greybird, that sounds horrible, both for you and your garden. The wildfires have been terrible in Texas, and the tornadoes elsewhere. Not much joy in gardening under these conditions, I'm sure.

One could argue forever about where the best gardening weather is. Southern California is good for me since I don't like the cold, but even now many people are priced out of the housing market. I'd move to where YOU like it and the garden will take care of itself. If you're hankering after Alaska that might be a bit more problematic. Hang in there; I hope things get better soon. Wish I could do a rain dance that would actually make it rain.

Ingrid

And here I am complaining because of the mere one centimeter of rain we've had since the beginning of April. Your weather sounds awful, the heat perhaps even more than the drought. I wish you luck.
About where to move...how are real estate prices in western Oregon? I always thought that was a pretty heavenly area.
Melissa

Oh, that DOES sound awful indeed; kinda reminds me of the horrible year 2003 here in Tuscany. Drought is maybe the worst. Here,similar to Melissa's area, we haven't had a real rain since about mid-March,and my roses are definitely feeling it,but reading this post of greybird's will remind me to try to not complain. regards, bart

East Anglia is already the most arid part of the UK and while we have not had the extremes of Texas, we have been seeing unprecedented wildfires across parts of Scotland and Irelands peat hills and gorse moors. Farmers are already struggling with the new potato crops failing for the second year running while my allotment, not known for lush rich soil, resembles a dustbowl. So far, I am gritting my teeth because unless I could hose the area for a whole 24 hours, any surface water is just going to make it worse, calling the stressed roots upward, only to frizzle in the totally uncharacteristic heat (we have been as hot as LA, in an English April?) Have high hopes for a good tomato year though, as the last 3 have been a blight filled wash-out.

2003 was an awful year. We had just started the garden then and didn't have a lot of plants, thank God. I'm afraid that this year could be similar, though at least with our amazingly rainy winter the reserves of water should hold out for a long time. We do have a lot of recently planted stuff; and if things get really bad we may just have to let it die. I'm not worried about established plants. One of the lessons I learned from that bad drought year 2003 was that the native flora dealt with it quite well. Norway spruces died; Lombardy poplars died; but the native oaks and cherries and flowering ash came through without particular difficulty.
Melissa

Oh, gosh Melissa, I sure hope you're wrong about this summer turning out like the 2003 one!Though sadly the weather forecasts are proving quite frustrating;they keep on saying stuff like "90% chance of a decent rain next week",every day it's put off by a few more days, and then when a perturbation finally does arrive,it just sprinkles a bit,not even enough to begin to dampen the soil. Like campanula,all I can do is grit my teeth... and kick myself for not getting all my water tanks filled up during the winter; one had to be cleaned and I only got around to that in the spring; the other's spigot is broken. So I only had three full tanks; of these one is already empty, the second almost so. I'm not really worried about the established roses, either, though I'm afraid I won't get much of a flush of bloom.But I am dreading the idea of having to spend the entire summer lugging water out there to keep the new implants alive; oh, how I hope for a good rain! bart

Ingrid, thanks for the sympathy. Do a little dance for us, if you would.

Melissa, as for Oregon, I agree, it does sound like gardening heaven. I did go over and look at the real eatate prices, pretty up there, even with the crashed housing market. But I was looking coastal, maybe not so bad a little more inland. It would be something to have seasons other than freeze your a** off and hot as h***. Imagine gentle showers vs scary thunderstorms with tornados. And to see something besides miles and miles of flatland Texas horizon. On the flip side, I wonder about the culture a thousand miles away and are the people friendly like in Texas?

Campanula and Bart, hope it is not another 2003 summer for you. Drought to you would come quicker than here, as we are always in some phase of drought here. And Bart, lugging water sounds horrible, can't you just turn on a water hose?

greybird,
I think you'd could find a place with friendly people, if you don't settle in an old lumber town. I lived for a decade in western Washington, a culturally similar area.
We have forecasts that say showers, but the showers never come. It's like Bart says. I'll believe it's going to rain when the forecast says rain for three days straight starting this evening, and I can see the clouds moving in. Ha! fat chance. And every days we're getting closer to the season of regular summer drought, which doesn't end until September or October.
Meanwhile, though roses in the drier parts of the garden are putting out dull colored blooms, the once-blooming old roses look healthy as horses and are flowering magnificently, if a couple of weeks earlier than usual. And the Teas and Noisettes close to the house are a sight. They get a bit of moisture runoff from the pots that I water, and it helps, plus they're not in full sun. I'm not worried about the established plants. They're used to periods of drought. A few years ago they went through four and a half months with a half inch of rain, and were fine. No flowers to speak of in that period, of course, but the plants didn't suffer.
Melissa

Yeah, the OGRs have done well throughout the extremes. The cold set a lot of blooms, but the heat crisped them quickly. The alba clan has fared the best by far. Maxima and Semi-plena do best for me, followed closely by Celestial and Queen of Denmark (KdD, can't remember how to spell it). Love those albas. Though some are pretty cruddy looking, like Felicite Parmentier and Great Maiden's Blush, hardly a bloom and lots of drying up before they open.

Several of my mosses are outstanding, my current favorite is sweet Goethe, what a personality. William Lobb is such a climber and blooms a lot for so long.

I should not complain, I have a lot to be thankful for. Well water is abundant, have watered every week throughout the winter (except when the hoses were froze up). Still, irrigation does not do what rain will, not sure why.

And not all crammed up between close neighbors, subject to the rules and regulations of the community.

I'll have to take that back about no bugs. The honey bees have been rampant. And leaf-cutter bees have rendered select plants almost leafless: I don't know how they choose which rose they like best to circle cut.

I don't have water at my land, greybird: I have to collect rain water or bring it ;it is a major pain.I'd peobably have to spend a lot of money to get someone to drill or help me engineer an efficient way of taking advantage of the run-off.
Hmm...William Lobb...I've admored that in picture for a long time;maybe I should go ahead and get it! bart

greybird,
The Albas are some of my best roses for hot dry conditions, alternating with sodden or snowy winters, all on heavy soil. Do you have Rosa foetida or any of its forms? They love those conditions, and are really showy when they bloom in the spring. Mine never get any disease, probably because of our dry summers.
Bart, 'William Lobb' is a great rose for me, thriving in one of the sunniest, dryest, windiest parts of the garden. A champion rose. It's also easy to root from cuttings.