Cori Ann, I don't have your heat or dryness, but I love your experiments against the wall to test heat tolerance.

now that I have spider mites in my ridiculously rainy spring, I have been reading that spider mites like dry heat and roses on afternoon sun are vulnerable to them. How do you keep your plants against the brick wall free of spider mites? Do you water the underside of leaves when you water them?

Hi Totoro. I'm not sure what I'm doing to keep spider mites away, but they aren't a problem here. I don't spray the under side of leaves. Maybe there's an predator bug here that takes care of them? I'm sorry I'm not much help on this one.

I am happy for you. This year is my first battle with the mites.

I was just reading about Moonstone and thought that might be a rose that is good for your high heat experiments because Edmunds says it likes heat and it has the coloring of Mme Anisette. Not sure if it likes dry or humid but the thick leathery leaves might make it good for dry?

Do you notice whether the quality of the leaf has any correlation with whether your roses tolerate hot and dry?

Cori Ann, Ebb Tide doesn't get purple enough for my taste in my climate, but it's does very well in the heat and only took off from blooming mid December to mid February with our record setting cold snap.

There is a poster from Pakistan that reports how well it does in his excruciating heat also.

Totoro I have a lot of pincher bugs (ear wigs) and I know they eat aphids and mites in addition to nibbling on plants sometimes. I wonder if they are taking care of spider mites?

Lavenderlace that is great info about Ebb Tide! Thank you! It has been cooler here for the past couple of weeks (70s-90s), but once the 100s come back I am sure I will have more to report back! :-)

Checking in, does anybody have any updates? Do you still have anything blooming? What about foliage? I don't care that much about blooms in summer heat as long as rose looks green. We had temps all around 115-120, and my yard is even hotter than that... My last fall plantings (Don Juan, Maggie, Mlle Sombreul) are doing ok, but almost all of their young growth they came with died or burnt, all they have is only new growth they developed in my garden already. Maggie and Mlle Sombreul even try to bloom. I will try to take some pictures tonight. We're all embracing for another heat wave of 115+. What about your gardens?

I can't match your heat, Natasha, but in this desert, as soon as we hit 95F up regularly a few weeks ago, my roses started packing their bags. Now we've been getting 101F or so, and it will continue for a while in this temp range. Most of my roses have shut down, or are in the process of it. The few remaining like hotter temps, but I think they'll be heading for shutdown by the end of the week. They are: Evelyn, Ascot, Angel Face, Julia Child, Olivia Rose Austin, Jude the Obscure, a tiny Abe Darby, and a few others. Julia will hang in there, though. The dry air here seems as harmful as the heat to the blooms. Diane

Blush Noisette is unfazed by temperatures that have hit 125 in parts of my yard. Purple Lodge is holding on to its last blooms but has no burnt leaves, and it is in a western exposure hot spot. My Austins, all grafted, are fine because they receive sun until about 2. Their blooms are funky looking but the plant itself looks fine. Bolero, planted in full sun appears fairly unfazed by the recent temperatures. Blue Girl (grafted) seems fine. Chicago Peace has a pretty bloom, and its thick petals are resisting the burn. Annie Laurie Mc Dowell, it is unfazed and growing up against a block wall in the 125-degree area too. It has buds, blooms, and no fried petals. I could not help but notice it this morning, and am in awe of it. I wonder if Kim is aware of its heat tolerance level.... When temperatures begin to decline I will try to remember to take a pic this evening. I have been distracted and have not walked the yard much, but those are the ones that come to mind.

Great updates! It's been 90s to 115 here for weeks without radiant heat... so that means it has been way over 120+ daily in certain parts of my yard from the radiant heat and stone walls. It's a very dry heat here. Most have shut down, but I am amazed that some roses are doing so well! Here are the ones currently impressing me...

All American Magic has bloomed like this almost nonstop since the start of spring. The radiant heat from the stone and the pots are intense!!!

Love Song isn't fazed at all by the radiant heat of the wall, with Nahema in the background still sporadically blooming.

Summer Romance is quick to rebloom and still looks great with southern exposure and intense radiant from that stone wall.

Falstaff

Young Lycidas is still doing well there to the left of Falstaff too.

