Sweet Promise rose, moved a month ago, is recuperating nicely with 2 buds. When I moved it, I mistook that thick root for tree-root-invading and broke it. It lost 1/2 of its own root, lost all leaves, but recuperate nicely. About 10 days ago in hot 90-degree weather, the whole plant was wilted, I immediately gave it Azomite dissolved in rain-water, it perked up right away. I also topped with pea-gravel. It has been perky for the past 4 days. Pic. taken this Sunday, Sept. 6. Roses are made out of FIRM tissue, and not mushy-stuff like marigolds, so roses need SOLID MINERALS.

Sept 6 pic. of Radio Times: All the clean-growth are through red-lava-rock, plus 1/2 pea gravel. It's a vigorous Austin so I never give that nitrogen.

Mary Magdalene 3rd-flush in hot summer is actually better than her spring flush. Lower bush got black spots from my high-phosphorus NPK 4-10-7 plus salty horse manure mistake. But the high potassium of 7, helped it with 40+ buds in 3rd-flush, pic. taken Sept. 6 very hot & humid weather:

Very pleased with molasses effect on Evelyn: Bigger bloom, and deeper color. I'm surprised there's zero slugs with molasses this time, the Azomite and pea-gravel made Evelyn's leaves so thick, so pests can't devour. Pic. taken Sunday Sept. 6:

Great job on all your roses Straw!

Roses I'm getting next year.... After much thought I've decided to get 4 more new roses then that's it no more new roses unless one doesn't perform well and needs replaced...

Carefree Celebration (Radler)

Fire Opal (Kordes)

Kardinal Kolorscape (Kordes)

Plum Perfect (Kordes)

http://newflora.com/product/plum-perfect-rose/

These rose pics belong to Patty W. zone 5a Illinois who posted them on the Rose Forum...

Kardinal Kolorscape:

http://newflora.com/product/kardinal-kolorscape-rose/

FIRE OPAL: White/Cream fades to coral/pink

http://newflora.com/product/fire-opal-kolorscape-rose/

On a good note: I was shocked to see a bud opening on one of my sisters rose bushes today! It was one I just transplanted recently and I never noticed it having a bud...

On a bad note: Disease spreading fast on there leaves....

I have a call into the Vets office as Cagney is not improving like she should so maybe something more serious going on..... :-(

I love your choices. Your sister rose bush is unique, nice deep orange color. Please let me know about Cagney .. I hope your cat gets well soon.

Changed Cagneys appt. to tomorrow instead of Friday...

Straw

Wow look at all those buds on Mary Magdalene.

Jim

Fire Opal is so great. Like a painting.

Wish Cagney good luck.

Last evening around 7pm Cagney started eating and drinking better again! We are keeping todays Vet appt though...

Todays our last hotter day as cooler weather pattern moving into our region. 70's in the day and low-mid 50's at night...

I've been watering these Zinnias with Spring Water from a local Spring... They are growing better with the Spring water than using our tap water... But still not as good as old fashion rain...lol

Our grass has burned up from drought conditions...

I took Morning Glory plants out recently and look new seedlings coming up already... Frost will kill those...

That zinnia looks healthy & dark green. I bought fish-tank litmus test from Walmart and test my tap-water, came out to be above 8.6 (nearby town reported their tap to be pH 9 on their website). I also tested bottled mineral water, that came out alkaline, around 8. Agree that rain water is best, rain water is acidic at pH 5.6 to unlock minerals from the soil.

I added new pics to my post above...

Another pic of Fire Opal from Patty W. zone 5a Illinois ....

That is cool watering with a spring. Glad Cagney is good.

Well changed my mind yet again...lol...After looking at our Tomato plant today I've noticed it actually did better from me NOT fertilizing it this year... Yes some of the tomatoes are a bit smaller BUT the plant has actually stayed more healthy this year and we got a lot of tomatoes...Why? A lot of fertilizer just doesn't seem to work good here... Salt buildup? Don't know...So just going to continue layering the soil like the forest and forget about store bought fertilizers...

Neighbors tomato plants notice some of there leaves are fried from Miracle Gro fertilizer...

