Hi, Sammy...what a nice idea, a check in! I mostly lurk here, have started posting very occasionally, am really enjoying and appreciating this forum. Anyway, I know the Tulsa area and that soft dirt you are dealing with (my family is also in OKC.) I'm just SW of Austin and yep, parts of Texas are also pretty tired of the constant rain. Where I live, it's rocky and hilly so it drains off fast and we're okay for walking on the ground but the creeks are dangerous after so much rain and sometimes the low-water crossings are closed. I know some parts of Texas are having quite a bit of flooding and yes, east of here where it's flatter and the soil is more clay they've had some problems.

Like you, we had some dry days in between for a while, but I seemed to always have something that needed done to keep me out of the garden...then I'd get all ready to go plant some more new roses or companions and the rain would be back. The up side (for me) is that in this rocky hill country ground, raised beds are the only way, so with good rich dirt in a raised bed that drains really well, my roses which were all either planted last fall or just recently are just exploding with new growth and I haven't yet reached that time when the pot ghetto will need watered at least once a day.

The down side is that it's getting pretty steamy outside now that the temps are coming back up and the mosquito population this year is awesome, the weeds seem to double in number and size overnight, the goats are walking on squishy ground and I've given up the idea of bathing the dogs until it dries up some.

Yup, it's wet here, and has been for awhile! At least the bazillion year drought is over. Today was the first day we've had where the rain was so intense and started so early in the morning that outside it was like 72 degrees. That's downright cold for us out here! My backyard is a swamp with lake like parts. The mosquitoes are out of control. I counted 30 bites on my right calf, 20 bites on my left calf, and about 15 between both forearms. I have to use Benedryl gel to go to sleep and I look like I have chicken pox. The dogs won't even go out, wussy boxers that they are. We had to physically lift Roxy up off all fours and plop her outside. Business was done and zoom, she was right back in.
On the up side I bought a bunch of bare root Austins this summer and they are doing awesome. I planted 5 in ground and 6 in 5 gallon pots, mostly because the weather alternated between blazing hot and pouring rain and I couldn't get holes dug for the rest. Strangely the weather has been great for these super late season planting, I shouldn't be able to get away with these guys surviving. My first one to bloom was planted on 6/5 and bloomed 20 days later. In a normal San Antonio year these guys would have never survived.

Yup, we're soaked. I've had bare roots in buckets for way too long b/c it hasn't stopped raining long enough to plant 'em and you really can't work this clay when it's wet anyway. I'm putting them in containers as fast as I can but it seems as soon as I get the container ready and the soil mixed it pours again. Yesterday I planted three in the rain and I'm staying up tonight to plant b/c it's supposed to stay dry. I've also put almost all of my young(three yrs or less) ornamentals in containers and raised beds built on the fly - digging them up while it pours rain on our heads! My neighbors think I'm nuts and my son asked me to confine my "playing in the mud" to the middle of the night please... The problem is we've spent the past three years redoing our entire landscape and we have soooo many roses and tubers and bulbs and the previous raised beds apparently weren't raised enough because we sink in 'em. As for the sinking dog situation, we have two small dog with silky white hair who go out and play in the rain, one will even roll over for a belly rub if you let him - he's not a smart dog. Our short haired brown bulldog? Has to be carried out and plopped on the deck in a "litter box". She goes and then races back to "her" security closet before we even get her mess cleaned up! Anybody else ever seen DFW this way?

So sorry about all the water you Texans and Oklahomans are dealing with. Please stay high and dry, as much as possible.

Unfortunately for me, you are leaking out your back door--into Kansas. We are very soggy again--had nearly a whole month of this in May--pretty much destroyed the last half of the spring flush on my roses. And now they are just beginning to bud up again, and here come the clouds and overcast skies and non-stop moisture--I may never get to see my rose gardens in full bloom this year!

But more importantly, we are glad to hear that you are all right. There have been some scarey Texas flooding stories on the news.

Take care.

Kate

I'm trying to look at the bright side of this. We've had 13 days where it DIDN'T rain in June. In May, we only had 2 dry days.
I also have grass and weeds knee high, and new bare root roses still sitting in buckets, and muddy muddy dogs. My labradors need exercise, so I go outside and throw in the rain and they send up a spray when they run and create a wake when they stop. I don't think I've ever seen the ground so saturated.
I have a mountain of bark mulch that should have been spread out a month ago but I wanted to wait until I had everything weeded first. I'm kicking myself that I didn't get that task finished! I'm afraid the heavy rain is compacting the soil and it will be a long time before I can walk in the flower beds without compacting or getting stuck up to my ankles. The raised beds drain better, but I can't walk there either. Now I wish I had put in brick or wooden pathways. I went to the daylily regional tours last weekend in Oklahoma City and most of those gardens had wonderful brick, wood or bark pathways, and their plants looked super even after 10 inches of rain in that one week.
Our high temp yesterday was just 72. I can deal with that! We've only had a few days all summer over 90, which is incredible. I also have been real lucky in the bare root plants I ordered from the sales--the ones I got into the ground are thriving. My soaker hose and drip line is still coiled up in the shed--the rain hasn't stopped long enough for me to spread it out through the beds!
The rose garden looks like a quilt with all the colorful petals blown onto the ground. I think I'll have to fertilize and treat for black spot far more often this year since no doubt everything has leached from the soil. Areas where I applied Preen are looking much better than the jungles where I didn't.
My yard was supposed to be on a tour tomorrow but since the forecast is for more rain, and the driveway is under water, and the grass is taller than the flowers, I don't see it happening.
I certainly have sympathy for people in Texas! We've only had a fraction of the rain they've had and it feels overwhelming.

