It sure is! One more good/bad thing today. The high is forecast to be 73F here today. That's unheard of in August! The unfortunate thing is that I have a two hour MRI appointment today, so I won't get to garden much today.

I'm so not fond of MRI's, but I hope yours will prove useful, Lisa. Your Mary Rose is beautiful and your The Faun looks much better than mine, which is located right next to the large concrete pad. There rarely seems to be a time when all is well in the garden, and that's usually only for a short time before you discover something that's declining for some reason.

The color of your Mary Rose is amazing, Lisa. Mine is slightly lighter but, like yours, gives me such pleasure with constant blooms.

Lisa, we had that cool, rainy snap earlier and now we are back to blast furnace mode and my poor roses thought it was fall. Some are putting out lots of new growth, so I am dragging the water hose around so it won't shrivel up. I knew we'd have to pay for that cool weather, lol.

Lovely blooms! As soon as you mentioned rose midge a bell went off in my head. I think my pink/red bed is infested. Heathcliffe has had two bloom cycles this year. That's not a lot but some people say he's a stingy bloomer. Pink Eden and Summer Romance have only bloomed once though and PE especially has lots of growth but crispy ends that crumble off in that peculiar way. Oh boo. I like to fuss about the roses so I don't mind a problem that requires lots of attention but I also like to know what to do and do it. Seems like there are lots of options. What are you going to do or would you rather not say? I don't want to upset anyone who doesn't like chemicals. I don't like them myself and have never sprayed anything other than a little soapy water but I think I would in this case.

Hey, Lisa, do you get any fragrance from Mary Rose? Gosh, I'm sorry about the midge. Glad you caught it!

Yes vesfl, my Mary rose is nice and saturated deep pink. I believe this is because it only receives morning sun. I really like the nonstop blooming.

The fragrance is actually pretty good, needmore. I just never cut any anymore, because they only last about a day or so cut. That's a real bummer, because cutting is a at least half the fun for me. I like to enjoy my blooms indoors, especially when it's too hot to be out much. My Mary Rose is VERY heavily virused, but still blooms really well. I am LOVING this cooler weather! I cannot remember it ever being like this in midAugust. I sure hope we don't get a furnace blast of heat after this, but it's likely. We are supposed to have a week of mild temps. Then September will probably bring our Santa Ana winds, heat, and fire. I dread that, but at least my water and electricity will get a break this week.

Ingrid, I know what you mean. It really is always something, isn't it? Goodness, I think if everything was ever all perfect at once, I'd invite everyone I knew over for a look! I'd also make a utube video and post it here:) I don't have any raidiating heat, like you do. I know makes a big difference, plus the temp difference is substantial considering how few miles we are apart. I'm no fan of those LONG MRI's either. I've been putting it off, and it needed to be done. Yesterday I was worthless afterwards, as they had given me Valium in the IV. I've had lots of muscle spasms lately,(always worse in the summer heat) and they needed me to be still for two hours. When I came home, I was still dopey and dumb. Best not to garden like that. I'm thankful it was such a cool day, and not even the pots required water. I just watched some TV with Sebastian. Interestingly, I have found he will lay on the bed with me if I remove the comforter. Following the advice of someone here,(sorry name escapes me atm) removing the scent of Millie seems to help. He does however, continue to lose weight. I'm going to have to send him back in with my son soon. It's just so hard. In order to get the 75% discount,(which I need) he has to go to work with my son all day. Sebastian gets squeezed in for his tests or exams whenever they have time. He hates it there, and I feel terrible sending him all day long, adding to his stress. One day, he even came home without being seen at all, because they were so busy. I can't complain though, this would already have cost me thousands instead of hundreds, and I'm so grateful. The scary/confusing thing is that he has lost nearly 5lbs in 2 months. He is VERY sensitive to my health and emotions, plus Millie is bothering him. The head vet there says that amount of weight cannot be emotional. Yet, they are not finding anything. It's very troubling, and just adds to my stress, which in turn, probably adds to his. He really does stress out when I do. Sorry guys, I probably should have emailed that to Ingrid. I didn't intend to go into all that when I began.

Cassandra, I'm not 100% about what I'm going to use. I know I need to do it fast, before my whole garden is affected. I don't spray or use chemicals either, but I'm going to in this barrel. I was just in no shape to have my dad stop somewhere yesterday so I could look over my options. I'll research and update it here. I know exactly what you mean about a bell going off on n your head. I have all sorts of bugs, and I complain about them, but most of the time I don't even identify them because I'm not going to do anything to them. When Jim posted pictures, I heard that same dingdong:) That's why it's never bloomed! When I looked, sure enough, the ends looked burnt and they crumbled off when I touched them. The midge can get into your whole garden and all your roses. You could have no blooms, and no new growth. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast. It's something like every 14 days the larvae hatch out of the soil and start eating and multiplying again. They can devastate an entire rose garden. Let me know what you do, too. I'm going to research and do something today. Lisa

Lisa, your comments about the midge are pretty scary. I had no idea they could destroy a whole garden. I don't know what I would do if it happened here, and hadn't even heard much about this.

