I’m so sorry to hear of this continued frustration for you, Bart! With your water challenges, have you considered any permaculture practices?

It sounds like what you really need is a little break from your garden stresses, which maybe the end of gardening season can offer?

Sending you good thoughts!! :-)

Hang in there Bart! Best wishes!

Oh Bart, that sounds so difficult! Maybe taking less water up at one time will help. I read that permafrost in the Arctic that was projected to melt due to climate change in 90 years time already melted this year, so we are all in for it now. In five years we may all be on the "Aloes and Agaves" forum, missing our old roses.

Thank you all SO much. Btw, I tried to edit this thread, change the name,but Houzz won't let me. Then, I deleted it, or so I thought, but apparently it didn't work. Whining about stuff just makes it worse...but, Perma, you are right,I DO need a break. We were just blessed by rain here in town; I admit I didn't dare even hope for this; I sure hope it rained out at my land. Thank Heaven!!! this means I can put off worrying about watering for another week.

I do harvest rain water, but my little roof-thingie fell apart after many years last year, and since I was so ill, with my bad hip and all, I never got the new one put up. I have been working on making a flat area near my tanks to set it up, but things go so slowly when it's too hot to work most of the time, plus I will need my DH's help to put this up. However the bottom line is that I want to sort of "get done" with planting roses; I want more time to dedicate to painting, sculpture, companion planting, and ground-covers. As fond as I am of roses, their main flush really does signify the end of the season for me,since it just is too ugly most of the time to be outside once summer really hits. It's so much fun planting and planning, but then ,once I have to start watering, it's just a drag. I only water new implants,so at this point I want to focus on getting mostly rid of my pot ghetto; that will mean about 30 new implants for this fall. After that, I hope to reduce new implants to only a couple per year. I also want to harden my heart, and start sp'ing ones that I don't really like.

Thank you all, once again, for your kindness and encouragement!

"...I trust you'll understand the reference to another Scottish tragedy without my having to name the play...."

(couldn't help myself! that's a line from the musical Hamilton, for anyone who didn't know.)

And Bart, in case you aren't familiar with it, the name of that song in the musical is "Take a Break", which is exactly what you need! Maybe enjoy working with a small area that you can see from a part of your house that you spend a lot of time in, that's more manageable?

I don’t have the challenge of gardening away from home like you do, Bart. I’m so impressed with the way you keep at it. I fully understand the feeling when the heat comes and basically shuts down most garden activity. Even though it’s been a cool spring here, I know it’s coming, and I dread it. There’s so much to do, and not enough energy or enthusiasm to get it all done. I’m just commiserating with you, for I’ll be sweltering soon enough. Just do what you can, and celebrate those things. That’s what I tell myself. It works some days better than others. ♥️Lisa

You mentioned painting and sculpture...maybe you take a break from gardening to be creative in another fashion? Just speaking for myself, I know I need to take breaks from tedious tasks sometimes and refuel my creative drive. It took me some time (silly me!) to realize that I was actually the driver of my crazy train. I would bemoan all that I had to do, but keep plodding on in misery. Then one day it dawned on me that these grandiose plans and schedules were of my own making, and I just needed to get the big boss (myself) to grant me a little furlough for some down-time.

Definitely not saying you are as nutso as I am, but sometimes we just have to say enough and have a fun day. As hard as you’ve worked to get to this point, you certainly deserve it!! :-)

Bart, you are high achiever but you need to slow down just like everyone says . You are too hard on yourself plus those steep hills are no joke. You just had a hip surgery , steep hills, intense heat...wait a min. It is not Summer for you. I keep forgetting you are in Australia so I assume it is winter for you ?

Perma, is right. You need a break. I still want to see your sculpturing the paintings of course. Maybe one day, you will post some pics :)
You work so hard in your wonderful garden. Just be careful .

We went through extreme heat not long ago. All my roses shut down best of all the ones that bloom had funny blooms. I keep looking at them weird Bec they were so, so , so small Then it dong on me so that's what you guys meant on forum. One of my rose burn so I drag the huge pot under the tree and thanks to the Rosarians here I figured the "look". Now, it has new growth of leaves thanks to heavy daily rains for last 2 weeks. Now, I have so much weeding to do before it rains again . Gardening never ends. We all need breaks.

jin

Bart is in Italy, so it is maximum heat, but your post is lovely Jin.

Bart, we've perhaps been luckier than you, with a grace period of thus far tolerable weather (still hot out in the sun) that's forecast to end today, and temperatures to rise steadily for a week. Summer's at the threshold. Hurray.

I definitely don't work when it gets too hot to work, and hang the garden. It's always still been there when I got back to it. I'm wondering how much shade you have in your garden--you said you had trees--and whether you'd be able to go there and just idle with a book or, in your case, drawing materials. We've planted a lot of other shrubs in the garden along with the roses, mainly in hedges, and, while they're not as showy as the roses in bloom, they look good in summer once the roses are done. Also, we have a good number of fruit trees. We're terrible orchardists, but there are kinds that can survive even us, figs for example, and it's a different kind of pleasure to eat summer fruit off the tree. Summer's definitely the time to celebrate idleness, or engage in effort of the purely intellectual sort.

