Yeah, we not only have warm weather, we have NO RAIN for weeks, so I have to water everything. I am getting blooms, but I'm ready to be done for the year.

Geez enjoy the extended season! I am very happy about my weather being like yours Cynthia, my long row of cannas are still in full bloom - this is the first time in many years that my cannas, dahlia's and elephant ears have not been dug up by November, high of 80 F today, incredible - fall flush of roses is pretty much extended, yes many roses have shut down but I'm still seeing blooms and these are the best quality blooms all year, huge and clean and free of bug damage. I still have roses and daylilies and peonies to plant, I'm running behind in my fall planting, but with this weather I have lots of extra time. No complaints here!

I just 'liked' your post as I enjoyed reading it, but you have my sympathies as well, and like you I also enjoy the 4 seasons, and although I've not known any different, I couldn't imagine gardening without it even though I'm neither warm nor cold climate, and our seasons tend to get all mixed up.... I wouldn't want it any different, and I also look forward to settling down to winter and giving up the garden for a few weeks. I've already put most of it to bed but some things just have to wait until they've deteriorated a bit more.. but I'm itching to clear things away ready for Spring...

I've been through Nebraska during the heat of July, and I've read about the winters there, so it can only be a matter of time. Let us hope you get a better display next season, with so many roses it should be spectacular. I keep my fingers crossed for you...

So... you are experiencing Northern California weather. You're right! So how do we cope with 12 months of gardening? Here's the thing... your plants probably aren't the kinds that flourish in a continuous gardening zone since this is a new climate change (or maybe a one time thing?) for your area.

For me... it's motivating because the plants I have prosper in this weather.

We have no rain. Like EVER. Ok ... maybe a little more than SoCal. No frosts (usually). Mild most of the time except in the summer when it's over 100 for about a two months straight. It takes special plants to survive that and even more special plants to thrive in that.

You're understandably grumpy because you have plants that thrive in your normal climate. Most of yours would DIE here. Of course you're a grump. We don't garden because we like scrapes and bruises and mud all over. We garden for the moment when we can sit back and look at what we cultivated. We are facilitators, creators and cultivators.

You're not getting that right now. You don't get to be that right now. Right now you're a laborer. Who wants to be that?

I'm still in shorts and a tank top outside. I have scrapes and mud all over me most of the time. I was annoyed last night that the sun went down earlier than I expected and I ended up planting about 6 new roses in the ground in the dark. But you see I have blooms. And buds promising me more blooms soon. So I don't mind.

You're planting bulbs because you're operating in a Nebraska gardening calendar. My bulbs are actually already coming up. They think it's spring. We basically have Spring Summer SPRING winter.

But no rain. So we get creative. ;)

I hope your climate goes back to normal soon. If not... start hitting us NorCal folks up for what works here and what doesn't. :)

First, Cynthia, you are a tremendous communicator through the written word. If you don't already have a writing/communicating career, pursue one, you would excel in it.

Roses lift you up to stirring heights, and plunge you into dark despair no one but a fellow rosarian can understand. They are these dramatic swings, the ebb and flow of what we experience in the world of roses, that sustain our interest and dedication to them. Challenges always draw a certain kind of person to accept them, while certain others flee from challenges. These others never receive the ecstatic joy of experiencing success in winning a hard fought battle.

I have found rosarians to be among the most interesting, multi faceted, persistent, patient, and faithful people I know. The way they conduct their affairs outside the world of roses is the same as how they approach their roses.

When you see a well maintained rose garden, you, as a rosarian, know how much work went into that garden. You can appreciate it, and the rosarian responsible for it, in a way others cannot.

Roses are indeed spellbinding.

Well put, Cynthia and Moses.

Well, I got a good laugh out of your post, Cynthia, but you have my sympathies too. I have wondered why we haven't been seeing pictures of your gorgeous roses. Now I know......As Moses says, you could always take up writing......seriously.