Iceberg (up above with Falstaff and also climbing Iceberg below) just never shows any signs of heat stress here, even when it gets to 120+

Same thing with Pink Supreme carpet roses. I know some hate these or don't even consider them real roses at all... but they do so well here with intense heat and very little water. I hacked back that nepeta on the left so please excuse the current funky haircut.

Peach Swirl gets western exposure here and continues to do extremely well in the heat.

My young, baby Dames de Chenonceau(s) are still handling intense heat well.

Homere seems happy in this heat still.

Mademoiselle Franziska Kruger.

Peter Mayle.

Barbra Streisand

Koko Loco doesn't have the same cool, distinct color changing qualities, and has much smaller blooms, but it still is a blooming machine in my dry heat.

Little Grey Pearl and Green Ice

Pretty Lady Rose

Florentina

Sombreuil

Desertgarden my grafted Blue Girls keep blooming and look great from far away, but up close they get really toasted. They get northern exposure and a lot of shade. I still really like them though. Maybe they will become more heat tolerant like yours in time.

Your yard is still looking good Cori-Ann!! Mine, not so much. It has been a horrid year and one like no other since I have been here in L.V. Your garden is fairing so well despite not seeming to have many trees to filter and shade??

I have not measured the radiant heat this year, we had 186 degrees bouncing off of a western exposure wall of our home last year and promptly planted two trees to filter the sun and provide shade. We collect wine, and although everything in that room creates a proper environment for wine, I still did not like the idea of that kind of heat on my exterior walls, especially the one where that room is located. The actual temperature measured by one of my husband's gizmos, in my heat sink of a yard, was 125 degrees about two weeks ago. Heirloom died and Baronne Henriette de Snoy is in critical condition.

Oh, my Madam Anisette is doing fine, although this rapidly growing baby is in a protected area. How is yours fairing during the intense heat?

I think my Blue Girl is benefiting from the sun being filtered by a nearby Frankenstein tree. ( a multiple grafted citrus tree with mandarin, Meyer's lemon, and 3 other fruits.... it always looks kind of awkward to us)

Desertgarden you're right, we had most of the trees in our actual yard demolished in the fall with the yard remodel since they were diseased, but there are several very tall, mature trees in neighboring yards that do provide filtered shade in a lot of areas during the afternoon. I am sure that helps quite a bit.

I admit I recently spent a lot of time cleaning up the burnt leaves and blooms so it looks better now than it has recently.

Madame Anisette is doing great here. I hacked them way back when I planted them in the ground though, and they have since decided to grow instead of bloom, which is fine by me. The bushes look very healthy and happy.

My heat isn't as intense as yours I'm sure. You're getting 125 not including radiant heat and I think the highest we got was 115-120 not including radiant heat. It's mostly in the low 100s and high 90s.

It's been in the 90s lately which is so much more tolerable ... and that's why my garden looks better now than it has been.

Also, the silicon I have been sporadically using (Protekt) seems to really be helping. I should apply more soon actually. Maybe this weekend.

The farther south you are located, the more intense and damaging the sun's rays, regardless of the temperature. So Las Vegas, being farther south, has more intense, higher energy, sunlight. The closer you get to the Equator, the worse it gets. Diane

Thanks Diane! Oh... Dark Desire also handles the heat well here. My iPhone doesn't pick up the color well though. It is lighter now than it was in the spring, but it's still much darker than it looks in these photos. It has those thick, sturdy petals that hold up so well in the dry heat here.

Dark Desire on a north facing shady fence.

Dark Desire in a full sun area with high heat.

Your garden, Cori Ann, is so green and wonderful looking!

I bet my garden looks much closer to yours, Lynn. We have radiant heat from everywhere, including cool-deck around the pool, walls, fence... I will be planting much more heat tolerable plants along the eastern wall of my fence. I wouldn't mind to live in "jungles" (as my mom names my plans). Unfortunately we can't plant trees in our back yard as we have all that pool plumbing going on. I don't trim my roses, no clean ups... everything even if it's dead - provides shade in my situation. In my main rose bed in spring I planted cosmos. It grew tall up to my chest! now it started looking kind of dead, but I don't plan on pulling it out. Shade shade shade. So pretty much my yard is kind of messy and half dead looking now.

Oh, Lynn, I'm surprised by how Purple Lodge is handling the heat! I still have it in a pot as several others that came from Ludwig's. And I can say that this is the only one that stayed not only alive but almost unfazed with this heat!

