Sultry - I googled Lamamcha goats...they're quite long bodied goats...so the babies could be quite long and short...like a daschund. LOL :) :) Awesome rose pictures!! My faves are Summer Romance, Pat Austin bud, Quicksilver, and JtO!!! Oh darn those coyotes for eating your goose!!! I'm really glad that your GP is working out so well!!! Another frog!!!! I love how you have frogs!!! Such a unique hobby....herding frogs into roses!! You're quite talented!! :)

Deborah - I loved hearing about your roses!! It was mesmerizing!! :) oOOOH!!!! Your Celestial Night is fabulous, and it's color is outstanding!!! The color on your Julie Andrews rose....love!!! Is there such a thing as a mini cow? :) I want one of those tiny hippos in the Christmas commercials!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Wish I could send you a delicious dessert of some kind!! :)

Kitty - I'm singing it with you, but at a later time. :) :) So sweet of you to think of mailing me some seeds. Maybe next year, I'll think more on getting some seeds. I can do that through Amazon. This year I think I left it too late. But, keep us updated on yours!!

Nick - the gorgeous climber you posted a picture of...that's not what you're thinking is Quicksilver, is it? Looks more like an Austin. It's BEAUTIFUL!!! :) :)

Deborah, yes it’s organic, but I think it can still be harmful to bees and other beneficial bugs if you spray when they are around and it gets on them. I try to limit my use of it.

Carol, yes, that’s my Quicksilver from a few days ago.

Lol @ Carol!! Oh how I wish I had a magic wand that I could flick and all the frogs would magically jump into whichever rose or flower and pose just how I wanted them to! That would be so cool! lol

Here is one from this morning....

This is Fire Opal and its just about fallen all apart but this silly frog is intent on staying in it lol.

Love your silly frog! Look at his contented, silly smile!

I'm so enjoying these photos.

Thank you, Vapor and Carol, for the birthday wishes! I had so much dessert I think I gained a couple of pounds. I was well celebrated. And it was one of those landmark birthdays, but no one mentioned that! :-)

Sultry, speaking of coyotes, as I was about to take my shower this morning, a huge coyote started yapping and howling and laughing right outside by my lime tree. I was hoping he was peeing all over it to scare off the deer that have been munching away -- but it was just too close and I needed to take my dog out to do his business, so I went out with a rock to throw (not that my aim is any good -- not like my husband's!), yelled "Dude!" and he darted away, then stopped and started yip yip yipping again, so I walked out with my arm raised, and he took off into the barranca. So -- that was that. Wonder what had him all worked up? I heard a comedian once do a set about how his dog just starts barking in the middle of the night -- not a huge ruckus like there's a burglar, but just a regular, rhythmic bark. He likened that to some guy walking out on his porch at 3:00 a.m. and just yelling "hey! hey! hey! hey! hey!"

Thanks Nick, my QOS finally took off this year I have never had so many blooms on her.. .Im considering getting another! Also your RD looks absolutely beautiful..I've been putting off getting RD I may have to re-think that. Is it a big bush or small bush for you? I'm in Inland SoCal.

Jasmine, Sweet froggies! I love your frogs!

Deborah, Happy Birthday! Love your bouquet esp. P Charlene decMonaco-my fav! Beautiful photos of your roses!

Night, night, it’s late for me. I went to the park w/Anastasia today for several hours and I’m wiped out. Anastasia came hone w/me at 8:30pm and she just laid down tired-Yay!

Sultry - what a cute frog!!! It's so adorable how they love to rest in your roses!!!

Deborah - birthday dessert!!! The best kind!! :) :) That is weird about the coyote...maybe there was a critter in your tree?? I'm glad you could scare it away....if you weren't able to, I would worry about rabies.

Kitty - sleep well...your dog is sooo lucky to have you as an owner!!

Nick I had to go out and smell quicksilver. I have 2 own roots blooming and 1 of my grafted blooming right now. Yes I do get a fragrance but its faint. Its a little bit spicy and a little sweet, maybe grape..

Your QS behind the hot tub is so beautiful! You should put a white moonvine out there and maybe some white butterfly gingers (hedychiums). They could even be in a large pot. You would have a lot of fragrance..both at night and during the day and with some soft uplighting it would look very romantic at night!

