I'm shocked too Melissa.... I can't remember a February like the one we're having... it would be more usual to be under 3 foot of snow, but it's Spring now.. my rainwater collection butts are almost dry... no rain.. and none on the way.. I won't lie and say I don't like it... I rather do... but it doesn't seem to be right...

I agree. The last few years have been weird. Yesterday was a perfect day, although, I didn't get to be out there as I would have liked. Kids and appointments. Is this the new normal? I hope not, and am waiting on our weather to get right.we are used to rain either and a couple summers ago not everywhere in SC , but I was really dry. I wrote about it on here. Rain would hit everywhere but here. I didn't get any rain all Summer, it was hot and humid on top of it, and just plain miserable. I understand. I hope things get back normal for you.

Melissa -- Historically, this area has been mild, without extremes in either direction. Moderate -- sometimes foggy -- summers. 0 hours of winter chill.

These past few drought years have brought us temperatures in the mid-90's. And NOW? It's getting down to freezing in the morning (it was 31 deg. when I got up) and climbing only to the high 50's. (For a bred-and-born Southern California girl, that's COLD.)

This year? We're getting more rain than we've seen in several years. The Sierras have 180% of normal snowfall. Yesterday's newspaper let us know that we are "overdue" for a monumental rain that would flood Los Angeles. But lest we become complacent -- our groundwater reserves have been overdrawn, and our Southern California reservoirs are still down.

The weather is worrisome, and I hope you get some rain before summer. Here in the PNW we recently got huge amounts of snow, which is great for (hopefully) reducing summer wildfires and helping the salmon runs. But it feels lucky, not like something we can count on.

On an unrelated note, I wish you would write a book about growing roses (and other things) in a dry garden. Your experience is valuable, and could help people with strategies to keep gardening despite a warming climate.

I am not at all climate change denier, but a lot of what we are describing is weather, not climate, at least as far as rainfall is concerned. It's true all over. I can show you a family picture of hurricane damage in northern interior Maine back in 1938. No one was even thinking of climate change back then.

For California in particular, the historic drought and surplus cycle is normal, and has been going on for hundreds of years, if not longer. The temperature extremes are probably more indicative of climate change than the rainfall is. What I have mostly heard is that we should expect more extreme events, rather than just a general warming up and drying out. And of course, this leads to more wildfire. Even if we get the same average rain we have been used to getting (possible), it will come in more intense rainfalls in a more condensed rainy season, meaning a longer, hotter, drier period. That is where the hazard generates.

Melissa, I'm going to Ninfa south of Rome May, 5th 2019. I'm so excited to see it. I'm hoping for rain there, and for you in Northern Italy, so all the plants are happy.

Weather is changeable from year to year, but when year after year the trend has been steadily toward hotter and drier as I've seen here over the past ten years, and especially over the last five years, I would call that climate change, especially since it's happening exactly as climatologists have predicted. At the other extremes you have ski resorts in northern Italy and Austria who had to close because their towns and roads were covered in so much snow that they could not dig themselves out. Drastic changes all over the world cannot be ignored. It's all happening even more quickly than predicted. All we can do is live one day at a time, because the future has become too ominous to contemplate.

Actually, it was a recent interview with climate scientists which I heard on public radio that said that California is not so much drying out as compressing the rainy season into a shorter period; and that we can expect to get similar average rainfall, but with even wilder swings into extremes, including less frequent but more severe storms. The dry years may be drier and the wet years wetter, but when we sit down and average an extended span of years, it is expected to turn out to be similar to what we've had in the past. Not a good thing perhaps, but I am working on convincing myself that it is better than the alternate of drying out altogether.

The truth is that there is no such thing as normal weather and there never has been, just average weather which is not the same thing at all. This is what makes it easy for people who wish to deny climate change to do so. On the other hand I completely agree that climate is changing. I'm just saying that some of the things that look like climate change may not necessarily be caused by that change, but still be part of our usual variation.

I'm picking hairs here, I know, but I am the daughter of a scientist and I love accuracy. I'm also a librarian and I am fascinated by information.

I am as worried as Melissa. Climate change is most apparent up here in the north because we're so close to the diminishing arctic ice and the thawing tundra. The temperature in subarctic Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city on the 67th parallel has risen 1.2 degrees Celsius in the last few years. Kebnekaise is Sweden's highest mountain but what used to be the highest peak is now much lower after the snow cap has melted. Down here in the middle of the country we're getting hotter and drier summers and very little snow in winter compared to 20 years ago. We had some snow over New Year but it's almost gone now and people are already reporting spring flowers. I expect another dry summer.

