De-lurking here to say it's not just you! We had a strange spring with wild weather swings (up to 40F from daytime to night), and I have to say...this is the crappiest rose season I've had in 8 years. Very abundant number of buds--probably the most ever--but the quality of the individual flowers just stinks. Like the worst thrips damage ever, but each and every rose has it. Some roses had stunted/balled/withered buds, others had blackened petal edges, still others didn't bother with blooms. My Queen Elizabeths, easily the most prolific roses in my garden, haven't bloomed yet. There are some old, established bushes that hardly went beyond their pruned size and only spewed a few deformed buds. Thrips are normally a problem on my light colored roses, but this blight is affecting every color. The later developing buds are better--if on the small side. It's the roses that developed first (late April to early May, which is quite late for us) that were the worst. Surprisingly, the roses that seemed to shrug it off best were some of my David Austins--Jude, the Dark Lady, and a few others. But some of the DA's (Abraham Darby) and other shrub roses and climbers (like Sombreuil) were just horrific. My mom came over and said "you know, if you just look at the roses from the house, they're not so bad." Sigh. And we had such a lovely, rainy winter (for us) that I was sure the rose flush was going to be awesome. And the numbers were truly impressive--hundreds of buds on some of my small (3 ft) bushes, which is the best I've seen. But again, the actual quality of the buds was the worst I've ever seen. Some tried and true winners from my garden were hard pruned just because I couldn't bear to look at their browned/blackened/crinkly/balled horrible little blooms. These included: memorial Day, Queen Elizabeth, Sheer Bliss, Peace (sob), Marilyn Monroe, Daybreaker, New Zealand, Just Joey, blue Nile, Evelyn, Abe Darby, Charles Darwin, Autumn Sunset, Golden Something(normally gorgeous downturned sunny yellow blooms, but this time they didn't even open!),Chicago Peace, Tamora, Pink Peace, Mirandy, Mary Rose, Secret (double sob), McCartney Rose, Tiffany....I could go on, but I'm feeling kind of nauseous. To put it in different terms: I have over 160 rose bushes with few repeats, and this year I have only brought six cut blooms into the house. SIX. But who can really blame the poor roses? Last week we hit 100 degrees on Monday, and on Thursday the high was 54 with rain (snow in Flagstaff, poor buggers). What is a plant to do in these conditions? Apparently, they sulk. Now it's getting to be blistering hot again, with humidity in the single digits. Spider Mite season. I won't likely see a good bloom until September, and then the deer and javelinas will be moving in for their Autumn feast. I'm thinking of getting into daffodils. At least the lilies, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, and cannas are doing well. And the glads look like they might actually open this year (last year they were all duds). I'm off to sulk myself. Heather

This is the Blue Astral that I'll be using in my half bath. It is almost translucent when polished. Just incredible. Never have seen anything like it and the yard says it's very rare and they will probably not ever see any like it again. It's not like the Big flower I posted above. It's from the same quarry, but was mined years before the the big flowers. mcocean- googled your white and it looks like a great stone with movement. What are your plans? hobokekitch- your right it is blingy and the green is amazing. Plus I actually like the other blue astral a bit better. Karin mt- blue is a semiprecious stone and agree that my kitchen will be better off with a green that will work better with the wood and the style of the house. I too loved the bling factor!! Laura15- I know, you look back, you go back. It's a saying for a reason! AnnaC54- yes, I can't believe how many trips I've made back and forth to the yard there. Not much around here. So it's 1 1/2 hours in each direction. I know every inch of the place. It's unique, the guy who owns it travels around the world for his pieces and he has about 4000 on site. Crazy inventory for an out of the way yard in a rural state. Please post a picture of your Seafoam. would love to see. I will post my results also!

I go there just now and see that "someone liked your comment at Houzz." So I click and get the name of that person and a link. Sue, I think you might be clicking on the wrong link in your email. I get an email with subject line... Someone liked your comment on Houzz!‏ When I open it, it says canyonwind liked your comment on discussion: Garden Web messaging is back without having to follow one another! See Comment When I click on the See Comment it will take me to the very comment that canyonwind 'liked' I just 'liked' your post above, so you might (if you have it set up) have an email that says Someone liked your post. I think it will say liked post, if you are the OP (Original Poster) of the thread. I think it will say liked comment if it is your reply in a thread. Go check your email, and see if you have one for me 'liking' your post. (the other) Sue Say Goodnight Irene

YAY!! that's awesome!!! best of luck going forward, thoughts, prayers and ((((((hugs))))) to you!!!!