Jim

What a great post that is , thankful for the pictures, sums it up about chemical fertilizers.

I am glad you show pictures and back up your info. You are appreciated by so many. Different soils different areas.

Here is my Earthsong in front of Viking Queen which is actually what the camera was focused on. My two buck Rose are stingy on the blooms but they are worth it. It's mid September hopefully I will get 1 more earthsong Bloom. My roses were just rebuilding after the tough winters.

That's strange about your Earthsong Sam... My friends Earthsong blooms very heavy... Maybe your having insect problems? (Rose Midge?)

Yes tough winters can effect roses too...

Yes the midge got it but I put the plastic bags around the base and it is rebounding.

The rose midge picks on the 2 or 3 delicate roses.

I just realized I have NOT watered this tomato plant at all this year! Not even through the 6-7 week drought... So its only had rain water....

Glad to here its rebounding from Rose Midge Sam! :-)

Here's more closer pics to show difference between our Tomato leaves which has not been fertilized and neighbors leaves which he used MG fertilizer....

Our tomato leaves: No fertilzer

Neighbors Tomato leaves using Miracle Gro fertilizer...

This reminded me to pull off all the flowers now this time of year that won't make it to a tomatoes. I just put the tomato plants in the ground which I started indoors. I didn't have to water either. The soil was built from years of putting 2" compost topdress.

Does pulling off the Tomato flowers have a benefit Sam? I'm guessing pulling them off helps the plant put it's energy elsewhere???

Thanks for the pictures Jim. Yes what a great year for tomatoes. There is my double knockout next to the tomato.

Mike McGrath from whyy you bet your garden said that. I hope it builds bigger tomatoes. I probably have five or 10 tomatoes left that's enough for me. At least when we pull them out of the ground they won't have tomatoes all around. That's why I only had two plants. I don't like the dozen plants and a million tomatoes. I end up stepping all over them.

I'm the same way Sam I only like to grow a couple plants....lol

Your tomato plant looks great Sam!

Years ago I grew like maybe 20 plants but that became old fast... That's back when my wife canned... My wife has multiple sclerosis (MS) so she can't do as much now...

I am sorry to hear that. She's lucky to have you. You and Straw and Msdorkgirl are making the world a nicer place by keeping the organic rose forum alive and flourishing.

Mike McGrath said you could start seeds of lettuce right now and cold weather crops. Jim

I am getting pretty good at this gardening thing I appreciate being friends with you and straw I don't have quite as much experience as you guys. Thank-you very much for posting here. I have come to a conclusion in the reg rose forum. Thanks for coming to my back up Jim.

Is it too late to start cabbage?

I had some sauerkraut homemade YUM.

It looks so easy to make I could makesome.

I never tried growing cabbage Sam... I noticed my neighbor for the first time started growing all kinds of garden stuff this year... I noticed more insects too though! lol... I seen a cucumber beetle on our roses never seen one of those before and some other funky insects...

My Mom grew cabbage on our 5-acre in Michigan. I grew up as a teenager eating mostly chicken and cabbage soup (YUM, never get sick of that). The chicken are raised on our garden too, they run around to peck on corn. We grew sweet corn too. I was eating 10 ears of corn a day, and chicken & cabbage soup for dinner, then pear for dessert. We had a pear tree. We were healthy & slept well with a healthy diet. Our produce was sweetest fertilized with FRESH cow manure from the farmer across the street.

Agree on "NO" to chemical fertilizer on tomato. My neighbor's tomato looks absolute horrible, with brown leaves ... he used SOLUBLE chemical fertilizer. My tomatoes' leaves are still green.

Sam's garden is very scenic with a light-color fence. Lucky you, Sam, has the full-sun that I lack, plus a nice view of the neighbor's shed ?? My husband's boss is into gourmet cooking ... he gave us some homemade sauerkraut, it was really yummy making Reuben sandwiches.

