I would be inclined to leave them where they are.
To dig them up and expect them to re-establish in pots is asking too much of roses that are already stressed.
I would splurge some cash on some large garden parasols.
As many as I could afford.
They could then be kept in shade all day.
Daisy

I reckon roses are better in the ground than pots. But I live in Australia and I plant my roses in Winter or late Winter/ early Spring. Mulch of course will hold the moisture alot longer. Sometimes it can stop light rain getting in too. When I water roses I have mulched I put the hose under the mulch. I guess you know all this, so I am sorry I am no help.
I built my own big shade house when I was growing roses from cuttings. Latter I ended up puting a second layer of shade cloth over the first layer. It made it alot cooler. I use to get shade cloth from the local tip sometimes.
If you have them in pots, you could use a suitable mulch that is easy to spread on top of the soil in the pot.
Good luck Grey Bird !

Greybird,
I hope the heat breaks soon.

Would it be helpful to take some cuttings of your most treasured roses and try rooting them inside your home using the burrito method Kim's talked about? Would more mulch be of any use, do you think?

If they are established and have been grown with relatively infrequent deep watering, I don't think they will die. I haven't experienced those conditions, but maybe people from inland California will weigh in. This sort of extreme drought is just normal summer weather for them, and it does get hot there.

I agree that the roses are probably safer left where they are.

I agree with Daisy and Michael and the others - digging them up at this point would be worse than leaving them in the ground. Provide shade, and mulch them well and provide as much water as you can. Here in Cal the local governments have finally begun allowing the use of "grey water" in simple set-ups, without insisting on elaborate and expensive systems and permits.

I don't know if they have done that where you are. The last time we had a bad drought here, my DH connected the drain of our bathtub to a large water tank, and from there we pumped water out into the garden. I would look into what you can arrange. It is true that we have a normal "drought" every summer for 6 months, but we also have clay based soil, which I realize is so different from your sandy soil. Good luck, and hopefully this heat will not continue too much longer.

Jackie

I think Harborrose makes a great point about taking cuttings, but I would use the normal rooting method. I had zero success with the burrito method for whatever reason, and I tried several dozen cuttings from one bush. I was on a daylily blog from Arkansas, and he put up shade cloth on poles over his DLs during this extreme heat. That could be doable as a temporary thing just tall enough to cover the bushes. As long as your irrigating water isn't evaporating right away (which the shade cloth would prevent), I would think watering mulched sandy soil does get through to the ground beneath if there's enough of it, and water is conserved and soil temps kept lower by the mulch. I wouldn't dig them up either. Remember how much and how often a newly planted rose needs to be watered? That would be your situation. Plus soil in pots gets hot - think air temperature or close to it.

Sherry

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

I'm in the Phoenix area and we have long brutal summers with little rain. I second the suggestion to use garden umbrellas to shade my youngest roses. I like the umbrellas because I can move them around easier than shade cloth.

My established roses do ok in the summer but the young ones (less than 2 yrs in ground) struggle and I usually lose several each summer. Mine do get regular watering.

Good luck with the heat and drought; it's tough to endure.

Shade cloth, however, is cheap. And you can buy 90% shade cloth which really cuts out the sunlight getting through.

You can add water retaining granules to the perimeter of the roses...just hydrate them first and then dig them in. keeping the ground slightly moist down deep helps, I think.

We had two summers with almost as little rain as you've had. Mud cracks went down twelve inches. Our well was sputtering. I lost small roses; noisettes and teas and chinas with woody stems survived; only tea noisettes and moderns suffered and a few teas that were very slow to grow barely made it through.

I wouldn't take them out of the ground. I might start taking showers in the garden. If it's that hot, the water coming out of your cold water pipes is probably about 70-80 now.

(Re cooling a house...black out cloth liners on west and south facing windows will help immensely as will window insets made of insulating styrofoam like products.)

definately leave them in the ground. Cut back some of the top growth to relieve the stress on the roots. If they are on their own roots, you can be brutal. If ghrafted, cut back hard, leaving the minimum amount of leafage to photosynthesise. My roses came through a horrid three month drought with less than 5mm of water.....they went into early dormancy, almost bonsaid, with tiny little leaves and no bud initiation....tough plants though.
Ann's suggestion of shade cloth is a good one as it also acts as a windbreak - you can fix it round stakes as temporary covers......I use loads of this to baby along young plants over winter.