Paula, I agree entirely with what you wrote. It's what I've been seeing the last few years, and what I hear reported elsewhere. Aside from stopping, and if possible, reversing, the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere--which will require serious concerted political action and massive public education (away with the political dinosaurs! they're about to go extinct, taking the rest of us with them)--individuals and organisations need to focus on capturing the water that comes in intense bursts.

I do agree that rains are becoming more severe since in our 13 years here we have never had water coming into the house, or even close to it, and now four rooms were flooded or partially flooded in this last rainstorm. We also never had heat like early last summer with temperatures up to 115 degrees, whereas previously at that time of the year it typically did not get close to 100 degrees. Winters were also much colder than they are now, below freezing at night, another thing that has not happened in the last five years or so.

I can't like that, Ingrid.

Here in Tasmania we are getting less rain and hotter summers. We have nothing between us and Antarctica so we used to have the whole month of November as a really windy time because of the change of ocean temperatures causing changes at that time of year. We have had wind now since December and it hasn't stopped except for a day or two here and there.

Tasmania has ancient landscapes that have survived untouched for millennia, but in 2016 we had our first fire in these forests ever. This year we have lost more of this unchanged wilderness to fires. The fires were started by dry lightning strikes which have never occurred before on our island. Forests and plant communities that were unchanged for thousands of years have been burned. They will never recover so they are lost forever.

Wow, Lola, that is so heartbreaking. All of it is. We are in for a rough ride.

K S, have you read 'Beth Chatto's Dry Garden'? Chatto is the author. She writes about her garden and suggests plants. I'm happy to talk about my own experiences, here on the forum, and, if you have questions, we could also write privately or even talk on the phone. What I have to offer is my own experiences, in a unique situation, nobody's garden being exactly like anyone else's. It's anecdotal, not the result of scholarly research.

Sheila, enjoy Ninfa! I've never seen it, but the pictures suggest that it's wonderful. I believe that central and southern Italy have been getting more rain than we have here in the north, and the date sounds perfect.

Great to hear, Melissa. It sounds like you are creating your own Ninfa, Melissa. I really enjoyed Beth Chatto's Dry Garden book, too. It was a wonderful book for her English location. It would translate to Seattle better than the hotter conditions.

Perhaps here in Tuscany things have gone a bit better than up where Melissa is, as far as rain goes, but the present state of Omega blocking with high atmospheric pressure is always very worrisome. Frankly I'm always paranoid about the weather,and it's WAY too soon in the year for this stable,overly warm,rainless climate.

Melissa, I'm always glad to hear about your experiences!

Lola Moth, I had tears in my eyes when I read your post. That bone-deep sense of loss of everything beautiful and previously thought to be eternal in the natural world resonates deeply with me. It's never far from my consciousness now that most probably it will all be lost in a terrifyingly short time span.

Since we must live in the here and now, Sheila, I'm excited about your trip to Italy. The images of Ninfa are breathtakingly romantic, and I understand there are quite a few rambling roses there. I can't wait to see it all through your eyes.

K S, your post was beautifully written and profoundly insightful. Thank you.

I wish you could be there in Ninfa with your camera Ingrid, but I'll try to get some photos. I saw hail on the other post, too. I'm hoping for real Spring at some point for us all.

Well said, K S. The perfect book on dry gardening would be one that combines personal experience in one dry (unirrrigated) garden with research on other dry gardens, all of it written in a good style. I agree that there's room in the literature for both anecdotal accounts and studies.

Bart, how are you doing? And how's your garden?

How sweet of you to ask about me, Melissa! Many, many thanks for your concern.I'm doing OK. Problems with anxiety, but what does one expect? And I'm working like a demon,trying to catch up on stuff out at my land. What a joy to be able to work without that terrible pain!!! but things are a mess, since actually it's been a couple years now that I was becoming ever more disabled,so I wasn't able to keep up, and last year...well, forget it. I did no pruning at all, and so now I'm tackling all these badly over-grown roses. I don't know how much flowering I'll get this season, since I'm even doing some once-bloomers that are just too out of hand. There were places in my garden where one couldn't even pass, it was so over-grown and neglected. Also, let's face it , I approached things from the start with much more enthusiasm than wisdom, so now I'm having to figure out how to support all these climbing roses...and where to put the potted ones, without succumbing to my old vice of planting them too close together. The dry weather is worrisome, too; I still haven't found a good source for organic mulch, but do collect cardboard and I'm putting that down,weighing it in place with whatever I can find. So things look very sloppy, even trashy, out there ,but too bad. Hopefully eventually I'll get caught up...

