I have scattered roses in bloom all over the place. It is not the grand display of spring, but it is enough that you can bend your face and smell some wonderful perfumes. A lovely blue mist has settled near the ground beneath the roses, blue veronicas, low asters, and especially annual blue salvias which I planted with a generous hand for the first time this year. I'll do it again. I like the effect.

This is a busy work time for me. Last night we got the first real rain of the season, but fortunately I was at work all week. I pulled out the summer vegetable garden (tomatoes, pumpkins, beans), leaving the peppers and eggplants because they were still producing. I've been busy planting the winter vegetables -- carrots, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, cabbages, fennel. Tom put in potatoes, too. I still have the alliums to plant -- onions, bunching onions, shallots, and garlic. Then I can get started on planting daffodils and roses in the corner of my back yard that I am newly developing. I have all the plants ready now, except for a couple I am attempting to root. I almost forgot. I planted 60 'Menton' tulips by the front door. No doubt the gophers will eat half of them, but the ones they miss will be beautiful early next spring.

Late this past summer I did a major overhaul of my terraced OB-OGR area. Several of those roses just hadn't made it. They really did seem to need more chill than I can provide. I took out the dead and struggling ones, keeping the few that seemed happy. The ones that are happy seem very happy, and don't seem to need frequent water, either. Around them I planted all sorts of California natives that can tolerate occasional water -- lots of salvias and penstemons and the like. I'm hoping that this will end up being a happy solution to an area I have yet to get just quite right.

Rosefolly

The door to the rainy season slammed shut and we have had no rain here for over six weeks. So I drag the hose around every other day. Soon it won't be quite as hot and the garden will not dehydrate as fast. Perhaps rain will come with the cold fronts though the almanac says we are in for a dry winter.

We are entering our best seasons here. I have planted a few petunias and pansy's and am on my yearly hunt for that cobalt blue lobelia, Crystal Palace(?) Many more of these sets will go in over the next few weeks.

For the first time ever, I have some petunias that have reseeded from last fall and are popping up in many places.

The two new beds are doing well. Devoniensis, Clytemnestra and an unknown pink are soon to be joined by Rev D'or.

The other bed has Crepuscule at the far end and Marie Pavie at the door. Between the two is a surprising Heritage that died (I thought) several years ago and then reappeared as an own-root. Because of its tenacity and scent, it went into the good manure and can live there as long as it will.

That bed's focal point is the luminous Miss Atwood. Wonderful, mutable blooms and one of my best repeaters. She already stretches into the path but can stay until next summer.

Many of the roses are building up to the late fall flush. I have forgiven Carnation and Abe Darby, yet again. And Marcheal Neil has leapt! Twenty plus feet to the west and to the east. If he ever starts blooming, he will be something to see.

This is also the time for the heavy work. I am determined to move Madame Alfred this winter. That will take brick work to build a planter type area at the corner of the driveway near the ditch.

And what am I to do with the monstrous Cl Maman Cochet? Still in a giant pot, I am glad to say, but I would much rather it was the Marie Van Houtte I paid for. Perhaps it will do well at the front where it can hang over the edge of the ditch?

The bed for the hybrid musks will have to wait a little longer, I fear.

Melissa, it sounds as though your garden is starting to come together, which is no mean feat considering its size. What serendipity to have found an inexpensive source of shrubs.

I definitely agree that cypresses can really define a garden. We were fortunate enough to have a whole row of them next to the studio already and I planted one at each side of the driveway where it meets the concrete parking area. I'm amazed at how very quickly they've grown to a respectable size. The butterfly bushes I planted a few years ago also have a presence now and these vertical elements, along with the trees that were already in place, form the framework of the garden.

I'm fortunate that I do have blooms in the garden still, even though most of the roses are far from mature. Except for three roses that are arriving next spring, my garden is now fully planted with roses that I really like and that I believe are suited to my environment. I went through an unholy number of roses before reaching this point, but it took me a few years to fully understand how unique my environment was. Perhaps I'm also just a slow learner. At any rate, this fall has finally seen the completion of the major components of my garden, with only slight adjustments here and there which will help to keep life interesting in the years to come.

My most exciting experience lately has been learning that the small Bourbons are quite happy in my garden, and this has expanded my rose list quite a bit. I've really enjoyed watching them grow and bloom and discovering that they're content here.