The reason I mentioned the burrito method as it seemed a reasonable method for rooting inside - I'd wonder if cuttings would take outside as hot as it is. At least for my normal method for rooting outside which is stick them in the dirt and cover with a jar.

I have to agree that moving them in this already stressed state seems a bad idea. Try and shade them as much as possible and give them what water you are able to. They may take a beating but I too agree that they should survive. It sometimes amazes me how tough they really are. But I do think taking cuttings as back up is a great idea. I recently took cuttings of some very dear old family roses as a little insurance policy against their loss.

As much as I dislike going against the advice of the excellent rosarians above I'd be inclined to move the rare roses to pots and place them in the shade while you've still got water with which to water them well before digging them up. Below is a link to a Paul Zimmerman video about how he accomplishes this.

Granted, the roses he's moving aren't stressed and neither are the roses that are being shipped out by Eurodesert Roses that Connie writes about in her blog, but I feel they'll have a better chance of surviving a move than leaving them in the hot dry ground which is likely to remain so for the next two months.

It's hard to imagine how hot and totally dry the ground and atmospheres is with day after day of 103 to 108 degrees with hot winds, still 101 degrees at 10:00 PM, and maybe as cool as 87 degrees in early morning. The roses get no relief from the heat.

As for rain I've had 3 1/2 inches of rain in the last 6 months. Even the wild cactus is dying and oak trees are dropping their leaves. These are the conditions that I'm experiencing, but at least I can hand water them since with our huge aquifer and ponds in which the city of San Antonio has collected rain water from years past we are only in Stage II restrictions. I think your weather conditions are worse and your water availability is certainly more limited.

The roses in my yard that are planted in the ground exposed to full sun are suffering with dry burnt leaves no matter how much they are watered. Tea roses are having a harder time of it than China roses. They are all deeply mulched. Some have drip irrigation. The ones that get some afternoon shade are faring a little better.

After last summer's brutally high temps and drought, which was nothing compared to conditions this year, I worked all winter to move my favorite roses to large containers, which I endeavored to tastefully arrange around the garden. The ones in containers are doing great even in full sun. Or I should say the foliage is fine. In most cases the flowers are crisped by noon.

You've probably seen this blog by Hartwood roses already. I was very surprised that the roses survive this treatment, but I think it gives some hope that you could move yours:

http://hartwoodroses.blogspot.com/2011/07/eurodesert-roses-one-of-my-favorite.html

If you decide to try and move them perhaps you could experiment with a couple of the more common roses before moving the rare varieties. By the way I find an $8.00 moisture meter to be very helpful to determine how dry the soil is in the ground as well as in containers.

If you don't move them I think using water retaining crystals is a very good idea. I've poked holes around a plant, poured dry crystals into the bottom of the hole, filled the top of the holes with soil, and then watered to get the crystals wet.

Also you could used card board boxes propped up on sticks to shade the roses.

Wishing you the best in saving your roses! Keep us posted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moving a rose during the growing season ...

Roselee, you're right, most of us can't "imagine how hot and totally dry the ground and atmosphere is with day after day of 103 to 108 degrees with hot winds". I hope your plants survive and the rains come and the heat subsides.

Sherry

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

I think you're asking for trouble in the long run if you dig up stressed roses and pot them. The roses that are shown in my blog post that's linked above were in fabulous condition when they were dug up. I attribute the success of many of them to their good care in Cliff's garden before they were lumber-jacked, dug up, and shipped across the country. Three of the roses I received are struggling a bit, with only a few small sprouts showing. I doubt they will die, but they are not thriving like most of their friends are.

If you can shade your roses in place and make good use of hand-carried grey water, I think your roses will have a better chance.

BTW, which roses are we talking about?

Greybird, I can certainly sympathize with you, when I look out my kitchen window to my back bed I see the drying brown leaves, and there's not too much we can do. I think the suggestions above are certainly worth a try!

Strangely in Carrollton we STILL don't have any water restrictions, but know that has got to change shortly. I am sure I have lost two of the roses from Cliff, darn it!

In the Dallas Fort Worth area everyone is asked to turn off all unnecessary lights, turn up the A/C 2 Degrees, don't run the dishwasher, etc. to avoid rolling brownouts. Everyone is pretty much cooperating which has saved us so far. All it takes is one substation to go out and we're in big trouble! My DIL is a consultant (software) to the energy companies, is working mega hours.