It was a pain making stuffed tomatoes, so my Mom told a really delicious way to cook tomatoes: Fry onions in oil, then chopped-up fresh pork until brown. Add tomatoes until soft, then add a few egg whites (cover with lid for 3 minutes), then add egg yolk and cook for 1 minute. The secret is SOFT & almost raw egg-yolk, and cooked egg-white to kill the germs. It's like a pork & tomato omelet. I'm eating lots of Omega-3 Eggs lately, it's Christopher Eggs, with 600 mg of Omega-3. Saw the Google News today that folks who get enough vitamin D lose weight faster with slimmer waist-line. I was tested deficient in vitamin D, so I have to take supplements, plus eating eggs (high in vitamin D). Growing roses help to get the vitamin D through sunshine.

Russian Sage is a nightmare, very invasive, but I never need to water that:

Some tomato from my garden, taken 1st week of Sept. I planted late variety on purpose so I can have tomato early November. Here's a yellow-beefsteak variety:

Here's my sun-sugar yellow tomato. I plant them in 2 phases: some on May 15 to get early fruits. Then a few more July 4th so get fruits late in November. I like the yellow-cherry type, since it's sweeter & compact and takes up less room than the red-cherry:

Great idea planting at two different times of the season Straw!

Your tomato plants look really good also Straw!

I'm going to have to grow 1 non-acid tomato plant next year as my wifes mouth broke out in ulcers from the acid...

Thanks for the picture of the Russian Sage, Straw . I can't use that in my garden unless I find a good spot. Now I live in a small city near a paper mill.

I grew up in the Adirondacks. I am country. But we lived on a mountain near a big lake. I used to climb trees. They teach us all about trees here where I live.

I like to hear your stories about farms since I have never experienced it. If I drove in a boat 5 miles across the Lake George. Then hiked 5 miles over a mountain, then that's where the farms would be near Vermont.

I grew peas and tomatoes broccoli strawberries cucumbers cauliflower, but that's it. The soil is so good from all the composted leaves. When I was younger we had to add lime because of acid rain. I am learning from Elaine Ingham and Mike McGrath. I am thankful to find the Organic rose forum too. There is so much good info.

Cool Sam!

I also live in a town and only 1 block from a paper mill....The Paper Mill yard is what I see when I look at my front door... I have no farm experience either....

Our farms are also about 10+ miles away but no hiking required...lol

Our Vets office is near farm lands....Mostly Dairy Cow farms... Corn crops...

http://www.tcvet.net/

I had tomatoes from my garden sofened up in the pan, organic eggs and ham. !!!!

Jim if you drive cagney north a few

OK you will laugh

Charlie from Willie wonka is a farm vet like that . His name is Peter Ostrum in Lowville NY near Rochester Buffalo. I saw it on where are they now. Ha ha. Cagney could go see Chalie Bucket. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ostrum

Yum Yum Sam!

"I had tomatoes from my garden sofened up in the pan, organic eggs and ham. !!!"

Lol on Charlie from Willie Wonka...

Last couple of days have been in the 90's but weather pattern breaking tomorrow... Cooler weather & maybe some rain coming...

Yep we are getting a slow soaking rain today... It started raining sometime before 4am and still slowly coming down... :-)

Jim: Glad that it's raining for you. We had lots of rain on Tuesday, enough to fill 3-rain barrels plus a couple of 32-gallon trash cans. Our electric bill is very hill since I run the air frequently due to hot & humid weather.

Sam: your place sounds lovely with lakes, mountain, and trees. It's corn-field flat here Chicagoland, same with Michigan. But MI has beautiful wheat fields, and pretty apple orchards. I miss the apple-pie my Mom used to make daily. I ate lots of game-meat as a teenager. My neighbor shot a black bear in Northern Michigan, he gave my Mom the meat. My Mom cooked it and told us it's pork. That night I saw a casserole dish filled with yellow oil, plus a few bright red pieces of meat floating on top. It was so greasy, and we knew it was bear-meat, before Mom told us later. My brothers hunted and brought home: pheasant (really good in soup), rabbits (so-so), deer (good if spiced up, but tough).

Found something that's more convenient than making tea or coffee for the caffeine-perk-up. I bought Spirulina after Msgirl mentioned Kelp. It turned out Spirulina is better than Kelp for plants, since Kelp is high in salt. So I tried Hawaiian Spirulina, and WOW! the energy it gave was better than caffeine, and better than Brewer's yeast.

