My parents made it to Israel a couple of years before my Mom passed away. They had wanted to go for years and years and when their parish was running a trip they went for it. Mom had a hard time getting around but she was always a trooper and seeing things that held so much significance for her spurred her along. A year or two ago I read they've irrigated parts of the Negev desert and grow melons down there. Probably other things by now. I'm not sure where they grow the plants and cut flowers they export but it's becoming a sizable business sector. That botanical garden is tremendous from the website information. OT...triple_b, I got my father some "own root" roses from Heirloom Roses for Christmas. We were so upset when they arrived in May because they were so, so tiny. The miniature "Love Potion" (24" @ maturity) has 5 buds on it that are ready to open! The floribunda "Wistful" just bloomed and it was a gorgeous lavender. We didn't cut it because it's the only bloom showing so far. The lavender floribunda is right next to a 34 year old red floribunda that's almost denuded from black spot and/or rust but still blooming its head off. The lavender floribunda and other new little rose bushes haven't caught the blight(s) and I'm hoping their rating of "very disease resistant" holds up as time goes on. If my condo balcony wasn't so dark from facing north I'd have a couple miniatures in pots. Spend so much time here at my father's though I finally decided "we" needed some color so found relative sanity in starting gardens. I've quickly found out why I chose to live in a condo...LOL...a LOT less work.

There are so many beatiful red roses, one of everybody's favourites is Mr. Lincoln. Dark red, heavy beautiful perfume, long stems, lasts well in water. I have grown the climber and bush and both do well. This year I have tried what I think is a fairly new one called Amadeus a climber. It is certainly prolific, bunches of deep red roses VERY PRICKLY but the bunches grow on long stems and last ages in a vase. Very little perfume. This is not the best photo but the first one to come up. It did really well in last year's 40C heat and also in this year's humidity and wet. Climbing Amadeus:-

I used to have terrible luck with containers, but then I found this great soil in Cloverdale, CA called Big Roots, they home make it at a place called Soil King. Its a business that sells only specialty gardening items, its not a chain. I had great soil in San Francisco and I had no room for containers in the house and no where to lift them. The soil is very bad soil, since I just started the garden. I was not going to let them stay in containers, but I just could not get the soil ready in time, so containers was only a short term idea, but it's working so well, that I am glad I took a chance. It did cost a lot of money to buy the soil and the containers. The own roots roses can stay in the containers for at least a year. The full sized ones, I am going to try to plant maybe in the fall. I don't think I want to transplant in full summer heat of over 100.

Thank you Meme. The little sign below it says: "The sun shines, birds sing, garden flowers the angels bring". I totally agree about planting in pots. i've been asked the same thing. I've got a couple more dilemmas. First, the deer didn't read that they were not supposed to eat begonias! This pot of Dragon wings was coming along beautifully, but when the weather got hot and dry they decided to try it out. Big brave guard dog Alfie says he'd chase them away if I'd let him out front at night ... ;-) Any ideas on what annual, or perennial that won't freeze dead, to plant here? The macho fern was absolutely gorgeous there, but it was very heavy and I didn't want to ask Bob carry it in and out of the green house any more. Another problem is the squid agave planted in this pot in early spring is now blanching in the hot sun. Even the 'Sid Vicious' cacti from Mara drooped in this pot in the summer ... But for this I have an idea! We were helping my sister cut back some things, including a contorted dead Indian Hawthorn bush. As I threw it on the pile for the city to pick up I thought about the various painted trees seen in photos of garden tours. (Scroll around on the link to see more.) It sure couldn't die any deader than it already is! And it wouldn't need watering -- that's for sure! So I rescued it. Here goes ... I started out with turquoise for the first coat because I bought a gallon for $10 in the "OOPS" section of the hardware store paint dept. Maybe purple would be better? Or splashed with cobalt blue? Whatcha' think? Maybe it should be blue like the pot. Love this blue one on Pam Penick's blog "Digging".