When it gets to this point I try to think of the gravesites of pioneers who have had roses planted that never got watered and still managed to make it!

If it is still legal to take baths, take baths with a small amount of very mild soap. Get a cheap pump and run a hose through the bathroom window and pump the bath water out to your plants.

hoovb, hahahah! You are so creative!

Greybird......

There are a few other things you can do to help your plants survive in the ground along with the idea of providing some shade.

I live in a climate that has temps in the high 90s and low 100s for months at a time with months of no rain. Also, heat is trapped in the gardening area because it lies between a slope and the house. So I have had to think about this issue and figure out something to help the roses survive. It was more of an issue when they were newly planted and over time the roses have become more established and can handle the heat.

I've made it a habit to only water them with deep watering once a week even when there was enough water to meet their needs and that has helped (Some of the ideas I am passing along have already been mentioned above)

A couple of things I've come up with are:

** Take down as much of the top growth as you can without removing too much of the foliage the plant needs both for photosynthesis and to protect the canes from sunburn. This means the plant does not have to send up as much moisture from the root system to support the plant.

** Do not allow the plants to bloom. It's an enforced dormancy and again the plant does not send up as much moisture and less energy is used for blooming. Many roses will sacrifice all to give that last burst of bloom to continue the species. They will continue to struggle to survive to complete that task, so disbudding does not allow them to complete that process and they will continue the struggle.

** You can shade the plant with an old t-shirt with the tail of the shirt in a bucket of water and the shirt will wick up moisture to keep the canes from drying out. Wetting down the shirt periodically uses less water than watering the plant and it doesn't matter if it is gray water because any chemicals in the water are not introduced to the root zone.

** Using your water to spray down the plants in the early morning, allows the plant to absorb water through the leaves and again, the plant doesn't pull up as much moisture from the roots. It also helps keep the canes from drying out.

** Even setting buckets of leaves around the plant creates a larger mass that takes longer to heat up the area around the plant than leaving the plant out in the open. They also keep the soil around the plant cooler than just mulch because the ground does not heat up as much, nor does it retain as much heat.

** Roses often will abandon their leaves in high heat to survive. I've used that as a signal that I can take the plant down further because it is not using that growth for production of leaves or blooms. If they are own root, you can take them down to less than a foot and the plant will come back in a season. If they are budded, you can mound the bud union with leaves to protect it from the higher temps. I like to remove that covering at night so that the plant has time to breathe and do not pack them tightly for the day time protection.

** Don't try to water all of your roses on the same day of the week. Use your one day's water allotment to deep water some of your roses on a given day. The next day water the next batch. Hopefully, this will allow you to water all of them deeply at least once a week. I had to remind myself that even God does not water on time.

Growing roses in containers in high heat is harder on the plant and actually requires the use of more water, so if there is any way you can keep your plants in the ground, you are ahead.

I do hope some of these ideas will work for you.

Smiles,
Lyn

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn, what great advice, I'm definitely going to try these ideas. I just cleaned out my husband's dresser drawers and have a lot of old t-shirts to use plus some 5 gallon buckets and have bags and bags of leaves stored, plus we have a 10X20' shade cloth left from our dog kennel, and he he knows EXACTLY where it is, haha (that's a joke at our house!)

Thank you!

My theory on watering sand is to do it lightly more often since it is "an open bottom". Since there is hardly anything in the sand to stop or even slow the downward flow, I think that more frequent light watering keeps the soil moist all the way down leaving no (less) hot, dry spots where the roots suffer. That's why I like the micro misters. Fifteen minutes of misting before the sun comes up isn't much water. (I do 30 minutes.) It's much less water than running the hose. They say the micro systems use one-thirteenth of the water of a regular sprinkler system. Again, this is my theory of what's happening in my garden.

I'm also amazed that my composted horse manure that I put down in the spring (no pine bark mulch this year) really retains moisture. I was out this afternoon in the killer sun, and bare compost (looks like dark dirt) was still moist from the .15 inch of rain we had last evening and this morning's misting. If it's moist on the surface under the blazing sun, it's got to still be moist down deeper.

