As long as they are healthy...Besides, second year creeps. This was my third year for a lot of my roses and suddenly the garden is looking like something out of picture book instead of beds with twigs. I am amazed. Hang in there.

I too do not baby my roses or anything else in the garden and live where there is little rainfall and don't water unless desperate, however...I do water when there has been no rainfall for more than 14 days (brutal Florida sun here) and I do put organic amendments around the roses to feed slowly when water does arrive (my "soil" is Florida sand with a hint of other matter). They have responded well and grow and bloom.

Tough love can be carried too far when plants are small and can delay their growth IMO. The same way that over-nurture (water, fertilizer) can bring on too much soft growth above and shallow roots below.

It's the Goldilocks goal of getting it juuuust right.

I know this next doesn't apply to you but 3 years ago my baby OGR's just sat and sat doing nothing for a year, even though they had regular irrigation and moderate fertilizer. I thought that was their nature. Finally took a water sample to the local county office. Salt water was the reason. Turned off the well irrigation and now water when needed with (expensive) city water. Happy roses that actually grow now.

Could you have something keeping yours from getting going? Lack of something or too much of something? They are communicating you just have to decipher.

Denise

Here we have 6 months of deluge and 6 months of drought. I have to worry about young roses drowning in the heavy cold clay in the winter. Then watering is just a big part of my life the rest of the year. I hope your little ones start growing soon. I'm sure they will.

not actually worried for the roses as I always treat em this way - there is an Aloha on the plot next to mine which has never been fed, watered or even looked at (apart from by me) for 8 years. It is surrounded by dandelions and dock. Not only is it still alive, it actually flourishes.
Unless I can actually water for at least 8 hours (there is no ground water and the water table is at an all time low), a little water will make things much, much worse (I know, I have made that mistake many times)- the poor roots desperately reach towards the water source, leaving themselves even more vulnerable and exposed. If we get to the next stage of almost enforced dormnancy (leaves dropping) I may have to act but until then, potatoes are my major priority! Also, my bare roots were in the ground by November, given mycchorhizae, compost, love and lots of water - that HAS to see them through....but they sure look peculiar, almost like densely topiaried shrubs. My garden at home is tiny and walled but far from being sheltered, the wind actually cyclones around the garden - everything is practically horizontal at the moment and the tomatoes are getting a rough entry into the wider world. My hair has been in ribbons and plaits for days now, unbrushed, unwashed and ignored - still, we old gardening crones can get away with anything, especially once vanity has been beaten out of us.

Wow....your rainfall is even worse than ours: we've gotten about two centimeters since the beginning of April (and no convincing rainfall in the two weeks' forecast). We got a lot of plants in late, February and March, because the winter WAS sodden from November on. I have a bad feeling we're going to go straight into the summer drought and not see any significant rain until September or October. And it's been hot all this time; blazing. Today I saw established plants drooping, though they straightened up again as evening came. Well, it will at least be interesting to see how it all comes out by autumn.
By the way, how are the pests in your garden? I've never seen the beetles on the roses as bad as they are this year. And something ate most of the foliage on a row of barberries, the first time. I couldn't locate the culprit.
Melissa

weirdly, Melissa, I have seen no beetles of any description at all.....hardly any slugs and snails either. Even aphids seem scarce. I did, however, see a crow making off with a young, but still fully fledged, starling - unusual behaviour for crows which will happily take eggs and tiny nestlings but not a nearly full grown starling - a birdy friend told me that insects were in terribly short supply and many birds are actually starving. Blackbirds are also behaving oddly - showing either no fear or desperation - can't decide which - they are practically mobbing me whilst working and nearly all of them can be induced to take a raisin or mealworm from my hands. Our rainfall levels are only 3% of what they should be!

And here we're all soaking wet. I wish we could spread it around for everyone to share!

Dry here, too. I'm not exactly feeling guilty, but I do water, or to be more exact I mist. I hope everyone who needs it gets it and everyone who doesn't need it stops getting it. Like really quick!

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Suzy,
Evidently we got all your buggy pests. Other fauna levels seem reasonably normal. I did see a jay on our front terrace the other day, also a first. We need to remember to rig a bird water hole, one the cats can't get at. I have a feeling they'll going to appreciate it.
I hope you get some rain soon.
Melissa

Here it's wet and cold, but I suppose most things are on schedule. The winter was horrible on the roses, major setback really. November was breaking 100 year old records, coldest ever.

I give the garden a good root soak in periods of drought, thinking it will not interfere with their ability to fend for themselves when they have to. My strategy is a thorough watering, but not too often will only benefit the plants. Rain and clouds will eventually return to normal, and I just can't look away when the plants would do noticeably better with a couple of waterings a month.

This is an old one but still; roses on rubiginosa/eglanteria grow better in dry soils than other rootstocks like laxa or multiflora. If you have a nursery budding on rubiginosa near you, it's worth a try.

I suppose insects need new soft growth to thrive, and in a drought plants are on stand still, they are probably starving a bit too?

I am hoping for warmer weather and lots of sun.