I would give them some shade, somehow. Lots of folks rig up supports, and then put shade cloth over the roses.

The other thing I would do if I lived in your climate, is to NOT plant hybrid teas. I would do some research, and find roses like chinas and the old tea roses, which love heat. You could start a thread on here asking people who live in hot places which roses do well for them.

Jackie

I would pretty much have to shade my entire yard. I could probably rent something like that from a film rental house here in LA, but it would be expensive and my neighbors would hate me.

The new ones are florabunda roses in 3.5' triangles, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. For example, two White Licorices did perfectly fine and the other one in the triangle is all brown. All had gotten plenty of water. From the older ones, one Double Delight looks great, and the one next to it is half brown. We have 6 roses in 20-gal pots and they really took it hard. The climbing roses out front, which get the most sun of all, did fine.

Anyway, my feeling is that even if these guys survive, we've lost them until the spring, which is depressing. I would hate to have to start all over, it was a lot of work.

I'm sorry - the heat has been aweful, intense and more so for you. Keep the ground moist and ensure they have 2-3 inches of mulch covering the soil. Do NOT prune anything off that appears affected at this point. Just water and wait. Shading them does not sound practical in your case. Don't give up! This is just one of those difficult years.

Thanks Dave. It's been brutal here, especially when combined with the overcast spring. I have them well watered and mulched, always. I will leave all the brown as you say and wait for developments.

Good luck. I will again recommend that you seriously look for roses which love heat and sun, so you are not constantly disappointed - they do exist. My chinas may stop blooming for a while if it gets really hot, but their foliage says nice and green, with no damage, and the plants stay healthy.

Jackie

Thanks Jacqueline. I'll see how the season shakes out.

Please lay off fertilizer, too. Many folks don't have these high temp extremes on a regular basis and continue to fertilize their roses with high nitrogen. Once soil temps go above about 90F, that nitrogen release goes nuts and you can fry a rose bush pretty fast. Mulch, reduce fertilizer, increase water (not number of cycles so much as duration) so that rose roots not only receive enough water but that the water is going deep enough to flush salt toxins out of the roots, increase shade. To anyone who is encountering high heat right not, please keep in mind that some roses will tolerate heat better than others. None can tolerate lack of water and too much fertilizer. Hose off the bushes in the evening where you have dry heat; in the morning where you have humid heat. This will reduce the immediate temperature and help the roses tolerate drying winds, dust, and hot soil. Mulch to 3-4 inches with a good quality forest-based mulch - no rock or rubber for heat.

moroseaz I use a 2-5-5 fertilizer every 6 weeks with the addition of alfalfa tea in the spring. The fertilizer mix also gets a little kelp, humic and fulvic acids plus microbes and molasses. Anyway, that's not much N. but I'll skip the next cycle.

I don't like to hose the bushes, as I have disease issues (powdery mildew, black spot, rust), but I may try it for the dry/hot days.

Thanks

I'm trying an antitranspirant spray like Wilt-Pruf or Cloud Cover this summer. It coats the leaves with a polymer and seems to help the plants maintain moisture. Young leaves still have a difficult time.

Shade and extra water, if possible, are the best medicine for that kind of heat. Even if you have to just place lawn chairs over them temporarily that will help. You can look for shade cloth and use stakes to make sails that would shade them. And I know you have water restrictions but save as much gray water as you can and keep them watered if at all possible.

Some summers in my region (KS zone6) can get 100+ degree temps for two months in a row. By the second month they go into a kind of summer dormancy (I'm not sure if that is the right word, but it is certainly very much like dormancy) and the few blooms that manage to appear are smaller than usual--the plants way of conserving energy, I guess.

I mention this just in case you heat lasts considerably longer than you expected. If so, all you can do is WAIT--and keep on watering. : (

You and your roses have my sympathies.

Kate

Chris I think you nailed it. We had about 6 weeks of mostly overcast skies in May and the beginning of June and then a massive heat wave. On top of that, it was right near the solstice, so the sun was at it's highest point and the day was at its longest. A lot of our new plantings from the spring are feeling it, even with plenty of water. Next week when the high heat comes back, I will try and mist everything overnight.

Thanks to everyone for all the help

Your roses should be just fine if they were healthy, well watered and very well mulched. Where I live it regularly gets up to those temps during the summer for three months or longer. I have only lost one rose due to heat. So, if you want to find some shade cloth at the hardware store and rig up (with some plastic pipe) a shade structure for them, by all means go ahead. I don't do that with mine and again, they come through. Roses are tough little critters for the most part. They may look a little tattered but they will come back.

I live in the hot, dry climate of high desert in Arizona. In my experience, local area nurseries while housing the roses for purchase keep them under some sort of shade. and that requires that I acclimate them to the sun when I bring them home. The roses do burn if I don't pay enough attention to this. When I do, they usually look pretty good even in the hottest times - of course with plenty of mulch, water and also the overhead watering a few times a week. I purchased a shade cover for my potted roses that is working really well. It's poles with a shade cover that's bungee-corded in: https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/shelterlogic-shade-structure/s

I added more screen on the western side to assist with coverage.

Moroseaz, thanks for the reminder to pull back on the fertilizer.

What rootstock are your roses on? I am in zone 10 too and we get 110 degrees heat regularly every summer. We also have water restrictions and I can only water 3 times a week. There is no rain at all here in summer. My rose bushes don't fry because they are on fortuniana which have extensive root systems and are much more drought resistant once established. I also apply a thick mulch and soil wetting agent.

Thanks again to everyone for your very helpful suggestions. I have to say, I've been in many corners of GardenWeb, but I've never gotten so many helpful responses in such a short period as I have here in the rose forum.

Thanks again

You may want to try a deep root watering tool like this one:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Deep-Root-Irrigator-100505411/202494203

sheky, I could have written your post since I'm in your zone 10a, have a little over 35 bushes. Shading them isn't an option. Even if a person could rig up something, the sun moves and soon it wouldn't be shading the bushes. Choosing other bushes might work over time, but what's planted is planted, right?

We have mulched heavily with bagged mulch and also lawn clippings. Quite a few bushes had burned leaves, and two really suffered crisp leaves throughout. One was an old Double Delight which could be replaced anyway, but another favorite, mini Gourmet Popcorn, took a beating as well. I felt bad about that one but I think it will recover.

I don't know why you have rust and blackspot. I have none.

Henry, have you used this deep watering tool? I like the concept, but I'm wondering if it clogs easily. Thanks.

I have used it for many years. Mine has a glass container at the entrance for water soluble fertilizer. I recommend an anti-siphon device at the house connection.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=anti-siphon++device+at+the+house+connection.

I did not have a clogging problem.