All of us do things a bit differently, but here's my feedback. We just recently planted some potted up roses here, and also some others about 3 weeks prior to that. I know what you are going through in worrying about the effect of the heat on the rose for planting now. We've had mostly weather in the nineties, including the high nineties, but our newly planted roses are doing wonderfully well here in spite of it. Fingers crossed that yours will do great too. Books. If you're fairly new to roses, there are some cheap, cheap, cheap used books available at Amazon with advice on things like the planting hole. My favorite is Liz Druitt's "The Organic Rose Garden" because of its thorough discussion of organic nutrients to put into the hole and to use for feeding your roses. But another excellent book is Judith McKeon's "The Encyclopedia of Roses: An Organic Guide to Growing and Enjoying America's Favorite Flower" and it has all the necessary information. Judith McKeon's book is especially strong on illustrating the basics. Mycorrhiza. We use an organic product called "mycorrhiza" on the roots of all our roses. It's not essential, but one of the ways it helps the rose is in providing extra pathways for the rose to receive extra nutrients, including water. Planting a rose in the dessert in the height of summer heat, your plant can probably can use all the help it can get in taking in sufficient water. The product we used was BioVam from tandjenterprises.com and we were happy with it, though I don't know that one is better than others. David Austin also sells a product with mycorrhiza and it looks good too: "David Austin Mycorrhizal Fungi". You don't need much of this stuff per plant; once it makes contact with the roots, it spreads. Siting the rose. It needs some protection from too much sun in the near term, but probably not the long term. If it's a full-sun needy rose (almost a certainty), it would be better off located in a full sun spot or as close to full sun as you have available. Then you can use something temporarily added to help block some of the sun for the next few weeks while the rose is trying to adjust. Most people use a lawn chair for that, I think. (We never have that problem, as we don't have any spots with absolutely full sun, other than some spots that deer traipse through near our vegetable garden where we won't have roses anymore.) The planting hole. Don't step on the soil for tamping it down; it's too easy to break off your plant's precious roots that way. Just gently use your hands to tamp down the soil and let a lot of water settle the rest of the soil. Be sure to water your potted rose the day before you're going to plant, but never water it immediately prior to planting or soak a rose that's potted up; doing so leaves it vulnerable to losing large chunks of roots from the weight of the soil that might fall off. It's going to get plenty of water as soon as it goes into the ground. If the rose is pot bound at all, then you'll need to gently loosen and brush the soil away from the roots all along the edges and bottom, going inwards by maybe an inch or so. If you don't do that, the roots might circle round and round in the ground to keep growing in the same soil they've gotten used to, failing to venture out and get more moisture and nutrients that a larger site can accommodate. For the last three roses that we planted in the heat last week, they're all doing great. Two that started as bands in April that we had potted up into gallon containers weren't remotely close to being pot bound and they went into the ground intact. The one that we got from a nursery in April and were slow in getting into the ground was slightly pot bound, though, and we had to do the soil loosening thing on it. It's doing fine, but of course, it has been babied too, with its roots sprinkled with a little mycorrhiza during planting and then getting overhead watering once or twice a day. I'd suggest lots of organics for the hole; there's no risk of a burn or stress on the plant that way. If you get Liz Druitt's book, you'll see that you can use lots of different organics to add up in the long run to the macro and micro nutrients the rose needs. We use what we can find around here: lots of chopped up banana peels, bone meal, lots of composted oak leaves, some spaghnum peat moss, lots of alfalfa and cottonseed meal, composted cow manure, and a bit of greensand. Our roses do pretty much take off and start blooming like crazy once they get into the ground here, and that's true too for those roses we're planting in the very hot weather here of late. We never ever use anything on our roses other than organic products and they work well thrown on top of the mulch later in the year too. Watering. We water on top of the ground, and if we ever see powdery mildew, give the affected rose a good hard spray. The only roses that have ever gotten any powdery mildew here have been growing in far too little sunlight though, so you probably won't have that problem... especially if you can do the overhead watering thing when the sun isn't out to burn the wet leaves. Another benefit of overhead watering is that you'll moisten the mulch that way too, and that wet mulch will evaporate some of the water as the day wears on, thus reducing the dryness in the immediate area of the rose. And finally, if you overhead water or hand water with the hose sprayer, you stand a good chance of washing any blackspot fungal spores on the surface farther down under the mulch, where it won't affect the rose. (Note that this advice isn't standard within the rose world, but we've had excellent luck with this method--if you have enough water to be able to do this. Or at least do it initially, until the rose is established. You probably don't have much of a blackspot worry to begin with, though.) In the heat of the south and especially in the dessert it would be much better to water once or twice a day for the first couple of weeks until it's looking settled in and growing. That's assuming the rose has good drainage. It's more wasteful of water, of course, but I'd much prefer heavy watering on top of the mulch, not a drip, drip with crossed fingers that you've dripped enough to add up to something meaningful. With a rose that's just been transplanted, you don't want to take a chance on inadequate moisture. Good luck with your precious rose! Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: The Organic Rose Garden [Hardcover] by Liz Druitt

