Yay, can't wait to see your pool filling with H2O! I will sound like a broken record and say you will love the Aqua Blue PS! Glad you get to see the PS going in...cool process. Ours did have a tiny green tint until the chemicals were added and equip. turned on. After that, the great blue color came through and it was like, WoW !! After your pool is full, call CCP and tell them and they will send out the "start up" guy from NW Pools. He will turn on equipment, get your chemicals in and do some basic stuff with you......he will also bring you a lot of goodies, be ready to brush the PS a lot! Then 3-5 days later you will have Pool School. You have to call and schedule it for a time that is best for you. The start up guy will give you a letter with names and numbers on it so you know who to call. It was a great 2 hours spent with "scott" from NW Pools. He was very imformative about everything. He answered all our questions about everything from balancing chemicals to sealing our travertine! He will bring you a packet of information as a guide to go by. Be ready to take a lot of notes....he will give you some names of chemicals to use and not to use and good places to buy things and when you need to buy name brand and when you can get by with a "generic" type. So for the first month, someone from NW Pools will take care of your pool, come out weekly and balance chemicals and then after 3 weeks, they will come back out to add all the salt. You do not have to buy any of the start up chemicals for the first month or the salt....they provide it. After that, I believe it's all yours!!!! We still have to wait about 1.5 weeks before we get our salt added....we are ready for it....I'm tired of the chlorine smell already! ALSO: Make sure you ask lots of questions to the Pool School guy. We forgot to ask him about 10 things we now are curious about. He said to call him anytime, so we will be doing that next week. I dont know if this is true for all PB's, but since we are using the same PB, I can help you out Wingosh.....not sure about other's. Thanks for the names of your carpenter. I may give them a call later this fall and get a bid. How big of a patio are you doing? We just need the structure, not the concrete. Hope this helps you!!!! Janet

Fall is the main planting season here too. Even if we did get some light freezes in early winter, which we never do as any freezes we get (if we get any) come in late winter, I would not be worried about planting roses now. Any damage I get, which is only on tender new growth, comes from chilly dry winter winds rather than freezing temps. If your freezes are light, as your zone indicates, I would not think there's much to worry about, roses are not citrus. Citrus we plant in the spring, roses in the fall as a rule. The main difference between my med climate and your (subtropical?) one is the timing of the wet season. For us here is fall to spring. That can make all the difference but for this you should consult someone with experience of your climate.

Sounds like typical LOS if you ask me. I am in your same zone (but different state). Yes, she is sprawling and lanky. Yes, she puts out different color blooms depending on her mood. Sounds like you are doing everything right, it is just the way this rose is in our climate. LOS first year own root with very orange bloom LOS second year (I put her in a pot to move her eventually to a different part of the yard where she would get less sun). Notice the color change (we also had just had a down pour as well) Notice the pink color on her? Back in the ground again, third year, spring. See how long and lanky she is? I prune her each year in late winter down to about 2 feet and this is after a few weeks and first spring flush. She gets BIG in our climate. So relax. I think your plant looks great and you are doing nothing wrong. It is just the temperament of LOS. She couldn't decide between Lance and King Arthur and she is changes her mind regarding what color and size (between US and England) she wants to be. BTW--love the Houston comment--it is so true! I wouldn't prune her but when the flowers are spent, cut back to the first or second set of 5 leaves and she will sprout again. You can prune her really well next spring.

Oh! Yeah, I think so...fingers crossed. I haven't stared too closely at the leaves lately, but I don't see any glaring yellow splotches like I did with that first group -- it was on the P. incarnata. The plant(s) is/are thriving right now; and if I had to start plucking leaves off, it'd be an overwhelming task. I'm certain the Turk's Cap plant I received from my neighborhood friend's yard was affected by this same virus, as it had the telltale splotchiness AND horribly deformed, crinkled leaves -- and it just got worse and worse, so I yanked it.