Quicksilver & CPM today

Sultry -- I just looked up your ginger recommendation, and found this: Water: In their native habitats, hedychium emerge during the monsoon season and are triggered to become dormant by dry weather. This roughly corresponds to the winter/summer cycle in temperate gardens. Gardeners need to keep this in mind when cultivating these plants. Ginger expert, Tony Schilling, says "treat them to monsoon conditions - warm, wet and well fed in the summer, and cool and dry in the winter." If you let your ginger lily get too dry, they will stop flowering. Moist, but not water-logged soils in the summer months produce the best flowering. While dormant, they prefer drier conditions to avoid winter root rot." Based on this, I probably *won't* grow it, since we get our wet in winter. I have been so frustrated trying to grow plants that want moisture in summer and dry in winter. Boo hoo! But I have grown the moon flower vine and it smells delightful!!!

Well I grew tons of gingers on my patio in Lake Havasu City AZ which is straight up desert so... they flowered too..i could post a whole thread of just tropicals I grew there.

Hedychiums are pretty forgiving and easy to grow. If you can grow Cannas you can grow butterfly gingers. Put them in a pot and put a saucer under them.Water like you would roses. You could use some water crystals or a potting soil w the crystals already in it.

Another good white fragrant plant is Double Tahitian Gardenia. They have huge flowers and are usually sold at H Depot or Lowes as a standard. They arent finicky as the reg gardenias and bloom best being a little potbound.

Double Tahitian Gardenia..strong gardenia scent & flowers twice the sz of a reg gardenia. It gets dried out a little between waterings due to it being so rootbound.

Here's Moonlight in Paris today. Its a little better looking than the first bloom.

James Galway

A Hibiscus tree I bought on clearance at HD 10 yrs ago lol. It is such a reliable bloomer.

Earth Angel..some brown edges

Plum Perfect..first bloom! a little wonky but I like the color.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) That hibiscus bloom looks like it was painted in watercolor. That's gorgeous.

You just helped me decide where to plant plum perfect! In front of Moonlighting Paris And next to Summer romance. Well actually in front of it cause I guess it smaller but I have to check it out I have space there thanks for those beautiful pictures.!

Jasmine, Lovely blooms! The Hybiscus is a rainbow of colors! How picturesque. Love your Moonlight in Paris! Earth Angel is sooo soft & delicate-love it’s white cupped. cocoon wrapping the baby soft pink Inside! ! I am so excited to see mine bloom eventually! Plum Perfect is perfection! JAmes Galway is a frilly treat!

Deborah - I googled Moon flower vine....really unusual and beautiful! :)

Sultry - that is the most beautiful hibiscus bloom I've ever seen!!! I had no idea they could be THAT beautiful!!! :) I love your Earth Angel and Plum Perfect!

Those tropical hibiscus are the most beautiful. We up north can only grow hardy hibiscus, which are showy, but don't have the color subtly of the tropical kind. Your James Galway and Plum Perfect are gorgeous as well, Sultry. Poor little froggy doesn't realize his Fire Opal home is about to implode around him. I'm sure he'll find another wonderful flower to call home in your garden.

Deborah, the color of your Celestial Night is the best with just enough purple mixed with red. Olivia is looking good, too, and I'm glad she's doing so well for you.

Carol, I grew a moonflower that was really just a white morning glory. You must have found another kind that's more unusual. I'll have to look that one up. Diane

Thank you. I love all hibiscus, both hardy and tropical types. I struggle with the hardy ones here but have found that I can grow a few in pots IF I can keep them bone dry over the winter when they are dormant. They rot otherwise. During their growing season they love water. They dont break dormancy until May here just like some of my gingers (globbas, curcumas etc).

Too bad tropical hibiscus aren't fragrant. I cant wait for the day some hybridizer develops fragrant tropical hibiscus!

One could grow Tropical hibiscus if they could go in a greenhouse in the winter. Nematodes are a problem so I grow them in pots. Some of the landscape types of hibiscus seem more resistant. The tropical ones dont seem to go dormant here but then again, I put them in the greenhouse, which I do not heat unless it drops below 32F.

My tree hibiscus is grafted and the rootstock seems very resistant to nematodes.

This is my favorite place to OGLE and daydream about tropical hibiscus lol. I love the browns, blues & multicolored ones best! Lots of good info on growing hibiscus on this site as well.

They are low on stock right now but if you click through the hibiscus A-Z tab you can see all the varieties.

http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/index.htm

Diane the white moonflower vine is in the morning glory family Ipomea. Moonflower vine is Ipomea alba. It is just very fragrant and opens at night and closes in the daytime whereas the MGs open in the day and close in late afternoon/evening. Most MGs aren't fragrant.