Spirulina is known to help with hayfever, same with Brewer's yeast. Both make me hyperactive, but spirulina is more effective (without the stomach upset that comes with Brewer's yeast). Weight loss? Spirulina tablets work better, since I have to use a heaping spoon of buckwheat honey to balance out the acidity of Brewer's yeast, plus milk. I lost 2 lbs. in 1 week with 2 Spirulina tablets in the morning, compared to 2 lbs. last summer.

Since Spirulina comes with dozens of trace elements .. that put my body in high-gear. I was hyperactive to the max, like cooking & baking non-stop for 5 hours, making tons of stuff to freeze for a month. Or digging stuff from my garden, and take them on a long walk to plant those in a far-way neighbor ... I gave that lady 4 lemon-balm plants to help her with sleeping.

What really help to give me energy is Pure Hawaiian Spirulina .. I took that for my hayfever but instead got an energy-burst. Check out the reviews on Amazon, yes, it does work, very much like caffeine, best in the morning. It has over 1,000 positive reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00024D86C?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

The below site gives a long list of nutrients in Spirulina, it's way-better than a vitamin pill. I haven't tested that on plants yet.

http://www.naturalways.com/spirulina-analysis.htm

It stopped raining here around noon time. But at least we got some...

Our electric is also high Straw from constant air conditioner usage...My wifes MS causes her to get really sick if temps are high...So it must be kept cool in here... Hot days she can not even go outside for any length of time...I have the air on today because even though its only 68 degrees its very humid. Tonight its getting down to 54 degrees so if I leave windows open it should cool down enough to Not have to turn air on tomorrow and hopefully the entire week...

Our dog Gracie killed a rabbit in the yard here the other night. We had a tough time getting it out of her mouth...

Thank you, Jim, for the info. about your wife's MS. They say MS is higher in northern areas with less sunshine. Vitamin D is important for the immune system. I have been taking Spirulina for more than a month, and I'm pretty sure it's the Spirulina for the energy burst. I should give it to roses which are stingy. Excellent article on link between MS and vitamin D, which reminds me to take vitamin D daily, plus going outside to get sunshine:

http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/february2014/02032014ms.htm

“People who have low levels of vitamin D intake or low blood levels of vitamin D have a higher risk for MS ... The benefits of vitamin D appeared to be additive to those of interferon beta-1b, a drug that is very effective in reducing MS activity,” Ascherio says. “The findings of our study indicate that identifying and correcting vitamin D insufficiency should become part of the standard of care for newly diagnosed MS patients.”

For the dosage of vitamin D: http://www.mayoclinic.org/vitamin-d-and-ms/expert-answers/faq-20058258

"Another study conducted at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and others suggest that for people who already have MS, vitamin D may lessen the frequency and severity of their symptoms. However, the Institute of Medicine recommends that adults avoid taking more than 4,000 IUs a day."

*** From Straw: I should make a doctor appointment to get my vitamin D level re-tested. The last time it was deficient at 17 (I was on prescribed high-dose for a while). My neighbor (white-male in 50's) was also tested low in vitamin D. Unfortunately doctors don't give that test unless one asks for that.

Lupines and wedgewood.

Sam: Your lupine is WOW- lovely. I adore Lupine ever since my Mom had a bed in MI, it was heavenly beautiful with so many different colors. I tried to achieve the same effect with different colors German Iris (over $100 worth), but they died during a spring flood. We get more heavy rain in Chicagoland.

Your Wedgewood rose is stunning, big with many petals. Our heavy clay retains water well, so our grass doesn't get brown unless we get weeks of no-rain. Went outside to check my garden after today's heavy rain. The dark-green leaves and those grafted-on-Dr. Huey can't handle the acidity of rain. I put ALKALINE pea-gravel on them, but that wasn't enough. I should had put dolomitic lime on the aggressive-dark-green-leaves like Crown Princess Magareta.