I'm grateful for all the rain we got in spring, for the charged aquifers and the solid growth of plants, and not having to water until June. The flowering was poor this year, of lilacs, peonies, and roses, and I wonder if it wasn't due to the timing of dry weather in winter, rain in later spring, and then dry hot weather in June. But plant growth has been excellent.

I hope you find a happy solution to the eternal question: how do I get through summer? Also I hope you're doing well physically, after a couple of tough years. I agree with what Ingrid said about your posting your thread.

O, thank you all so much! Cyndita,one of the reasons i wanted to delete was because of the quote from The Scottish Play, lol! i had forgotten about that superstition."Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" There you go!

Perma, I am definitely at least as "nutso" as you, lol,and I, too, have got to get it into my heart, not just my head, that I am "the driver of my crazy train". But I am obsessive-compulsive; it's hard to dominate.

Melissa,the main problem is that my garden is so far from home and I don't have any real shelter there. So even if I go there determined just to "idle ",it is very risky: if there's no wind,even in the shade it's too hot and buggy, and there's no place for me to retreat, except trudge back under the sweltering sun to my car (no AC, of course), and drive all the way back home...in other words, I risk exhausting myself in the attempt to relax! So,unless some day we get to a point where I can afford some tiny pre-fab cottage for there,I'm stuck with spending as much time as possible at home, the house darkened...so boring! and boredom often begets depression. Luckily we are planning a trip to northern Europe meet up with my cousins from the USA in August; both DH and myself are basically wasted units after these 2 years of my health problems.

It all sort of ties in with Ingrid's thread on a garden being "finished". Mine will never be so, of course, but I would like so much to get the basic structure done, and correct the worst of the mistakes I've made in the past. As I said before, I'm hoping that next fall (or perhaps the following one) will be the last time I'll have to plant out a lot of roses. I'm just getting this creeping feeling that a) things have gotten to a point beyond sustainability, which is wrong b) I'm sort of just "repeating myself". in a way. Someone here-I think it was Melissa-pointed out that a garden with just roses is BORING , and it's true. Now, mine is by no means just roses,but they have been my focal point,and it's time to change. I want irises! those babies don't even require watering really. And more clematis! and groundcovers to choke out weeds!

Bart is in Italy. Thanks Shiela now Why on Earth am I thinking Australia. Sorry , Bart then it must be Comtessa. No, no, it is not Comtessa. Hmm, I must be confused with your travel plans btw Australia and Italy to see your love ones for holidays after hip surgery.
So, I am glad you are having Summer. That part is straight forward....hehehe.
That's it......I need a world map and. pin little bobbleheads with names. That way, I remembered who is who and where.
Remember, how I got Nik picking on me about Daisy being a Crete and the debate or jokes started btw the two during New year's time. Phew !!
I am sure glad Nik did not see this one. Hi Nik...we miss you :)
jin

I see your point about the difficulties, Bart. I'm lucky to have my garden right outside my door, AND to live in the country. The windows are wide open, there's a breeze and lots of green, and it's quiet. None of which is much comfort to you. Not knowing your town or neighborhood I can't offer useful suggestions. Your trip sounds great, though.

Bart - when I wrote my original post above, I didn't know your garden was located in a different location from your house! That does make things much more difficult.

Maybe make this summer about focusing on one of your other hobbies, and go back to gardening in the fall. Your excuse could be that you're testing which plants do well without supplemental water :o)

Bart, I was thinking about you and your garden last night, and I just wanted to add that the remote factor takes it to a whole new level, which several other kind folks also mentioned. I admire you so much for the courage it takes to garden in these circumstances, and think you must be one heck of a warrior to stay committed to this considering the very serious health challenges you’ve been through too. But I do think you are being unfair to yourself and your garden if you even begin to compare it to what most of us are doing in our gardens. You are really an off-grid extreme Gardener, and need extra resources and plans for that. Fall sounds like a great time to gear back up for that, and maybe you could take summer to research just how you can make this manageable and fun. I still think permaculture could be a great solution, maybe look into swales and hugelbeds as a way to save water? Didn’t you say it was sloped? These work great on variable levels. And I think cyndita is right—knowing which of your plants do well with out the supplemental water could be valuable info. Maybe just give water to those precious plants when the rains stop? I’d love to hear more about your painting & sculpture projects, too! :-)

Gardening in my climate in the summer is impossible! It is "only" 100 degrees today and that is "cool" for this time of year. I hibernate inside and worry about my roses but usually only the newly planted ones need much attention now. I detest the heat! Would love to live in a cooler climate but there are various barriers to that: money, family, work commitments, the usual. I worry that I have created a 'monster" garden in the sense that I do struggle at times to keep up with it, mostly during the summer. Then it seems by the end of the summer I'm so behind in maintenance that it takes me to almost the next summer to clean and trim, etc. But, during the nice months. I love my garden and it is a refuge for me so I keep at it. Having my garden for 17-18 years now is both good and bad. The bad is too much maintenance and the good is to be walking around the garden during nice months and seeing a rose I forgot I had planted that is now blooming wonderfully or other plants that pop up in the garden. Then I think it is all worthwhile. It is hard work and is mostly worth it, except in the heat. Not much will force me outside to work in the garden in 105+ heat except a quick check to see if something needs watering.