There is also a Lavender Moonflower vine but it isnt fragrant and has a smaller bloom. It does open at night.

Sometimes I go out in the morning and there will be little frogs trapped in the moonflowers. They love to sit in the blooms and eat the little moths and gnats etc that are attracted to the scent. Then they get full and content and go to sleep and the bloom closes lol!

This bloom is beginning to close.

Sultry, you already have so many beautiful plants. You can grow such a wide variety from roses to tropicals.

I have a friend in Tampa and am always envious of her hybiscus.

Yours is particularly beautiful, like a watercolor.

Can you grow gardenia ?

Your Plum Perfect is such a rich color.

I love my PP but agree that the Bush is kind of wonky.

Thanks Kristine. Yes we can grow gardenias here. They grow in subtropical to tropical regions zone 8-11. Some varieties are hardier than others.

I am zone 9a which is subtropical. Most of Florida is technically subtropical except the very southern tip and the Keys.

Our soil here is a little better than S FL and some parts of Central FL. Amending poor sandy soil or growing gardenias in pots also helps.

I dont have to put most gardenias, camellias, banana shubs (Michelia/Magnolia figo) etc in a greenhouse. They like a little cool weather to help set their buds. They also seem to like a more acidic type of soil but one can use Miracle Grow for acid loving plants on them.

I do put my Double Tahitian standard Gardenia in the greenhouse if it goes under 32F. It is a little more tender than some other varieties.

Oh my goodness. Love the froggy in the moon flower, Sultry!!! Thanks all for your lovely comments and photos!

I logged into Heirloom roses last night and saw that I have a rose on my wishlist called Sweet Spirit. I have no memory of that. Anyone here growing Sweet Spirit?

Yes, Diane, the Celestial Night rose is just wowing me. You know I've been trying for 3 years now to get my Twilight Zone going...it's still a shrimpy little bush that puts out about 3 blooms at a time. They did look more purple this year with the Lilly Miller acid fertilizer. But to add insult to injury, they are next to White Licorice - -which is really a fragrant yellow. I had dreams of purple/yellow fragrant wonderland. This year my White Licorice has only put out oNE bud/flower! What's up with that?? So now I'm thinking I should switch out the TZ for Celestial Night and then put in a different yellow...but maybe White Licorice is just thinking this spring and dreaming of a big summer show...

A new topic -- a friend decided the the Claire Austin rose she bought won't work for her -- so she asked if I want it. Do I? Any comments?

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) you should enter that photo in a contest. i love that frog peaking out!

Thank you. I never stop being surprised by frogs popping up in odd places around here lol.

It was a crazy afternoon here today so you know what that means! lol This just happened about an hour ago.

Just born..a little girl ♡

Baby #2 a buckling

Up and nursing the mama.

Sultry, they are so cute!

Thank you. I never get tired of roses or baby goats 🥰

Oh, my, you are busy having more babies! The new baby goat is so sweet and small! And adorable photos! Roses, exotic plants & goats.... you always have something wonderful to brighten our day! Happy Spring New Birth!

Sultry - ohhhhhh!!! That frog in the white flower is SO adorable!!! You could write a children's book about the frogs in your roses/flowers!! So cute that the flower closes up on them until the morning. Adorable!!!! Oh you have a new doeling and buckling!!! Twinsies!! Awwwww :) :)

Deborah - it's always interesting how well/not well roses do for some of us and not for others. White Licorice is a blooming fool for me...was right from the start. Hopefully yours will get with the program.

Munstead Wood

Intrigue has generally poor reviews but I’m looking forward to its first season here.

I don’t remember what this one is.

Meredith maybe?

Lavender Crush didn’t die after all

Yay for Lavender Crush ! Your fountain is beautiful

My fountain sprung a leak

I need to get that waterproofing spray to get it back and running.

Mine is actually not fully functional because the tubing is not long enough. I’ll have to figure something out soon

Yay! My first flowers... Setina and Bubble Bath.

What a difference a day makes

Darcy Bussel

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw Cute nails! And nice rose, of course 🤪

JC - what a lovely MW!!! That color is divine!! It's so disruptive though that Houzz has your pictures sideways. Darn. I'm glad your Lavender Crush survived!!!