I felt like giving up last year, because of die-back. So much work, and so little return! But, after a couple of months of sulking, the garden and I got back together.

I hope you get some snow soon, to finish off those beetles.

As for handling 12 months of warm (and slightly less warm) weather, I love it. The downtime here is probably January and February, as long as it's not wet. Then the weeds grow when you turn your back for a moment.

As for that mulled cider, I'll be right over.........

Trish

Cynthia, that was a great post and welcome reading today when there are no daily papers in Sweden because of All Souls' Day tomorrow. I don't feel sorry for you though. I wouldn't mind one North American fall like the long and warm season I experienced in Wisconsin many years ago. Frost hit us three days ago but I'd rather have snow if it has to be cold. Hoar frost is beautiful but I feel for my freezing roses out there.

Cori Ann, that explains it. It has been so warm here that my ranunculus bulbs are sprouting because they think it is spring. What do I do? Will they sprout again after the winter kill?

I've had daffy and tulip bulbs come up in the winter, but usually they stall when we do get some colder weather and then really come up in the spring.

My heartfelt sympathy,Cynthia.I can totally, totally relate to your grumpiness. Here in Italy we get much, much too much hot/warm weather for my taste; it just gets so wearisome when you have those long, long spells of obsessively "nice" weather. And up where you are,it must be even harder to deal with ,since you're not used to it. IME, plants really DO get exhausted and frustrated with endless warmth and sun,(as do I) and roses in general hate extreme heat,which kills them off just as extreme cold does, but in a long, slow agony. It really does seem that any more there are no longer "four seasons",and that is a very, very sad thing.

I've had one of my best seasons yet. Unfortunately, I had way more black spot this year from the humid heat. At least bs didn't show up bad until September. My fall flush was nice (as nice as can be for young plants (2 years so far for most)).

My surviving cane from the mild winter did really put out the blooms.

We had our first hard frost about a week ago. Things are winding down and they look pitiful right now. We've been getting rather abundant rain for autumn, too.

I've loved the extended season here.

Have a Mutabilis image (taken a couple days ago): 11/02/16

Steven

Getting cooler here so ready for some warm blankets and mulled cider...lol

Totoro I'm not sure. I don't think we really have winter kill in my area the same way you do. Here's some interesting reads on bulbs popping up early though... two kind of different trains of though and advice...

1. http://www.gardensalive.com/product/spring-bulbs-poking-upin-winter/you_bet_your_garden

2. http://www.bulbblog.com/bulbs-coming-up-too-early/

My bulbs stay in the ground and I honestly just let them do whatever they want. I did think it was a little early when they came up in October this year though. They usually come up in the fall in my yard, but that seemed early to me.

I think my winter may be like spring/autumn for many other zones. The ground doesn't freeze (usually). It stays in the 60s during the day and lows of 40s at night (again, usually).

My husband grew up in Michigan and Canada and he laughs at me because I think it's cold when I have to put on a sweatshirt and pants....While he can go to hockey games in shorts and flip flops. He has informed me that it doesn't really get cold here. :) In comparison, of course I agree, but I'm not used to weather that forces me to put on an extra layer so I get cold. I don't own a proper jacket. I don't even do Tahoe anymore because I just can't stand the iciness of snow (pretty, but just too cold).... but he loves it. I would rather go to Mexico.

I would imagine some plants are like people and they just adapt differently to the weather.

Well I think ya'll are NUTS! I'll take this warm fall for as long as possible. It's all a bonus! Since summer was terribly hot and dry my roses did nothing but sit. I've finally gotten some decent blooms and I'm lovin' it! As far as I'm concerned it can stay this way until April and then warm up! I don't need a white Christmas or anything. The longer I don't have to shovel the better. And I certainly don't want any more polar vortexes!

Cynthia, you do have a way with words! Love the responses, too. I feel like it is an extra "bonus" season or "overtime" for roses this year. This morning we had some frost and I hosed it off. The roses showed little, if any, damage. However, if I had 1000+ or just 10 rosebushes, I would be very unhappy if they weren't performing. This was a challenging year for most of us, learning never stops. Sometimes the lesson is just patience or the "shovel" depending on the cause.

