..great to see you back on form Ingrid... and how unusual to see your pathways and driveway looking rather wet....

...roses aside, I also admire those slimline conifers you have... I always think they go well with roses...

Yes, the wetness is quite a novelty, especially for this time of the year. The cypresses are wonderful, they can stand an incredible amount of neglect and drought, but I'm glad they're being treated to some well-deserved moisture.

Looking at my pictures again, it strikes me as being a messy, unkempt wilderness, especially when compared to the fabulous garden pictures you posted the other day, Marlorena. I'm having to tell myself sternly that it is what it is.

Very short (3 minute) downpour this morning here along the OC coast about 6:30 AM. Right now (3:30 PM), continuous substantial rain for about half an hour, projected to continue another two or three hours. Very nice!

Awesome for some rain. Sooooo happy for you. Your landscape is absolutely beautiful. Love your roses. Doing the happy dance for you alllll the way from Georgia!!!!

So happy for you and your gorgeous garden.

I'm doing a happy happy rain dance for you, Ingrid! Your refreshed roses and other plants are looking good!

Kate

Very happy for you, Ingrid. And your garden is lovely. I love Marlorena's too, but yours is equally lovely, just a different style, which really suits your landscape.

So happy for you odinthor, you need it as much as we do. Thank you pretty petals, Sheila, Kate and titian, you're all so sweet. This is the first rain in July of any substance since records were first kept some time in the 1800's I believe. There has been a global shift in climate which is of some disquiet, to say the least, but right now I can only be grateful for what we've been given here.

Ingrid,...you're very kind but I agree with titian... my garden simply doesn't compare with yours or many others here, especially those with large plots... I have very few established roses with a wow factor...

..you have a great landscape attached... your gardens, and there appears to be more than one going on... look relaxed as if it's always been that way... unhurried... and one hardly notices the acute stress factors...

...tell your husband he does a great job... with supervision...

Marlorena, I think you misunderstood what titian said, which was that yours is equally lovely and, frankly, I like it much better than the way mine is now. However, we do have the space and the hills around and with enough water it can be quite nice. I'm hopeful that with this rain and perhaps more coming the younger roses will begin to make their presence felt. It looked really dismal a few months ago and its future is very uncertain. But I'm living in the now and am experiencing some encouraging signs.

Here in the Valley, we had a sprinkling of rain before breakfast, but the real thing got going around 1-2 pm and is still petering out. Can't wait to get up tomorrow and see the effects!
The roses know. They know the difference. It's been said here before, and it's true.

Yes, Marlorena, you did misunderstand me - I think your garden is beautiful.

And Sylvia, I've often wondered if it's what they add to the water that makes it so much less effective than rain. Not that I've watered much this last year or two, as we've had a surfeit of rain.

Trish

So happy for you Ingrid, everything looks beautiful! I hope things continue to improve for you!

Thank you, Sara Ann, for your good wishes. I hope you're not too wet or too dry; nowadays one never knows.

There certainly are things in municipal water that you don't find in rain water, and I'm completely convinced that the roses know the difference. I always see much faster growth and bloom after a good rain compared to any amount of watering I do. I'm also happy for the people with orange groves like my neighbor or the native vegetation which feeds the wild animals. It's just all good in every way. Another factor is that it lessens the danger of fires. Last night people on the freeway literally had to run for their lives when their cars caught on fire from a wildfire that crossed the freeway.

Crikey!

Ingrid, Titian.. my apologies for misreading, and thanks..

...I have been wondering if you ever see rattlesnakes in your area, as you garden on a hillside, but maybe that's not where they hang out..

So happy that you got the rain. You garden looks fresh and renewed.

Our ground water (what comes out of our hoses) is heavily mineralized -- not by anyone or any agency, it's just that way because of our soil's composition. That's why it's called "hard" water, and why it leaves white mineral deposits in our sinks and tubs. Rain water, on the other hand, comes from the sky. When water evaporates and forms clouds, the minerals are left on the ground. When the clouds turn to rain, ergo -- no minerals.