Vaporvac - so healthy looking!! They look great!

Kristine - yes, that bud opened up into lusciousness!!!

@jc_7a_MiddleTN - I was walking the rose fields at my local nursery today and got a whiff of Lavender Crush -- wowza! You are in a for a treat!

Crazy week for me -- missed some action in the garden, unfortunately, due to a strange virus that gave me high fever, wracking chills, splitting headache, all over aches/pains for 3 days...now fever has finally broken and hoping it stays gone so I can participate in commencement activities for our seniors this weekend. Got covid test even though I'm 5 weeks out from J&J vaccine. It was negative. No respiratory symptoms...doctor office said it was a virus of some kind, maybe a food borne virus (ordered a sandwich take-out on Sunday, and symptoms started Sunday evening...so maybe?). Anyway -- also tried to rescue a fox I thought was injured and turned out it had distemper and had to be put down. Poor little thing. I guess distemper and rabies are making the rounds among the local fox population -- so if you're in CA - make sure your dogs & puppies are vaccinated!

Here are some photos to cheer me/you up...

Moonlight in Paris -- new bush (I bought a 2nd this year because I loved it so much last year). When it fully opens, it's more creamy/pink/apricot -- still gorgeous.

last of the Queen of Sweden blooms for now.

Rouge Royale is about to open. Already smells heavenly!

This is not my house -- but I was driving downtown and pulled over to take this photo of a strip of what I assume is Iceberg...it wrapped all the way around the house -- or what I think is a duplex or triplex. I don't think the photo does it justice. But it was very pretty!

First bloom of the year on a band I bought this year. Gruss an Aachen:

I hope you're feeling better Deborah! Be careful with those food born diseases they can really be bad.

Magpie that is lovely!

@oursteelers 8B PNW Thank you! There's just a single bloom on it, but I hope one day I will get to see it absolutely smothered in flowers. It's nice to have a "cheat bloom" on a new rose while I wait for my established roses to even consider making buds.

Deborah - I'm so glad it wasn't COVID! And it's great to hear that you're feeling better. :) But, it sure sounds like it threw you for a loop! Yikes! Also good that the fox didn't bite you. You are so kind and so brave. :) :) You got another Moonlight in Paris! That encourages me with the one that I bought...that it's a good purchase. :) Wish I could smell your Rouge Royale!!! MMMmmmmmm. Oh wow!!! That shot with the Iceberg hedge is amazing! Did the fragrance from those hundreds of blooms waft everywhere?

Magpie - your Gruss is so pretty!! It was fun "watching" it open!

What a lovely bloom, Magpie! How did it smell?

Thanks for your get well wishes Carol & Vapor. Today is Day 2 I've woken up without a fever and almost all aches are gone -- just neck now -- but that could be from sitting at a desk grading for umpteen hours. Carol - I never know what the Moonlight in Paris flowers will look like -- they are quite variable! But they do last a good long while for me and just glow in the morning light. Today it's all misty and foggy, and they look like little candles...OH! That's how they got their name!!! Duh!!! Anyway -- sometimes they're peachy, sometimes more ivory, sometimes more pink, sometimes more apricot. But always lovely. A moderate scent. No -- the hedge wasn't fragrant -- but Iceberg isn't fragrant, is it? I just stood guard over the fox while I waited for the experts to arrive. At first I was going to try to get it in a box, but they said no. Ha. Good thing. It never looked aggressive. It was just too hurt or too tired to move, really. Poor little thing. So for about an hour and a half I guarded the fox from careless pedestrians and the crows gathering in the tree above... Happy gardening, all! I'm back to work...nose to grindstone...

@DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA) I found the scent of Gruss to be very light. A pleasant smell, but very light, and no unexpected notes of anything interesting to my nose. BUT I'm trying not to judge this plant on its first bloom ever, as I've read on here many times that it can take a few years for a rose to develop scent and form fully.

Deborah - stiff/sore neck makes me think of meningitis. That's scary! I'm so glad you're on the mend! My Moonlight in Paris is blooming in its little nursery pot. Looks great. The fragrance is medium. Which is good enough as long as its a good bloomer...which it sure seems to be! LOL....yeah, the soft colors glow in the moonlight. :) :) Well, some people have said that Iceberg has a medium fragrance, I think. Maybe... ??? :) Yeah, it's really a good thing that you didn't try to touch the fox. Poor thing. But worse to have been pecked apart by the crows. You did good!