Before while checking the size of roses on HMF I thought they would be higher, bigger as we have mild winters! But now I realize that we have our own "winters" that we call summers.

Be sure to shake those cosmos good this fall so the seeds fall and you get lots of reseeding next growing season. What has really shaded some of my roses is annual purple poppies. They stand thick and tall and have been blooming since spring. I thin them out routinely, but there are so many they still produce shade in some flower beds. Diane

Cori Ann, here's some of what's blooming now. And of course, the omnipresent rudbeckia and coneflowers are trying to cover every thing in sight. The bees love them, though.....Glad you're back, and glad you have roses blooming and looking beautiful in the heat. Diane

Poppies with Ballerina in the background. This stand is mostly gone and Ballerina is brown. I'll try to take some photos that really show how thick the poppies can be. Trouble is this time of summer, their flowers blow early in the morning and don't stick around, just the plants.

Thanks Natasha! I just love your poppies Diane!

I probably should have left my burnt foliage and blooms to create more shade like some of you did... but it got cooler in the 90s so I was just too tempted to clean it up. Hopefully it won't end up causing too many more scorched plants. :-/

Cori Ann, what is the color of your Melodie Perfume in this heat ? Mine is all faded to lavender blooms due to the High temperatures. I miss the purple.

Hi Anna. It either shut down or is between flushes because it hasn't been blooming at all in the past few weeks. Foliage is healthy though.

Cori Ann, I went back through your latest photos, and was amazed at how well your Love Song and Young Lycidas have held up in the heat. Are you doing anything special for them? I have two LS and YL, and all three are out for the count. I have no idea when they'll start blooming again. We have at least ten days coming up when it will be 100F+. It's horrible for me and the roses. I don't know how anyone lives in Phoenix, LV, or Livermore. I barely had a month of good blooming--long winter, cold spring, and a few weeks later a furnace. Sorry for the rant--I am so discouraged with 11 months of work for 1 month of good blooms. I guess it's going to be me looking forward to September now. I'll try to be more up next time I post. Diane

Love Song--just a memory

Diane I would be frustrated too so please feel free to rant.

I noticed a big difference when I started using silicon. I am using it in foliar applications for heat tolerance, but it helps with rasping inspects and overall health of plants too. I am using Protekt by the Dynagro brand. I don't use it as often as directed... maybe once every week to every couple of weeks. I really do believe it is the reason some of my roses are still blooming with all this heat. It seemed to help with thrip damage too for most. Definitely try it! Apply it in the evening though because overhead watering with it during the day will steam any blooms you do have. :-)

Cori Ann, thanks for the suggestion--I've been reading your comments on silicon. If there are no blooms on the rose bush, do you think it's worth spraying with silicon? I have a lot of roses with no blooms at all after deadheading the dried up stuff. Is it applied through a hose end sprayer? I have to drag 150 feet of hose around, and it gets exhausting. I do this all the time because there are so many areas getting insufficient water (I'm 71, and the heat can really get to me; I have no help for anything much). Thanks again for your advice. You are a wonderful rose gardener. Diane

We recently purchased that metal hose, Nanadoll. It requires daisy chaining multiples of these hoses to get across the yard from each faucet point, but despite that, it remains lightweight.

I think I missed the hose discussion. Sound interesting. Cori Ann, I'm not sure the silicon would help in my situation, but I was wondering how you felt the dormant oil spray helped earlier in the season?

Nanadoll mentioned having to "drag 150 feet of hose around and it becoming exhausting", Vaporvac. I drag a little more than that to get to a part of my yard and it is a breeze because the metal hose remains lightweight.

Diane, what about a backpack sprayer?

Dragging a hose around is exhausting, I agree. That's the main reason I only apply the silicon every couple of weeks. Well, that and overhead watering uses so much more water than the drip irrigation I use in my garden.

Yes, the Protekt silicon I have been using is in liquid form and you apply it with a hose end sprayer at a rate of 1.5 to 2.0 oz per gallon. Diane I think it was actually better when I applied it when there weren't any blooms. Suddenly the bushes seemed to become more heat tolerant, stronger and started budding again. If you're already watering with a hose, then it would be no extra work at all to just add the Protekt silicon.