Debby,that is exactly where i'm at,in reality. I'm ashamed of myself to have complained. There are so many nice months,so few people get as many months of pleasure out at their gardens as I am allowed, and here I am,whining because in the summer I have to renounce...envy has got to be one of the stupidest, most ignoble states in which humans fall, and I do try so hard to fight it down any time it tries to raise it's ugly head-and, to be honest, I do a pretty dang good job at that. Yeah, i wish i had a house out there-so much- but what about my DH and my DS? They are modern men,need to get to the city with some ease,need to use Internet...My DH works so hard already, has to spend so much time commuting. My DS is a splendid,active young man,with an important social life,university work to do...it would be impossible for him to be holed up off in the country, it'd drive him crazy, and me, as well; when he is unhappy I can't help but suffer , too,though I try to be respectful of our individuality. (honestly, those of you who are mothers, does the symbiotic link really ever go away? No, IMO. Never) Our town is very nice; actually rather beautiful, really, by most standards,though I, of course, can't help but compare it with my land,which in the good months seems to me to be like Heaven. I must learn MODESTY!!!

Gotcha, Debby. Same here. I believe that Bart, like me, only waters plants the first year they're in the ground. There are a handful of exceptions. We went through the worst drought anyone ever saw in 2017 and everything survived.

One thing 2017 taught me is that I wanted a lot more shade in the garden. Wanting and having are two different things, especially where trees, or even large shrubs, are concerned, but I planted a line of trees in one zone and built a pergola in another. Although our fall planting campaign is planned to be at the far end of the big garden--it will be mostly trees--I think I may add a separate planting of trees on the blazing, boiling Rose Road, as it used to be. Most of the roses are gone, but the road descends steeply southwest and is a misery to pass along during hot weather, and it's the only way to get down to the big garden. It really demands to be deeply shady. One day.

Yep, I only water "new implants",and last time I was there I did test the soil with my moisture-reader of a couple of them, and the soil still registered as "moist" ,so I haven't yet started watering. In any case, this year there's only 15 new ones,since I could only start gardening after Christmas, due to the hip operation. What's more, I do have quite a lot of water stored up out there; it's just that, as a principle, I like to always replace the water that I use as much as possible. But these past 2 years have been so hard: last summer, since I was doing chemo, I had to break my rule and use water without replacing it,my water-catching rooflet fell down, and un-wisely, I put off filling up one of my 5 big water tanks-I didn't forsee my car having problems. So, things are far from "desperate", lol-it's just frustrating. For at least this up-coming week, I may have to avoid trying to go out there;the forecast is so bad! extreme heat, no favourable wind (for me, favourable is south-west ; makes it bearble temperature-wise and keeps the mosquitos, flies, etc away).

Among my future projects is to build myself a sort of gazebo, so I'll have a place to sit in the shade and just look. Also adding trees, though it's tricky. The view is so beautiful, and I don't want to block it too much, but it is towards the south-west . So I am trying to guess spots in which I can put trees that won't block the view completely, yet will provide some protection from the afternoon sun. But I get so little morning sun, and I don't want to block that. I'm also trying to think of ways to shade the roads that I must use to get down to my garden. For the main one I'm going to try to plant tall -growing climbing roses that I can train over rebar bent to form arches, in the hopes to create a sort of rose tunnel. On another path, within the garden,I've decided to not replace the roses that I removed -they were doing so poorly!-and instead put in a redbud or two. I've got 2 wisterias planted that I'm hoping will help shade the entrance gate as well. Gotta build support structures for these things, though...so much to do! but for now it's best that I just sit tight, and try to be patient.

A rose tunnel? Wow. I would never leave.....

Nor would I oursteelers...I’m thinking yurt and don’t call me until next month. Sounds amazing, Bart—-you have a real vision for this plot of land. Very cool! :-)

Bart I am with you once it gets over 90 I am done for. I hate the heat. I had to bring in some help to deadhead because I had so many and it was so overwhelming but it looks much better now

I don't envy you the having to t water up a Hill side that sounds like a big challenge.

Best wishes on getting some cooler weather

Bart, I see the predicted heatwave has hit Europe. I hope you are staying cool as best you can. Here is my favorite map of all time. Click on square that says “earth” to bring up a menu of options. You can see the heat! I watched the hurricane season progress from this website last year and saw every hurricane form a few days before the news even reported on them here.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=9.05,38.86,1427/loc=-118.594,34.327