Ingrid

What a pleasure to read so many accounts of thoughtful and determined gardening. Ingrid, I think we are all slow to learn in the true sense, that is, learn from the complex and never fully deciphered reality around us, instead of from books (computer, others' instructions, etc.), whose information has already been selected and interpreted. In our gardens we become the great experts, and that's part of the fascination of gardening.
I feel a prick of envy hearing about thonotorose's roses--of course I don't have to deal with either blackspot or hurricanes, as I need to keep in mind. My Teas and China roses are once again launching enthusiastically into new growth at the end of October, no doubt to be cut down by frost in a month's time. Why they couldn't get started early enough to mature their growth before the arrival of winter I don't know: this year we've been getting rain since August: they have no early fall drought to excuse them. Anyway, thonotorose, your roses sound wonderful: I love your varieties. You're a brave woman to be thinking of moving 'Mme. Alfred Carrière'.
Paula, I get that blue haze effect with caryopteris, but it's a taller plant, of course. Those blues are lovely with roses. Lucky you, to have room for a vegetable garden, but they require a lot of work.
elemire, It sounds like you're going to have a great garden in a few years. Your roses may just be putting roots down, working their way into the clay. I just moved a sucker of my 'Leda' into a new spot, and am hoping we didn't massacre its roots so badly that it dies: it was deeply rooted.
Melissa

Enlarging the bed off my patio, am making in an octagon shape. Have been saving cardboard, newspaper, and one of my sons has promised to come over on Thanksgiving weekend to haul landscape soil and mulch which will have been delivered to my driveway. Don't know how it will look as the rest of the beds are curvy, but am looking forward to trying this! First have to remove and divide day lilies and such, that will be a weekend pretty quick.

Am planning on a Tuscan look with thyme, herbs and muted colored roses as well as a tea olive nearby, plants that can take our heat.

Melissa I hope so, it is very difficult bed to grow anything, heavy clay and full sun, also I have a feeling that there were some bushes before that got removed just before the house became available for sale (I come across some loose roots there occasionally). It is just somewhat frustrating that a white moss I have on more loose sand/clay mix is 4 x 1.5 m canes by now, when where I really want things to grow high it is a fizzle. Oh well, some day...

By the way, since you plant quite a bit of trees... I figured that planting trees on heavy clay adding some hormone powder to the planting hole makes some difference to how well they root (I have it quite clear with the fagus hedge, same condition, same source, planted same day, just half with and half without powder).

A garden report, eh? Let's see. It seems all my obsessing over the front garden has truly paid off. All but Mons Tillier is doing really well, still blooming strong. MT had a real problem with healthy young canes going black, so I took him out - a giant 6x6 bush in 2 years. When I was digging out the stump, I saw that the amended soil didn't even go down a foot deep, and this after I struggled digging out the crappy native limey sand. Either I didn't dig as deeply as I thought or the bad stuff is migrating up. MT's roots were well down into that awful gray stuff, and I have to believe it was causing some sort of deficiency that was detrimental to cane health. So again I dug out the native sand, this time to about 3' by 5x5. "Stay away from my baby's toesies!!", I say! Now Mme Lombard has a nice place to live.

I had wanted to place a Sky Pencil Japanese Holly on each side of the circle, thinking they would give real classy structure to the garden, but they need soil that is quite acidic so sadly I had to pass on that purchase, but with the roses now gaining some of their renowned height maybe I won't need the two spikes of green which might have gotten lost anyway. Maybe the garden will show me if it needs some other "architecture". Also, I'm beginning to take a more experimental attitude toward my Hermosas. I'm thinking with they're being part Bourbon maybe they need more trimming and "forcing" than teas and chinas, so that's the path I'm on with them. They've always been scrawny plants, so maybe this practice will make them bushier. Their gorgeous bold pink blossoms guarantee their place in the garden.

I'm now on my second go-round with Duchesse de Brabant, considering the two beautiful plants I now have from my own cuttings, but one of them needs a home. Alexander Hill Gray is replacing Rosette Delizy who had a similar problem to Mons Tillier. And speaking of giant Maman Cochet climbers, I gave away my Climbing White Maman Cochet to a home with much more real estate. That leaves Reve d'Or and Cl Maman Cochet on that side. RdO, I think, is manageable due to her lax canes (though unmanaged at this point), but I had "SP" thoughts about MC. Her canes have bumped into my kitchen windows, made a u-turn and grown about 6 more feet the other way. So you tell me, is this sane? She is sooooo huge as to be ridiculous. Even my attempt to force her UP INTO THE AIR is proving naive since what goes UP must come DOWN.

I, too, have another bed to finish, but I'm not jumping on it with the zeal of previous efforts. I'd give it up were it not such an ugly mess now AND in the front. I learned something about Mrs B R Cant. She was a gangly, sprawling, thick-caned, poorly foliated mess in her summer shade position. Regretting her, I started lopping and wound up with a good 5x4 shape - with about 3 leaves left. Well, two weeks later in her autumn sun position she's sprouting growth all over the place, and I think she'll be a pretty bush that may not mind the shade for a few months in the heat, and next year I'll do her summer pruning when I'm supposed to in August. Louis Philippe has become huge! Ingrid is right about the small Bourbons. Two of mine are sizable now, so I'm truly excited anticipating the maturity of the other three. They are wonderful roses bushes.