Vaporvac I think the dormant oil seemed to help with pests in the beginning of spring. But it was a very short window of time here when it was cool enough to apply the dormant oil without damage.

Thanks, Cori Ann. I'm going to check out the Protekt. I have a drip system, augmented with tiny sprinklers that are connected to the drip line to help with perennials, etc. I still need to drag a hose around to get areas that are missed. I hand water containers and a raised bed, but most of these are close to the hose outlet. The Never Kink hoses I use really seem light weight, but getting around corners and various barriers adds to the work of dragging the darn hose. Then I get to drag it back and wind it up (my most hated job). I'd rather dig holes.

I've just had a stressful outing in the heat, and have decided I do not want to be the responsible adult in a car driven by a teen who needs more experience driving--no matter how wonderful she is. Been there, done that--heh. Diane

107 yesterday. 105 currently. All of those pictured above from Thursday are still blooming here though. I honestly can't even believe it. If this is because of the Protekt, then the stuff is seriously amazing. I'm sure most will be toasted by the end of today, so I saved these from a fiery death.

Old Town Novato. Dames de Chenonceau. Dark Desire. Tess of the D'Ubervilles. Heathcliff. Nahema is in there somewhere too. I'm experimenting with greenery so you will have to excuse the funkiness of the foliage in the arrangement. I haven't figured out how best to use it in arrangements yet.

Amazing that your roses are doing so well. Lovely arrangement (funky foliage?!). You didn't ask, but I would probably use less of the large leaved stuff and have something lacy mingling amongst it. Jupiter's beard is good. I can't think of other lacy stuff right now. My brain is cooked. It's 103F today. We have several 105F's coming up which I hope are incorrect predictions. I hope your applications to doctoral programs are progressing well. Diane

Before I go out into the furnace in a minute, I thought I'd ask if you've ever tried asparagus fern for filler? We have a giant one outside in a pot, and I think when I have a rose or two to spare (Sept?), I'll try it in a bouquet. My concern with this plant would be it shedding all over the place. I don't know how it would hold up, but it's worth trying. It grows like a weed, so you can get a small plant cheaply, and before you know it, it will be a big plant. We keep ours in the garage in winter, but I'll bet you could easily grow one outside year round. I usually just plonk the roses in a vase because they don't last very long here. You've created some lovely bouquets to show us. I'm sure you've tried lavender and catmint as fillers....Time to take a look outside. Hopefully, I won't collapse and roll down the hill into the gully. Diane

It's just starting to be safe to go outside here too. But still almost 100 in the shade! Snap, crackle, pop, rose crispies.

Mostly everything left outside fried today. But Love Song looks almost unfazed. How is this possible?

Summer Romance and First Crush also look pretty darn good for being dry rooasted by that stone wall. Kordes roses are just amazing me lately.

Everything else is toast for now until we get some 90s or 80s so it can start blooming again.

I might try the asparagus fern for greenery. Thanks Diane! I'm trying to leave the catmint and lavender uncut for the bees since they're working so hard in this heat. :-)

Cori Ann. The Love Song looks like has thick petals similar to Angel Face. I think that's why she stands the heat.

What I am really amazed by is that I am not getting burnt foliage. Look at these... right up against that southern facing, extremely hot wall. How are the leaves so healthy and lush? I am really tempted to say it is the Protekt that is helping them. I had a lot more burnt foliage when I wasn't using it. The roses are a couple months older though... So it could also be that. It is just so hot... it's unbelievable that my foliage isn't crisping currently.

I wish I would have used Protekt on my blueberries and raspberries because that foliage is super toasty.

I just got back in, and it was ghastly. First, my best stand of snaps is charcoal. And I discovered that several pots of some beautiful hot peppers are a mess. I have them on the deck and patio so they get just early eastern sun. But somehow around 6 pm, the sun blasted them from the west, which it's never done before--I've grown the peppers in those spots for years. I hope I haven't lost any. My honey bees are out in droves because this is prime coneflower time, and they love those blasted things. So do the bumblebees, which are nowhere to be seen. They haven't shown up this year, and I'm worried. Or it could be a one time thing because of our recent awful winter. They are my favorite, so I miss them. Of course, the wasps are out and their nasty friends, the yellow jackets, which are worthless beasts. At least the wasps pollinate, but boy, have they stung me in the past..... I was sorry to see your rose toast, but I'd kill to have that Love Song. Mine are totally devoid of blooms. Did you spray the LS with Protekt? It looks just amazing. Well, time to change the water on the tomatoes. Diane

I should mention that the roses' foliage looks good, and I do have a valiant Evelyn that is in bloom. There are some other brave ones blooming and that have a few buds. I should focus on those instead of the blasted ones. Diane

Hi Diane! That's great your foliage looks good! That's the most important I think. The blooms just can't survive heat like that... well usually. I don't know how Love Song looks that good. It has to be the Protekt right?