One thing I did right: 4th of July I dug up Pink Peace (BS-fest grafted on Dr.Huey), I put 4-cups of garden-lime in the planting hole, plus compost. It was pale for a while, but now is clean with healthy leaves & buds. The acidic rain neutralized the lime in the planting hole. My other grafted-rose ($6.59 Lavender rose) with dark-green leaves .. that got BS and dropped most of the leaves after blooming. So I put pea-gravel, and I saw the new growth, pale, but has a bud. I WOULD RATHER have pale leaves & blooms, than zero leaves or with black spots. Roses can be pale in alkaline-clay due to high pH, but bloom very well, if their roots are aggressive like Dr. Huey to extract nutrients for blooming.

I would like to a start a "sunshine club" where each of us pledge to 20 min. of sunshine a day, be it working in the garden, or going for a walk. Then we report the progress as to what we accomplish in that "sunshine time". So many diseases, cancer, MS, diabetes, belly-pouch are linked to lack of sunshine. It's nice to enjoy the sun: taking care for one's health & and gardening. It's so hard to catch the sun here, it would rain or snow for the entire day, then the sun pops out for 10 min, then goes away when I got ready to go outside.

yeah I'm going to put with lupines all around my Rose like Jim has Marigold's

Great looking Lupine bloom Sam! Sam will have Lupines everywhere... :-) Many petals on the Wedgewood Rose bloom Sam! Nice! Rebounding nicely!

Straw, my wife has to take Vitamin D supplements as she doesn't get much sunshine or drink much milk...She does get some sunshine on cooler days though...

I get plenty of sunshine daily as I'm always working in the yard....lol... Unless its super hot but I try to get at least 30 minutes outside on those days also... My vitamin D levels get checked every 6 months...Winter time my levels drop...

Jim, roses & gardening surely keep us healthy. My Mom is BIG on gardening, be it big-patches of lupines, sweet corn, or large field of asparagus. She's so used to growing food to feed a family of 12 kids (I have 8 older sisters and 3 brothers). My Mom is an outdoorsy person, she's always outside and loves to shovel snow, even at 90 years old. Thank you, for bringing up MS. Vitamin D-supplement isn't as good as the real-sun.

I thought to myself, "If I can spend hours feeding my kid, I should take her for a daily walk to feed her sunshine too." Sunshine is just as important as food. Imagine growing roses inside with zero sunshine, just feeding it only .. it will be a disease-fest. My peach tree used to be healthy until the neighbor built a fence, which blocks the sun on the lower half, then it developed fungal problems in the bark, and died. Same with my 2 corkscrew willows ... they use to be lush & full, until another neighbor built a fence, these bark also came down with fungal growths.

Jim: you get 30 min. of sunshine a day? I'll match that too. Let's get this "sunshine-pledge" going, anyone want to join? I can get 15 min. of walk in the morning after getting my kid to school, then another 15 min. in the garden later. I have to convince my kid to walk right after school with me, before she eats & do her homework. Our time is behind your eastern time, so 4 o'clock your time is 3 o'clock my time, I get less sun since the day is pushed further down.

There's many research that show MORNING sun re-sets one's circadian clock, and helps with higher melatonin level for a good-night rest.

Jim, I like what you wrote: "Salt buildup? Don't know...So just going to continue layering the soil like the forest and forget about store bought fertilizers..." Agree to that, time for a new thread. Thanks.

That is such a good quote.

""Salt buildup? Don't know...So just going to continue layering the soil like the forest and forget about store bought fertilizers..."

Words to live by.

I suffer so if I visit the regular rose forum so called experts. I am so happy after all these years to read these posts . It really is a strong belief and frustration for me . It's like watching an alcoholic. You can't change them. You can just show them how happy you are since you got off the juice.

Like Jim Says Different soil and different climates.

Like Straw says nobody knows your soil but you.

With chemicals.

Elaine Ingham calls it moron farming.

You have to put more on more on.

Sam its hard to change people so I do not even try... That way I do not get upset... God gave everyone a free-will....People have to make there own minds up on how they do things in all walks of life...Whether we agree or not...

So I suggest just keep doing things the way you do to keep the environment safe and some people will follow in your footsteps and others will not....

We can only control our own actions....

Set an example and let others decide what path to take...

Thanks Jim