This is fourth-grade science, which is about all the science I know, so if I have this wrong, please enlighten me. Seems logical, though.

The other part is that rain water contains dissolved nitrogen from the atmosphere, and gives plants a little growth boost.

:-)

~Christopher

Christopher, there is no doubt that you have the right mindset, and pining away for what once was is a futile endeavor. Fortunately this rain has freshened up both the plants and me. Potter and Moore is full of buds and all the roses now are looking happy and healthy, with quite a few getting ready to bloom or blooming. I'm a happy camper.

Sylvia, I think you probably have it right, and we also have very hard water here. No wonder the plants do so much better when it rains.

Marlorena, unfortunately we have seen no rattlesnakes for quite a few years. Their numbers seem to be sadly diminished. I'm quite fond of them and would love to see one again.

..I think, rather you than me Ingrid.... I would die on the spot...

...hasn't 'The Faun' got a gorgeous eye to it... it's really a very pretty rose with such a delicate centre.... it would be a shame to get any rain on it, in that sense...

I enjoyed that mid day rain too. I walked around in the garden and then went to the nature center and saw the little creek running with water ( Toads and froggies will sing tonight! ) Then we drove over to the Newport Back Bay and smelled the wet sagebrush at sundown and ate dinner on the Balboa Pier. The waves were nice and big from tropical storm Dolores. The air was warm and fine and moist even late in the evening. It was a refreshing day to be outside in So. CA I felt like a tourist on a summer holiday. Can we do this every July?

Woo Hoo! its really coming down again right now! This is fantastic!

Yep, constant moderate rain here too for the last hour and a half in the northwest corner of OC . . . No wind, so it comes straight down, and one can leave the windows open to enjoy the sounds, and to let the aroma in. I understand that yesterday's precipitation here was about a quarter of an inch, more than extraordinary for July.

Really beautiful. I love the bush that you posted twice. Beautiful shape. Is it a tea?

Yes, monarda, that is Le Vesuve, one of my favorite teas because of its bushy habit. Behind it is Rosette Delizy, and then a second Le Vesuve.

Between yesterday and today we had around 1.5 inches of rain, which is 50 times the amount of rain ever recorded here in July. I'm happiest for the trees, many of which were beginning to die, and I hope this will be enough to tide them over until El Nino, which seems to be a near certainty now.

kittymoonbeam, I feel like I've been on a holiday after reading your post! Delightful.

So happy for you, Ingrid! Yea! Rain! And a substantial amount! I think your garden is just gorgeous as are the flowers you posted. When I first saw the post, I thought you posted S. du President Carrot! Had to look twice at that one. It is very early in the morning here and I am not sleeping well. House flooded again for the third time in three years. The machines to dry out the place make my house sound like I live on a tarmac. It is hard to get sleep.

We got some rain as well from Dolores. Not as much as you unfortunately. Some downpours and a bit of flooding in some areas, but mostly thunder and lightening. Lots of thunder and lightening! Again, your garden is just lovely!

San Diego Padres baseball game was rained out yesterday for the first time in ten years.

mustbnuts, so sorry about your house flooding. That would completely sour my mood with the noise and not sleeping. I hope that's over with soon. Thank you for the kind words; that's so sweet considering what you're going through. I'll be very interested to see how much the rain affects the growth and blooming power of the roses. Just want to add that the pale flowers in the second and fourth pictures are Souvenir du President Carnot. The flowers held up pretty well under the deluge.

Ingrid and everyone else in so CA - that's terrific news about the rain! I'm amazed that this is a historic event to have rain during July, but I'm glad this kind of history was in the making. Hopefully there won't be any more events like that terrible highway fire, and that you can get back to simply enjoying your lovely garden. Always breathtaking to see the scope and grandeur of your garden, Ingrid.
Cynthia

happy happy rain dance!

..great to see for you all, and something of a deluge by the looks of things...

So wonderful to see California getting rain. So wishing an El Nino (sp) winter for you guys.