Sebastian's condition is heart-breaking and I wish there were a clear-cut answer. I know when we brought a second cat into our home Jason was constantly stressed and also lost weight, although not nearly as much. Is there anyone of your friends or neighbors who would take Millie? I would gladly take her if it weren't for Jason. Have they checked for cancer? We spent thousands of dollars treating a cat for an intestinal condition when all along she had cancer. It was our fault that we didn't opt for a biopsy. I'm so sorry that you're having this added worry when your own condition is problematic. Life just isn't fair or easy. I do hope that what you're doing saves your roses.

My mom is terrified of MRIs too, Lisa, and she has had to have a lot of them. I feel for you! I hope you get your Sebastian figured out.

Crepescule, Evelyn, The Faun, pink dahlias...such a rich collection of blooms. Darn gophers, though. Thank you for sharing, Lisa. Good luck with the gophers and rose midge.

Justin

Well the deed is done, my poor Boule de Neige. Yesterday I cut it way back, and completely defoliated it. I poured the required amount of Bayer drench with Imidacloprid and Clothanidin into the soil in the whiskey barrel. I checked every rose in the backyard, and none show any signs of midge. I hope I caught it in time, and I'm ever so thankful this one was in a container on the patio, instead of in the ground. I didn't have to poison my soil, and the branches were hanging either above the container or above the patio stone, so I assume the larvae dropped into the container or died on the stone patio. Let me know how you handle yours Cassandra. You can always PM me, if you would rather. Ingrid, from what I'm reading, I don't think all your roses will actually be killed by rose midge. I guess eventually they will take over and your roses will never be able to bloom. By that time, it's nearly impossible to fix. I knew something odd was going on with my BdN, but never considered rose midge. The bush looked so healthy, yet never bloomed. I even inquired here once if BdN was slow to begin blooming, because that's VERY unusual in my conditions. I was starting to think it needed some kind of "bloom booster" fertilizer. I had also crowded bags and containers around it, thinking maybe the sun was heating up the barrel too much. Now I know. Here is my pitiful Boule de Neige this morning.

One of my three South African blood lilies,( Scadoxus multiflorus)burst into bloom yesterday. I'm not sure why the other two are lagging so far behind. Most summers all three bloom at once. I can just see the other two breaking the surface, now. A super easy plant for me, I ignore it until I see it emerging, and then water it a bit and about once a year I throw it some bulb fertilizer.

Thanks, Justin. I do love my blooms. They bring me so much pleasure.

I'm glad the MRI is done, now I just hope they don't find new damage in the spinal cord and brain. I'm not too claustrophobic, it's the painful muscle spasms that the Dr wanted to avoid. They've become more of a problem lately.

Ingrid, yesterday I washed every single thing possible in my bedroom. I used a laundry sanitizer for anything I could put in the washing machine. Sebastian slept with me all night, even purring and acting more like himself. I'm going to keep my room off limits to both Millie and Dexter, and see if it helps. He hasn't had a biopsy because the vet says he can't see anything TO biopsy. Everything looks ok. My son doesn't want to give Millie up, and I understand, but we're going to have to make some changes. For one thing, his "temporary stay" has stretched out to a long time. He didn't want a bedroom, because this was temporary. He's been on my couch. He took a huge pay cut to work with animals, and I don't see him moving anytime soon. It was fine when he was with his girl, and they had two incomes. It's clear that my storage and project room, needs to become a bedroom again. This will give Millie her own space, as well. Hasn't this weather been nice?!

Louise Odier: I just can't get over this girl! She has been in constant bloom for MANY months. I'm going to look back and see just how long she's been blooming. Astounding!! Here she is this morning. Lisa

I just looked back at my old photos of Louise Odier. I see she began with some blooms in midApril . She's been blooming nonstop for 4 months! You Go Girl! Lisa

Wow, Lisa, I've never heard of Louise Odier being a bloom machine. It's such a beautiful rose and you must be thrilled. It obviously loves your conditions.

What you're doing in regard to Sebastian sounds perfect. Being with just you at night might be just what he needs, in addition to keeping him somewhat separate from Millie.

I am so keeping my fingers crossed for you about the MRI results. It must be so very hard to wait until then.

Mary rose looks good. might have try watering mine more as it's doesn't seem to bloom much after spring.