I'm kinda tired of plants for the year too lol. Its still in the 80Fs here although today was a little cooler.

Rebecca, I love your CPM and your little pies! They are so cute!

I have been in a cooking and baking mood too. I made a zillion beef and pork tamales and a pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling and a cinnamon pecan streusal topping.

Then I went and started a bunch of herb seeds lol...so much for being done with gardening. They will have to go in the greenhouse. Also picked a bunch of bananas. There are starfruit ripening on our Carambola tree. I hope they make it before it freezes.

I think some mulled cider sounds good! I think we need a nice bonfire too ;)

Wow! I thought I was angst crazy in the summer, lol. I sympathize with you and hope that your cozy days sipping cocoa come sooner than later. I miss out on seasonal changes in exchange for year round summer (kinda, lol). Chin up. It'll be spring before you know it.

-Adrian.

Thanks, Sultry!! :) All your food sounds yummy!! I don't go without gardening long either. I just move it inside... As a matter of fact, I have 17 rose cuttings in my basement under grow lights that have all rooted and are going strong. After Thanksgiving, I will put them in larger pots and grow them there all winter. Great fun!!

Cynthia, I get it. Kansas had 11" rain in October , and my roses are putting on new buds when I want them to shut down for winter. I'm afraid we'll get a sudden deep freeze and it will kill all the HT's.

Your cheescake/meatloaf analogy is perfect!

Dandelions are blooming here and i want a break from weeding, Please!!!

Great post Cynthia. I'm on the fence with this topic. I like the ability to go out in the cool mornings as the sun's coming up and be in the garden. The weather has been just about perfect here in Northern Arizona. Ok, there are only five blooms on 40-something roses out there, but everybody looks healthy. I just wish there was something I could do to make more of them bloom in this weather. I do hear you about the change in weather/life cycle. I'd go for some luke-warm cider...

Lol Cynthia. I love snow too, but this warm fall weather helps me to get everything ready for the winter in no hurry. Just put summer car in the garage for winter storage, moved some motorcycles scooters out, and moved snow blower to the front, ready for the snow. Now I have to find room to store 39 potted rose trees. There were 25 rose trees last winter, but couldn' t pass JP's sale in the early summer, now I have 39! Plus I need 2-3 trailers mulch for the roses in the garden........by the end of next week, the temp will be in the 30's -40's, I'd have to hurry up to get all the roses ready for the winter, a lot of work next weekend........

Cindi, I found the perfect cure for dandelions... It's a liquid you mix with water in a gallon sprayer called Iron-X from Garden's Alive. I spray it after the weather warms, making sure there is no rain or sprinkers forecast. On an 80 degree day, it will kill dandelions overnight. It may leave a bit of brown colored green grass where you spray because the color is brown because it is liquid iron. I always make sure I have watered the lawn well before spraying. Even though I have a neighbor across the street whose lawn is loaded with the little yellow buggers, my lawn is clean every year. I love how it looks and it makes me not hate my neighbor!!

P.s. Digging NEVER worked for me. This is soooooo much easier! It also works for clover (with multiple sprays a few weeks apart) and wild violets (those take a few days to die). :)

Rebecca

Well aren't you all sweet and supportive and the best cure for garden grumpiness ever? I knew you'd understand, even if you don't necessarily agree. Great rose pictures MiGreenThumb & Rebecca, which show what could be possible for the season. BraveRichard - the kind of flush you describe is what I kept waiting for all year, and trust me if I'd had it I'd be chortling with beemish glee at the extended weather. It's just that the entire gardening year has been perpetually positively pathetic, which leaves me nothing to do in the garden but come up with weird word patterns. Oh yes, and grump.

