ideas? Thanks.

My compost is not made here...lol....My friend in the country has a large giant pit in the ground and he doesn't use it. So I take all my stuff and dump into pit. Since our older neighbor doesn't spray I gather her yard stuff up and my step dads yard waste and ours... My step dad has many, many trees so lots of leaves, etc....My friend does turn pile for me with his tractor.... I will take pics next time I visit pit...

WOW great healthy leaves Straw on your rose bushes! That Walmart stuff must work great!

This area is where Carefree Celebration is going next year. He can grow as large as he wants...lol

This area has fluffy soil so Plum Perfect and Honey Bouquet (?) or another rose will go here next year...

SO I WILL NEED 4 NEW ROSES NEXT YEAR!

My sisters rose bushes are in there permanent homes now:

This is the largest plant which I put back where it originally was planted.

Another one of my sisters plant is behind that flag....

Here's the third one:

The 4th plant of my sisters I gave to my mom to grow...

We have trouble to the fact that everywhere our dog pees the grass dies in a small circle. We tried changing diet as advised by our Vet but it did not help... Our dog as potent pee...lol

This happens during our hot periods with no rain...

Good plans, Jim .. your garden has plenty of space. Mine too for more roses, but I'm reluctant to put plastic edging & brick-it. I want to save water for the ones I like the most, quality over quantity. Honey Bouquet was a Japanese magnet, if you have problems with JB, that's the 1st one they go to besides Knock-out. I would go with a disease-resistant Austin like William Shakespeare .. that one likes shade & tons of water & acidic clay. No JB ever on that one.

Plus Honey Bouquet is borderline in hardiness, while Austin roses are very hardy, and loves acidic soil & rain like their native England. Darcey Busell is an Austin that everyone raves about for its health (shiny foliage). My wish-list from Chamblee is: South Africa Sunbelt, Beverly, Dark Desire, and Poisedon. But that may change if I find something smells better, or better for the vase.

Dilute the pee with the hose Jim.

BBQ chicken for lunch straw

I may have to hose down the yard every day like Sam says...

Our cat Cagney who is 12 years old suddenly started throwing up her food for the past couple days and today she has not ate or drank. SO I will call Vet in the morning...She looks sick....

Please say prayers for Cagney! Thanks!

South Africa Sunbelt, Beverly, Dark Desire, and Poisedon. But that may change if I find something smells better, or better for the vase.

Nice roses Straw! Only roses I've decided on so far is Carefree Celebration and Plum Perfect....Need to find two more... They have to be very BS resistant...

I pray for Cagney, she's a cutie.

Nice gardens folks (beautiful leaves Straw and jealous of all the buds, your neat and colorful garden always makes me smile Jim).

Hope your kitty is ok.

I know I'm not supposed to, but just got thru soil watering all my plants this 9 pm. I don't like after work so I end up napping instead ... horrible I know.

Msgirl: I looked over pics. of your pots, thank you for posting bush-shot of Austin roses. People don't post close-up of bushes, so I appreciate Jim & your close-up. Your Distant Drums look full & lush, and I like the green foliage of Tranquility. Queen of Sweden is more like a gangly tall hybrid tea, and doesn't fit with the norm of Austin-round-bush. Cold-zoners like the Pilgrim (yellow). In my garden, yellow and orange are BIG WATER-HOGS, and can take partial shade well. Honey Bouquet would had survived my winter if I had put it in a wet bed, rather than on a dry hill.

Jim, time to start a new thread, I almost missed Msgirl's bush shots of her Austins.

Ok...lol