Thank you for your sympathy. In my part of the Dallas area(Allen if you're familiar), we haven't had the dangerous floods that have been in other places nearby and for that I'm extremely grateful. I'm also grateful the million year drought is over. We're still conserving b/c if it ever gets to be a "normal" summer here, we'll need to be careful. That said, I do wish there was a way to get the water out of the ground quickly before it rains again.

Anyone know how long you can safely leave a rose in a bucket ? I get on the train to see my grandson in San Antonio in an hour and I still have five that aren't in the ground. Also, I know this is a rose forum but since I'm already typing here...;I rec'd the most astounding Dahlia tubers I have ever seen yesterday - can I leave them in their bags over the weekend if I keep them in the house under a/c and open the bags so the steam doesn't build up? I can move my q to another forum later if y'all prefer I go elsewhere with this question. Thank y'all and for those who are too wet or too dry, you'll be in my prayers.

Hi! I'm checking in from OKC. It's been raining just about every day, but we got a nice break Wednesday, which was good because I measured 4 inches of rain on Tuesday. We got another pretty good shower this morning. My front drains pretty well, but my back doesn't. At this point it doesn't matter though, all the ground is so saturated that it squishes when you walk on it.

I wouldn't believe the rain totals they keep talking about, I've had A LOT more rain that they say. Apparently the "official" rain gauge at the airport has an umbrella over it!!!

One of my front beds at the end of the driveway took a pretty major hit from a misplaced tire yesterday. I moved a daylily and a few other plants, but other than that I just took the shovel and slopped all the dirt back into place. I had a (just planted this spring) Autumn Joy Sedum that appear to just float up out of it's hole. I moved it to higher ground too. The Walkers Low Nepeta is NOT happy with all this rain :)

On a happier note, last year I lost most of my new OGR roses to drought... this year the replacements are much happier! I just hope they don't drown eventually :)

Lisa

Oh, I forgot to say...no amount of Bayer All In One is keeping up with the blackspot! I've just resigned myself to nekkid bushes until this stops!

Lisa

I'm in Tulsa too and I've never seen a June like this. Half the back yard is under water and my vacation is about to come to an end without me being able to get one thing done in the garden that I had planned. I could just cry.

Good news is that I haven't lost any roses yet. Lost some other plants that had been wonderful for years, though.

And the mosquitos are everywhere.

So that's where all the rain went. We've been so dry in Wisconsin. I've had to water almost every day (front garden one day, back garden the next). I've got too many new plants that don't have the root system yet to deal with a drought. At least it has kept the mosquito population low, and no sign of blackspot even though I've been lazy with my spraying.

Hooray!!! We're finally getting some rain. We've had only 1/2" of rain in 6weeks. The temps have been in the 90's and the lawns were drying up. Last week started the rains and it was beautiful. But now we've had over 5" of rain in 10 days. Last saturday we got 21/2" of rain. At least for the holiday the weather is going to be sunny with highs in the mid 80's. So let the fireworks begin, at least they won't have to worry about starting a fire during the shooting!

Heavy clay soil + 2 weeks of heavy rain = dead and dying roses. The cane tips in a 4 timber high raised bed are evan drooping, not from the rain, but from too much water around the roots. Tomato plants have little or no foliage left from disease. I actually burned some of my roses when I sprayed last week. I can't imagine how that happened except that the roses are so stressed with flooding that Fungunex hurt them. People with sandy or loamy soils are not in such a dire predicament in Tulsa. But alas, those of use with pottery clay for dirt are having real problems. Years ago I planted a Sweetgum and an Ironwood because they are so tolerant of wet clay soils. You can always add water I reasoned, but you can't sponge it up. Those two trees are the only plants happy around my house now.

Rosy heritage some people have left their bare root roses soaking for 3 months. I had mine soaking for 10 days, changing the water every 3-4 days, before I potted them and I only did that because they were starting to slow boil from the heat.

We are getting a nice long drenching rain storm now. It feels great.

But I agree too little rain is preferable than too much.

I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something like this in the past (flooding). If the rain stops and the soil dries out will my roses recover or do the wilting cane tips spell certain death?