Last item to report is that I must be more diligent in checking my irrigation system which from time to time pops off micro heads at the instigation of the squirrels. That adds to my water bill and denies roses the water they need. I will say that my water bill is not exorbitant, and the roses are loving the constantly damp soil in their beds. Without my micro system I would have far fewer or NO roses. However, for all the roses I've removed lately I still have more than 90. How I'd love to have less than 90 - just on general principles. I think I would feel less tired and be less behind in my chores. Or maybe I could do away with the office job...guess not.

Sherry

Sherry, your comment about the number of roses you have really resonated with me. At my highest number I had about 94, which decreased quite a bit when I began deaccessioning but has now increased again with my last 14 plants to 86. I now know without a doubt that this is my upper limit and also feel that I have all the roses I've lusted after (now that my beloved Cl. Lady Hillingdon is arriving next spring). As time goes on some of the roses I have now may turn out to be underwhelming and they will be gone, and it would have to be a truly outstanding rose that would take its place. My final goal is really to have about 70 superb roses that meet all my criteria and will not be too much to take care of when I dodder off into old age. Knowing your limits is a really important component to satisfaction with your garden and I think we've both become aware of that. Wanting to cram every rose you fancy into your garden is that wild honeymoon stage, but it just can't last because exhaustion sets in. I've recently moved on to the next stage, when you're happily settled in with the wise choices that have made the cut and can now watch them grow and flourish and make your garden a thing of exquisite beauty. There will be bumps along the way but that's to be expected. It's the overall experience that counts.

Ingrid

And so it goes. Sure glad to find this thread its given me a chance to sit back and think of what has happened this year and plan for the next season. And so to share!
Due to shale/granite outcroppings the only way that we have been able to garden is to create raised flower beds. We will need to build 3-4 more next year and then it will be finished.
One of the beds was a mistake colorwise I think. To the left Lady Hillingdon, middle= purple clematis, on the right we have Crepsule. Well the clematis is about 12" and so the similar color of the rose bushes gives it a blah look. But boy are those two roses gorgeous. They are my experiment to see if they do well here during the winter. If they do...oh my going to be buying some more...
Another bed was a mistake sizewise. Now remember we only made this bed early spring 2010. It measures 5 feet deep by 22.5 feet long. Across the back of the bed which backs up to the greenhouse are Mutabilis, Madame Alfred Carrier and Zephie. In front of these are Wong Fong and Treasure Trove. Mutabilis is showing lovely shape and size wize is doing well. Her siblings big Mac and Zephy are taking over the place. Wong and Treasure will be moving next spring. MAC and Zephie's canes are intertwining. I hope that they bloom at the same time that would be pretty.
Usually in this climate mildew is not a problem. This October some of my roses which get partial shade have some. Approximately 8 years ago I had an outbreak in a different garden during the fall. If memory serves the weather that year was similar to this year and I do know that both gardens were quite young. So I'm hoping that the mildew outbreak is weather related similar to the prior outbreak and won't need any intervention on my part. Lazy gardener syndrome....
So today I'll be off weeding some more....the fall crop is huge.
Jeannie

Melissa, as you know, my "garden" is miniscule. Nonetheless, I am very pleased with the way it's looking now - my few roses are all finally getting themselves together, although Mlle. Jeanne Philippe is way ahead of the pack when it comes to blooming and growing. Not sure how far this rose is planning to go, but the trip should be interesting. I've also added to my succulent collection with a charmer from Annie's Annuals (Graptosedum 'Bronze') and an awesome aloe that was given to me - don't know the name. I always love reading about your garden - I don't know how you do it, with all that heavy work, but I feel a real love for it after seeing those pictures that you had on the Italian garden website.

Thonotarose - Yes, 'Crystal Palace' is the right name for that Lobelia. I have low pots of it spaced between my rose containers, and it is still looking great, although the surrounding trees are losing all their leaves. I love the intense blue of it, although I'm also thinking of the lighter "blue haze" look that others have mentioned - next year!

Sherry, how beautiful your roses sound! Just the names make my heart lift. I'm glad they're doing well.
Jeannie, I'm in full agreement with the lazy gardener syndrome. I had a bit of fungal disease now and then in Olympia, only on certain varieties, but I never thought it warranted spraying, and the roses did fine. Good luck with your young garden!
Laura, It's my husband who does all the heavy work; I couldn't manage without him. Thanks for the kind words: I know there are thousands of things that could be better in my garden, but I love it passionately. Enjoy your garden! A balcony garden can be frustrating, but it's still a garden, and therefore a lovely and rewarding thing.
Melissa