Anna they're actually not that thick of petals. They kind of remind me of the thickness of Iceberg to be honest. It perplexes me how both of those are doing so well in this heat. They don't seem like they should, but they do. You're right that the thicker petals usually do hold up better though. Although, my thick ones still crisped today if they were left outside (Black Baccara, Dark Desire, Falstaff, Peach Swirl, etc.). It was 107 today and yesterday was 105 though, even without the addition of the radiant heat here, so you can't blame the roses!

Diane, yup I treated all my roses and citrus with Protekt. I have applied it by watering overhead maybe 4-5 times so far over the past 2 or 3 months. I didn't treat my veggies or berries though. I was being conservative and now I think that was a mistake. The raspberries may end up being ok next year, but they don't look good now. The blueberries still taste good, but the foliage is baked. I bet your peppers pop back. Mine have wilted and crisped often, but they perk right back up overnight with some water. They're sturdy veggies.

My lettuces are all bolting... so tonight I better make a salad! :-)

Went out again to torture myself and deadhead, of all things. Some of the peppers did pop back up, but one of the habaneros lost a lot of leaves--I've had this happen before, and it takes a while for the plant to come back. One of the Thai hot is still bad, and it was covered with little green peppers. Darn. Those are my son in law's favorite.....You are so right about Love Song having thinner petals. They are not like my Angel Face, which has lots of buds right now, and must be enjoying the heat. Gack. Diane

Sorry about the lettuce, but I suppose it's understandable. Enjoy your salad. Diane

We're back into the triple digits again too. Gotta get the pics in the morning before they hit. But even so some are fried...

First bloom on my new OSIRIA from RU this spring is all fried.

I kinda like the crispy-critters on SAMARITAN. Looks interesting...

TREASURE TRAIL doesn't seem to mind it too much

BRIDAL PINK isn't too worried about it...

CRESCENDO is a pale bloom with fried edges...

I'm glad to be out of the cold winter temps... but I don't like 107°!!!

Wow Beth! Thank you for adding your pics! Bridal Pink is one I need to take note of for the future. It looks like it is standing up to the heat quite well... And not a lot of thrip damage. Since it's a florist rose I bet it has a long vase life too. Also, thank you again for recommending Dark Desire for the heat. It's been outstanding!

Yes, Beth, your Bridal Pink is stunning--never heard of that rose (there's a lot I've never heard of). I wish I could have your attitude about the "crispy critters". I need to lighten up. Treasure Trail looks like a dahlia. what an unusual rose, as is Samaritan. I love them. Diane

Here are my champions. We had cooler days, also our drip system broke couple of weeks ago that led to extensive watering for 24 hours before we found that out. I think I can thank all that to see those tiny blooms :)

Those crispy tips of leaves are the work of thrips, what do you think? next year I will try that Protekt thing, Cori Ann. I like your results with it :)

Natasha, You have some brave roses. I love the pink of the Ludwig's rose. I agree that stronger colors do better than the pastels in a bright and sunny garden. That's how it works here, anyway. I love pastels, but they all look like sickly white from even a short distance. I think the damage above is burning on the leaves. It doesn't look like the thrips damage on the susceptible roses in my garden. Diane

Thank you, Diane, those are good news about thrips. :) I was afraid I would make this bed too bright, and then with some roses dying, new coming it transformed into pastel colored roses... Well, this is a good reason to expand this bed with some bright colors and to buy more roses, isn't it?

It is interesting that describing exactly this Ludwig's rose I remembered about fragrance and couldn't remember its name. And it's Fragonard! How funny is that?

You guys might like Tuscan Sun. I read it handles hot and dry well.

http://www.allaboutroses.com.au/tuscan-sun-floribunda-rose-of-dazzling-beauty-and-extremely-high-health-performance/