Sherry

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

During our 3 year drought (and it's been very hot and dry here again this summer), I used grey water, rain barrels and shade to keep baby roses alive. Also trees and other stressed plants. I also used my soaker hoses. I know you have restrictions, so did we, but I did it a few times. No one can see you watering.

As others have said, plants in pots are more susceptible to drying out. I haven't had to water much in the ground this year (just letting them 'rest') but my veggies and pots have to be watered at least once, sometimes twice a day.

Wow, what great response and excellent information! I feel heartened!

The plan:
1. Take down considerable top growth. Will make it easier to apply shade. Shade will consist of whatever I can put together. Maybe bedsheets, t-shirts, burlap. Will see what Goodwill has. Would like to invest in shade cloth, but such a large area.
2. Dump on even more mulch.
3. Continue deep watering once a week for as long as I can. That is all they're used to anyway. I will likely do some stealth watering once the boom is lowered, though I am not too good at being sneaky.
4. I don't have a window in the bathroom. I am going to siphon the bathwater out through a waterhose, the bucket brigade is a pain.
5. No blooms allowed. It is sad to see them pumping out those tiny crispy blooms with all their might, they are trying so hard
6. A couple of rare birds will make it into pots. They are struggling in the ground anyway, still small size. I plan to keep them in the house for a couple of weeks, then reintorduce them gradually to the outside.
7. Fortunately, I have many duplicate babies. So if I lose teas, noisettes, chinas or bourbons, I have backups of most. The Old Europeans are another story. Is there any way to get suckers to take in this heat?
8. The downside of letting the teas go is the years of growth it took to get them to the size they are now.

I never thought things could get to this point. We have a perfect storm here, dry years spiralling down to this year of extreme drought, sustained heat since June that is currently 110-113, a strong LaNina year, and winds every day. No wildfires locally, but are in fire weather warning.

Thanks again for the support. Every day that passes is a day closer to fall and cooler weather.

Greybird.......

I should have added something else I say to myself quite often when I am dealing with stressed plants, "Think like a plant". Stressed plants, even in sandy soil, will put more energy building a root mass that can trap moiture even in sandy soil than preserving the top growth. This will slow down the drainage through very porous soil.. These additional roots are very fine, almost hair-like, but they do take more moisture to the rest of the roots and they do slow down the drainage.

If you have any companion plants near your roses, they are also building larger root masses and competing for moisture. If they are easily replaced, I'd remove them... also any weeds.

You don't need to use my "buckets of leaves" idea mentioned above. Bags of leaves, hay or whatever creates a buffer zone between the heat of the sun and the soil. Cooler soil retains the moisture better.

When you dig up a rose, you break those feeder roots and the plant has a harder time sucking up moisture until it grows more.

It's sad about the teas, but if they live through this, you will be glad they have a chance to rebuild. When you take them down, try to save as much of the large heavy canes as you can because that is where tea roses store their nutrients and they will re-build faster. I don't grow teas up here because I know the high temps and months of drought will always stress them, but teas have been found in abandoned cemeteries all over the mountains of California that have survived high temps with no care and no water during the summer months. Many of them are incredible survivors.

You can build temporary "greenhouses" for roses still in the ground using plastic.

Ralph Moore's greenhouses, located in the central valley of California, were only covered with plastic. Kim Rupert told me the temps inside the greenhouses were at least 120F during the summer months and incredibly humid because they trapped the moisture the plants release through transpiration. BS spores will not proliferate in high heat, but as soon as it cools down they will become active. Mr. Moore never had bs in the greenhouses, but the plants, once removed from that high heat were often susceptible to bs.

You can also create greenhouses in place by using a clear Rubbermaid tub. Or you can find sites that teach you how to build a cold-frame quite cheaply. It's the same concept ... weather protection.

I never feed a stressed plant because it adds salts to the soil ... even organics like the horse manure some people use adds salts. Under normal conditions, this is not going to cause major problems, but in drought, you do not want to encourage top growth and the plant is already working on the roots and adding salts causes additonal problems for the plants.

As for question about getting suckers to take in this kind of heat, YES it is doable. I transplanted a rose during a period of daily temps in the 110F range because the deer were taking it down to nothing and I really wanted that rose.