David: I think a lot of the disagreements about what are the best trees and/or which are "trash" trees comes from how different trees grow in different parts of the country. I think you are out of the best range for growing sweetgum. Here I am a bit too far north and west, but I never see them sucker, and seldom see breakage. Go to eastern MD and south and they will knock your socks off. Of course there are the seed cases, and I can understand peoples feelings about those. But if I love a tree, I ignore such things. I have tried the male seedless variety--or at least one of them, and it was ill-adapted to this area and had to get rid of it. It seemed to be too far north for it. No color--the leaves just froze off in December. I posted "In praise of hackberries" a few months ago and although many people agreed with my opinion of the tree, others in different areas described growth habits/problems I had never seen here. Here they are often so perfect in form and generally magnificent I could never imagine anyone not loving them. I posted because many people cannot identify this tree and it is almost never offered for sale. Sycamores! Wow. Here in Winchester, VA they are wonderful--not just my opinion. It is probably the most commonly planted tree here in developments, along streets, parks, etc. And they are stunnning! I can't imagine what you are seeing there. So what trees are loved and by whom is not just a question of personal taste--often it is how a tree grows in one area as opposed to another. BTW--Ken hates maples because they are not good for growing hostas under! Ha--I will never be "hosta"le to maples! --Spruce

The slightest of snows began yesterday afternoon and continued into the night. There has been just a little melting for several days and in many places, plants and wheat stubble are showing through the snow cover. On the daylight front, yesterday morning dawned with bright sunshine with blue, blue sky! There was no snow on Sunday but clouds kept most streetlights on until after 10 AM. Our light snowfalls are making a difference. Drought designation has dropped from severed to moderate. Locally, we have 75% of normal snowpack but in some of the northern Cascades, where fires have been so terrible the last two years, snow accumulation is 100% and above. We will now go into a short rainy period the WS says. I checked their forecast for a little higher elevation and it looks pretty good to a layman. Anything above 2,400 feet should receive snow, not rain. I know an elevation like that doesn't look like much to people in Colorado but that's just a little higher than where most people live and most cities. My home is right at 2,000, although I once lived at 2,500 feet near Pend Oreille Lake. I'll be watching this WS website this week (link) and hoping our 75% snow pack doesn't start rushing off towards the Columbia!! We may see more wheat stubble around here but predictions look fine for even the low hills and upper river valleys. Steve

Is that what this forum became: quote central? Quotes represent the people behind them. Forums are about people coming together to discuss shared interests. Quotes are inevitable. ;-) Doug makes them more fun. Good designs... NO. This isn't the fault of the forum regulars; it's a wider cultural problem. Bad designs are dumped here, because of the nature of an advice-seeking forum. Folks with good designs don't need help. Solutions.. NO, We must be reading different forums, because I see solutions all the time, lol! Best interior finishes.. No not that. *Scratches head* I see a lot of this....? "Hire an architect for all your needs" and quotes .... YES If the solution is "hire an architect" what's wrong with offering that piece of advice? So many folks who post here would be beautifully served by consulting with an architect, interior designer, landscape architect, kitchen designer, etc., because they can't see the bigger picture. There's nothing wrong with being unable to see it; everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. If my daughter comes up to me wearing 4 different colors of eyeshadow, heavy rouge, eyeliner 10x thicker than her lashline, and visibly unblended concealer on her forehead and chin, I'm NOT gonna say, "Pick the pink bracelet," if she asks me what goes best with her dress. We're gonna start with a bar of soap. Because I care. ;-)