I have a very big Orchid tree; not a Hong Kong Orchid tree. It loses all of its leaves right about now and then the new leaves begin to come out soon. It looks best in August. I think you should just leave your tree alone for a while and see what happens. Needless to say, having new leaves turn brown and die is not a good sign, but I don't think there is much else for you to do other than wait and see what happens in the next month or so.

Thank you, Khalid, for a wonderful show of roses blooming in hot temp. I like your dark-color roses: McCartney rose, Ebb tide, H.Z, Doris.T., and Oklahoma. Alec's Red is known as partial shade rose. Old Garden Roses are usually sold as own-roots here in America. In my experience, floribundas are better as own-root. Floribundas such as Ebb Tide, Bolero, French Lace are very good in acid-phosphatase (producing acid to break down minerals for blooming) .. thus they can root easily & be able to go deep into my hard-clay for winter-survival. I have to give high pH dolomitic lime to my FLORIBUNDA roses: Bolero, Old Port with dark green leaves. The exception is my Kordes Floribunda Deep Purple (ultra-wimpy as own-root) .. some Kordes roses are bred to secrete LESS acid, to prevent blackspots, and folks in alkaline clay California complained that some Kordes roses don't bloom well. My hunch is: if a rose blooms easily, it means roots can secrete acid to utilize minerals in soil, which means it will root easily, and does well as own-root. Per Khalid question: Do you think it will be safe to remove soil from the roots (in the evening), dunk the roots in a bucket of water for some time and plant it at a new place in temps ranging between 90-100*F during day but 80 to 90*F at the time when the rose is being shifted (evening time)? Answer: Yes, it's safe to remove soil from a GRAFTED-rose (Dr.Huey rootstock or Centifolia), dunk that in a bucket of water to get rid of termites, but NOT safe to plant at that high temp., unless you are in wet-season with frequent rain. I dug up roses at 90 F, bare-rooted in a bucket of water, and had to water it 3 times a day, otherwise the leaves droop. I bare-rooted Bluegirl (Dr.Huey-rootstock), then planted in another location. I had to water it daily for 2 months .. before it sprouted new leaves. Thank God it didn't lose leaves being dug up at 80 to 90 F, but it's a pain to water it daily for 2 months. I had seen Dr.Huey rootstock being wrapped in wet-sawdust, with a plastic outer-cover, sitting inside the store for 4 months, yet sprouted green leaves. If you don't have wet sawdust, anything damp & soft like cloth can sub. and the roots can be stored inside for weeks, then plant later when you have time or the temp. goes down.

I wish I could comment on your list, Khalid, but I don't grow any of them yet. it looks interesting with many varieties I don't see many having. I suppose some day I'll have to get Evelyn since you so highly recommend it, Straw and I love fragrance .I'm seriously considering SBP. Did you mention buying yours from Burling. If so, I may just get it come Spring since it can take a while to grow from bands even though I doubt I'll have a bed for it until autumn. Thank you, LL for you critique of the Kordes roses. I got 1st Crush late in the season as a mark-down from Lowe's. I checked on it yesterday and it's STILL putting on new healthy growth as are so many of my roses! I have yet to move it to its final home, so I'm thrilled it can take some shade as I want it in an Eastern exposure bed. How long have you had yours and how tall is it getting? Is it a bushy, well-clothed plant? Ideally it will go with Heathcliff, Othello, cl., Viking Queen and Sugar Moon, but if it's tall, it could go in my new North-Easter bed with Mme, A. Carriere and Tess Cl. I also want EA, but worry about her height, also. I may wait and see if Lowe's carries her in the Spring so I can see her blooms. She's stunning though in pics.

jldodson, I think parsley is correct in saying that there is no need for the earth or the rocks at the bottom. Without landscape fabric, or something similar, I think the worms and their castings will fill in the voids and make harvesting very difficult. The good air circulation you are probably trying to achieve (with the gravel) would probably be limited. For what it's worth to ensure good aeration, this is what I did: 1. built a box approx. 22"x32" using 1/2" plywood 2. using a hole-saw I drilled two holes in each end, just above the plywood base 3. installed two lengths of black ABS pipe (1.5" diam.) end-to-end through the holes and long enough to extend about 1/2" past the ends of the bin.( ABS pipes had numerous 1/4" holes drilled through the sides along the entire length) 4. Then I put aspen chips in the bottom - just enough to cover the pipes and covered the entire bed of aspen with landscape fabric. 5. Finally I added lots of damp shredded newspaper, the worms and some food scraps. I have had this set-up for a couple of years now and have harvested castings from it 4 to 5 times. It's worked very well so far. Scraping the castings from the top of the landscape fabric has been surprisingly easy and I haven't ever had problems with excess moisture. Just thought I would share what has worked so well for me. Happy worming. Harry