Is the weather normally dry in Oklahoma at this time of year? The eternally-rainy conditions you described is a very normal thing in my area. We've had records of almost a month of none-stop rain. Unless they are in the cold-frame, most of my roses' spring flush usually gets ruined. :( Summer and fall are a better show for my plants. Sorry to hear about your too-wet-for-roses conditions. Summer just started so there should be plenty of nice weather to come. I sometimes read rose forum posts from warm/drier areas like California and die of envy....

Those of you who had more than enough rain please, please send a few inches worth to my way.

ceterum, I will work on that. We definitely have plenty to share.
It seems like we've had non-stop rain for two months. And yes, Oshenar, this much rain is very unusual for this region of the country any time of year. In fact, we are on track for the wettest June ever in recorded history for my area.
I've got more naked roses than I've ever had. Hasn't stopped them from blooming though.

Randy

There were statistics on the TV yesterday about the rain. One that I heard was significant rain on 39 out of the last 69 days. I would say that out of the last 69 days, we had 14 days of no rain, because in the last month it has been awful.

The rain awakened me early this morning, and it is still raining.

Yesterday, it was dry for many hours. I tried to decide what to do, and decided to use Round Up. The mosquitoes and flies are so bad that I decided to get rid of as much unnecessary vegetation as possible. I even set the Round Up nozzle in rose beds to get the base of some bermuda and dandelions. While I was using the Round Up the mosquitoes were swarming, and I had almost bathed in Off before I started. The air is like a sauna.

Oklahoma is not usually like this, and in our part of Oklahoma we garden in clay. That clay absorbs rain about like cement. So if a person only digs out a small section for a bed, the roots are sitting in water. Fortunately we dig out a huge area, and replace it with soil. If a given area is too large, we dig way down, and chop the clay, and add compost. It has to be redone if we later plant there, but at least the ground will absorb more water.

This needs to stop, but the weatherman said it won't stop for quite awhile. Often we have a ban on fireworks because it is so dry. That won't happen this year.

Sammy

Sammy and mary, I can sympathize. The first time I planted roses here (in clay) it rained for days afterwards. Since I was inexperienced, I had planted the roses (bare roots) too deep and they literally sank into the clay/mud. I had to go out in the downpour, pull them up and fill the void with bags of top soil.

The only thing I can suggest is that after the deluge, just make sure your roses are not sitting in water for too long. Even if you have clay if you have good drainage or the roses are mounded, they will be ok. And of course you need mulch to ensure that the wet clay doesn't turn to cement when the hot sun makes a comeback.

I now mound all my roses because of the clay and the spotty drainage I have. Usually when I'm planting a bare root, I put some of the hardest clay or even rocks under the cone of the bare root for support, so that it will never dissolve. and it helps with the drainage.

It finally rained here. But we were lax and let our patio umbrella up and the wind dragged the umbrella and table to the end of the deck and both almost went over (the table was heavy glass, if not it would have went over). The top of the umbrella went flying down into the back yard. Luckily it didn't damage anything (except itself).

Like most people in a "disaster" area, more damage will show up once this rainy spell is over. On Oklahoma Gardening today they answered my question about what will happen to the plants whose roots have been sitting in this rain soaked adobe clay soil. As it begins to dry out more plants will start to wilt. Their roots have rotted off and they don't have enough left to absorb water when normal conditions (ie: not standing water) return. I do a lot of container gardening, particularly roses, just because of our junky soil. Can you believe it, some of those pots, which were partially under the eaves of my house, needed to be watered today. Here I am in the drizzle, sloshing around in the yard with slugs being splashed up onto my legs, having to water plants. Geezle Peezle. No wonder most people around me just grow Begonias and Bermuda.

No rain since first week in April with temperatures to 100 each day. We all have our burdens. Mine is trying to figure out which is cheaper, the water bill or xeriscape garden next season.

Fortunately I learned ages ago to work up all the soil in a bed, so I don't have a rose in one individual hole.

Also, thanks to the gophers, moles, and voles, we plant in cages. The cages are 4 feet, with only about 1/2 inch above ground, so we have very deep holes where the roses are, yet the rest of the soil is worked up, and we have dug around big holes, and slightly filled them (between the roses), so I am hopeful that there won't be extensive damage.

We already have damage from the late spring freeze, and did not need this.

Good luck to all of you. Patricia, I would send it to any of you if I could .

Sammy

Pat, you aren't getting any rain? We had some this week, and last night about 1 inch. I know how frustrating it is, for weeks we would watch storms go by and get nothing.

Sammy, all the rain you are getting has been streaming up the Arkansas/Oklahoma line and then heading thru NE Arkansas. We've had a fair amount of rain but nothing significant..just enough that we've not had to water. I just came home from California, driving thru Colorado and Kansas (that's another story) and we hit rain in Salina, KS all the way to Tulsa. SE Kansas is a green belt and there was flooding all along the interstate.