I still do enjoy the weather when I'm not in the garden, and I have to appreciate the weather for weather as Towandaaz and Kentucky Rose and Seil have done, and not worry too much about what the garden isn't doing. You're right that four seasons (particularly fall) are exciting, Mariannese, Marlorena, and Adrian - and you are to be commended for coming to appreciate the season from Europe in relatively untraveled places like Wisconsin and Nebraska. Time for more long walks with leaf scuffing, even if it has to be barefoot. LIke Summers I have plenty to do in the garden, but it's not like it was spectacular when I was doing all I could to baby it along anyway this year. So OK, that means roses - you're on your own guys! One more day of bulb planting to go, then it's leaf bag blankets and off to bed for the winter, I don't care if you're not sleepy and it's only half past fall in feeling. It's long past Bedtime for Bonanza, and Curtains for Camelot.

And oooh, what a wonderful excuse to be inside on a lovely fall day - cooking like Sultry Jasmine Nights or baking like Rebecca! Those pies are inspirational, and they take advantage of the bounty of someone else's garden. Jim and Sheila and I will be over with our mulled cider to go with your pies! I used to do all kinds of seeds under lights starting in January, but I found it cut into my down time too much. I still think I might try hybridizing and doing seedlings for fun when I retire, but that doesn't sound like it'll be any time soon.

Buford, I'm pretty sure you had it worse for rain than we did all year, and Southern California is worse than all of us with no relief in sight! Besides, I get the handy excuse that Cindi in KS stole all our rain during October (smile), and she didn't even want all of it! Amazing how a drought window can have pockets of 'feast or famine' this close together. I can complain about a bad year but have a good reason for optimism in the coming year that simply doesn't apply to California except in the most wildly optimistic estimates next year.

You've given me some insights on keeping the momentum going for 12 months Cori Ann and Trish, much of which involves pacing yourselves I think. My husband and I had a narrow band of possible living places when we first got married, since he hates cold like you and didn't want to move anywhere colder than Nebraska, where I couldn't imagine living hotter than Nebraska (fortunately we're settled here for the foreseeable future). I think you and Bart have some very good insights about the notion that plants do indeed get exhausted in the heat like people and only gradually acclimate. I might have the excuses you so generously offered if I only grew plants suited to Nebraska (whatever demented things those might be), but I can't resist zone pushing and have all kinds of fussy HTs not to mention several teas. The ones that have survived have acclimated to our weather, but I can't say they're all happy about it, and that one's squarely my own fault. Oh, and Totoro, I agree that your bulbs have also acclimated to your climate and should be fine. While I was planting new bulbs, I kept digging up old bulbs that were starting to put up shoots and even leaves and it's never stopped them blooming when the correct season rolls around.

And you are so very kind to comment on my writing, folks! Trish and Moses, you nailed it that I do write and communicate for a living - about communication disorders to be precise, so I have to be able to communicate in multiple ways. However, while I love the research I do, the kind of writing I do at work is hardly creative, stuffed into categories of Methods and Results and all (one guess what I was avoiding when I first wrote this thread). Fortunately I also teach, and about working with infants and toddlers no less, so I get to be as creative and goofy as I want to in that respect.

That brings me full circle back to the point of this, with a good reason for getting over grumpiness. Cori Ann said we're all facilitators, creators and cultivators, and I really like that sentiment. It's about more than the garden of course, and the students and families and children I've worked with are much more justifiably something to be proud of facilitating than mere plants. So bah, French Lace - who needs you (better not be me, because it has died on me a record 7 times). As Moses said, we're all drawn to roses because we love the challenge, but also because we can bring the patience and persistence we find in roses back out to the real world as well. And here our spouses and friends thought we merely grew barbed wire with scent (little do they know...).

Obviously that's one of many reasons we have such a lovely community here on GW roses, including pulling a fellow gardener out of a major grump. Many thanks to all of you.

Cynthia

P.S. Does this mean I don't get mulled cider after all? If I can't grump any more, can I at least pout a little?

Cynthia, you are adorable!