Bart, I bet your roses would look great to me even unmanicured. I love the wild, jungley look.

bart, I'm thrilled that your pain level is so much improved. I'm sure you will get caught up with your pruning, etc. Your mentioning cardboard reminded me of my efforts, which were a failure because there just isn't enough rain here to ever break down the cardboard and I hope that won't be the case with you. If you do have enough rain then cardboard is a great help.

Bart, thanks for the report. I'm glad for you that you're not suffering the chronic pain of the past: that sounds horrible. The advantage of a dry garden is that it doesn't collapse in the face of a period of neglect. I've been playing catchup this winter, too, since many of my roses haven't had sufficient attention over the last couple of busy years, and some that are several years old have never had a thorough pruning. But the kind of garden I, and I think you, have can go for a while with little care.

No rain here for the last couple of weeks; no rain in the two week forecast. It's dry. We've only had two periods of rain or snow all fall and winter, grossly inadequate to supply our water needs. How has your winter been?

O, I always think that it's too dry, however I'm probably right in the case of this year. But we did have a nice, long wet period,and it was cold,too-at least by Italian standards,lol.We need rain now, however; just as the plants are starting to wake up, they need the water.

In the past at least, cardboard does eventually break down in my garden. The main problem is getting organic mulch to put on top of it; I still haven't found someone to sell me hay. The neighbour to whom I gave some roses invited me to come and take as much manure, etc, that I want, which is great,but I need someone to bring plain hay out to my place. It is light weight; I need a mulching material that I can distribute without breaking my back.

This is somewhat ridiculous... I've known it at the end of March before, but rarely end of Feb... I think the last time was in 1976 as I remember that... the sun is quite strong..

'Dog Days' come early...

Marlorena, what a sweet doggie you have there. It's very strange, but it's probably colder here than where you live.

Thank you Ingrid, and for taking the time to reply in what are testing times for you at the moment in various ways...

It's nice but I'm not happy with this situation.. it puts everything out of kilter and our gardens will be filled with every bug imaginable this summer.. I'm already finding them on my roses.. .

I'm so sorry; your garden is much too beautiful to have that happen. Bugs away!!!

Disturbed by the weather prediction,I ended out interrupting my prune-a-thon yesterday in order to work on my water-tanks issue. My old roof for rain harvesting has broken down,and I couldn't fix it ,so I didn't harvest any rain water at all this year-BAD. So yesterday I cleared the old stuff out. I still have to level the ground , and move the one empty tank over to it's new spot (if it isn't too heavy for me to do alone; if it is, I'll have to wait until my DH can come and help). Then at least I can fill it up with water from the fountain in the town that's on the way to my land. Eventually I'll have to put up the new roof, but the main thing now is to get all my tanks full of water. I had to water my pot ghetto this morning, and may have to water my new implants ,unless things change drastically. I do not feel ready for this! and it's frustrating to have to start worrying about watering already,when I haven't even caught up yet with pruning.

Wishing I could help, Bart. Glad your hip is feeling better.

I fear the coming weather patterns are going to pose new challenges for many of us, when all the tried and true wisdom of the past is turned upside down and we have to scramble to find new solutions, and then the next year may be different still. For myself I do see a time when growing roses may no longer be feasible, or that their number will be drastically reduced, but I'm going to give that only a passing thought because I'm very excited about my new roses now. Easy for me to say, not having bart's rose garden without an easy source of water. I can only keep my fingers crossed that you and Melissa will have some rain still in the very near future to make your lives easier.

My latest motto is 'DEAL WITH IT'---whatever comes along. At least changing climate conditions don't require any drastic course alteration on my part, as I've always gardened with drought and water preservation in mind. The garden may not stand up to what the present and future are throwing at us, but it's as ready as I know how to make it. Sometimes pessimism is a positive quality.

Still no rain in the forecast, and the air quality is bad. I'm hoping our having embowered ourselves in green helps.