I used the t-shirt method, with a little modification. I wrapped the t-shirts around the rose ...covering every cane ... and made sure it stayed damp. I kept a sprayer near-by and used that to spray the t-shirt several times a day. It looked like nothing was happening for a whole month, but even with continued high temps during those four weeks, the plant took and began to show new growth a month after I transplanted it. I did take the shirt off at night. It doesn't cool down to anything below 90F until about 10pm in my climate. I had the rose wrapped again by 8am because the day temps can reach 100F by 8am.

I have heard of people who live in a desert climate transplanting roses in the summer in high heat using a similar technique ... geesh, I didn't know anyone else had ever tried to transplant in high heat before I came up with my t-shirt method.

Good luck with your roses.

Smiles,
Lyn

Greybird, I agree, leave the roses in the ground where they already have a larger root mass to take in more water. Removing those roots will significantly reduce their ability to "drink" and maintain. They're in survival mode now and will remain there until they either get the moisture and cooler temps they need, or die.

Pots are going to dry out far faster than the soil. They will be hotter from the bottom up than the roots will be under ground. You want the under ground parts cool, dark an damp. You can get the dark in a pot, but the cool is quite difficult. Leaving them in the ground affords them far reaching roots covering a vast area in which to gather what they need.

Shading them with anything breathable is a good idea. I wouldn't put the plastic totes on them because they'll trap not only moisture but heat and they have enough heat. The tee shirt idea works and also breathes so they don't par boil in too high heat and not enough air movement. Mounding them in mulch, wood chips, planting mix, something moisture retentive, breathable, loose but protective, and watering from the tops (if at all possible) to keep that mound of mulch damper will help them rehydrate, also. Even as hot as it is, if you dig down into the soil, I think it will surprise you just how cool it is compared to the conditions on the surface. Anything you can do to reduce the intensity of direct sun, heat and water loss is beneficial.

As has been mentioned before, severe water stress triggers the rose to absorb the water and nutrients from the foliage, then shed it to reduce the transpiration, hence water levels necessary to support it. It honestly appears your roses are in that survival mode. I know increasing water is virtually impossible, unless you can scavenge the bath or perhaps laundry water. As has also been mentioned, if you can go that route, use a mild soap and not a lot of it. In the laundry, of course, no bleach, period. It kills plants in any kind of concentration. Your plants are already thirsty, putting water with chemicals in it on them can burn them like too much fertilizer can. Good luck! Kim

Kim.......

Thanks for telling us about the impact of the Rubbermaids. The friend who told me she used this technique probably left a few steps out of her procedure.

The temporary greenhouses out of plastic also probably need more airflow than I saw a Sequoia to provide better circulation, but I do believe they work in helping to keep the plants from losing all of their moisture. Of couse, they can be covered with shadecloth, too.

The trick for me, was to figure out when to remove the protective covering. Other than signes of new growth, is there anything else we should be watch for as we protect the plants ?

Greybird, do what you can do to save your beloved plants and let us know of your progress.

Smiles,
Lyn

Were there other things Mr. Moore did to make them more effective during period of high temps ?

Smiles,
Lyn

Would putting paper grocery bags over the plants hurt them in any way? I can get lots of these and looks like would shade them effectively.

I didn't have time this morning to read what everyone else said so forgive me if I'm repeating anything. Let me tell you about an experience I had. Years ago during a very hot summer there was a bed of roses in my garden that I thought was getting drip irrigation but it wasn't. The roses went through 2 months of zero water in the worst of the heat. They looked pretty bad but I didn't lose one and the next spring they all bloomed beautifully. Ever since then I have been far more confident about roses and draught.

Greybird.....

The answer to that question, for me is "I dunno". However....

I have to drive down the mountain once a month to do my grocery shopping and it takes all day. When I buy produce ...purcahsed on the last stop... , I buy it in varying stages of ripeness so that it will last longer until I make the next trip down the mountain. The riper produce goes into a cooler I bring for that purpose, and I have found that if I put the less ripe produce in paper bags which go into a hot car for the drive back up the mountain, they ripen faster than if I use cloth bags.

I think I like your idea of going to Goodwill for anything that might make shade better, but again, I really don't know.

Smiles,
Lyn

Sequoia used the heavy, translucent plastic sheeting over wood frames. As it got hotter, they would splatter it with white wash on the outside to help reduce the light transmitted. The green houses there would frequently hit 120 with 100% humidity, but they worked because the doors at both ends were always open, so there was air circulation.

The paper shopping bags could work. I'd think you shouldn't need to pull them all the way to the ground, unless the issue would be the wind blowing them off. Perhaps splitting them along one side and pulling them over the bush, leaving the split side open on the side away from the direct direction of the sun? They'd last until something blew or pulled them off, or (Please Lord!) it rains heavily on them. Once they've served their purpose, you can always shred them and add them to your compost pile or mulch.

I have a friend here who was a rabid exhibitor. She recreated the universe to fit her needs for perfect specimen. I know she went way overboard, but she picked up as many of the portable gazebos from stores as she could find and would moved them around her garden to protect the bushes most likely to supply her show material each week. I'd tease that her garden looked like a swap meet or craft show. She'd chuckle and punch my shoulder.

If you think it necessary, anything that can shade the direct sun while still permitting some air flow should work. Roses will endure through some pretty extreme conditions, with or without us. Only you can make the call whether yours in your garden actually need your efforts. As long as there is air circulation so help prevent excessive heat build up under the protection, anything you feel safe using should help, or at least be psychologically satisfying. I pray for the rain you folks need, and soon! Kim

I came across a posting in the Rose Magazine forum about planting roses in hot, or sandy soil: Take old plastic plant containers, or 5-gallon size plastic buckets, cut the bottom off.

Dig a circle, about 4" deep around the rose bush, plunge the bucket to surround the rose bush. You'll have 4" of bucket below the soil level to retain water, and 5" of bucket above the soil to shade the rose.

Creating a partial shade is easy: Make a hat out of brown grocery bags, and put them over the buckets during the hottest temp. of the day.

I saw my neighbor doing that to protect rabbits from eating his peppers in early spring. He had these 5-gallon paint buckets (bottom cut off) around his vegetables.

I use my old plant container to restraint my invasive mint. I burry the buckets (bottom cut off) 8" into the ground, and leave 3" above the ground. And I never have to water my mint.

Thanks to everyone who responded and helped me come to my decisions.

As I mentioned in another thread, I am going with the shade cloth for my big beds and whatever for the ones I want to save in the backyard.

Just over the last week, I see several who are not going to make it: Climbing Cecile Brunner, Mrs. Oakley Fisher, 5 Maggies, Cornelia, 2 New Dawns, Chestnut Rose, Eden. All are older established roses.

I'm sorry they look that bad to you, greybird. I grow Mrs. Oakley Fisher. I don't have Cl Cecile but I do have White Cecile Brunner. If you need/want cuttings when this devastation is over, they're yours. Kim

Oh
Greybird so sorry to here your problems. I'm amazed at the amount of knowledge that is being suggested. Truly wonderful.
I grow Maggie and New Eden...I'd be glad to send you cuttings when this is over. I hope and prey that your roses come back.
Jeannie

Are any of your Maggies own root? Mine came back after everything else in the spring. Maybe yours will surprise you.

I am so sorry to hear about your garden. We have suffered so much, but at this point we have not had water rationing. Today we have rain, and I hope it has gone to you too.

Good luck in your garden.

Sammy

Kim and Jeannie, thanks for the offers for the cuttings. I will see how this all goes here and I might have to take you up on it.

Sammy, they are all own root. They have that gone-for-good look to them. But I will definitely give them a chance to come back. I rejoice in your news of rain. You can send some down here if you have any left over!

Strawberry, good suggestions for newly planteds, I will give it a try.

30% rain forecasted for the next 3 days, fingers crossed,
Leigh

Leigh, if toes count, I'll cross those for you, too. Feel free to browse my list on HMF. Anything which speaks to you, please let me know. Blessings for gully washers and reduced temps! Kim

Greybird, yes, the buckets are meant for babies. For a larger area, those $9 per 10 yards plastic landscape edging holds the water pretty well.

I have a large wild flower garden (plus Knockout and flower carpet roses), enclosed in plastic landscape edging (dug down to 4" to prevent grass from growing inward).

For the past 11 years I don't water them, since the black plastic edging retains water. I also put paver bricks along the plastic edging, and plant annual flowers. I don't water my annual flowers, since they get water from under the bricks.

If I'm faced with drought, I would definitely enclose the bed in plastic edging. This mini swimming pool is OK, as long as you have good drainage at the bottom. I would probably put tomato cones over the bushes and use shade cloth.

We have so much rain here in Chicago area that I wish I can send them to you.