10'' of rain annual is lower than average but pretty normal for us here but I understand it is very low for you over there.

With global warming being a harsh reality, it really is difficult to say what will happen to any of us since weather patterns are no longer normal. I hope that you'll have rain later on, even though that may not be the norm, since we had an unexpectedly late rainstorm. I'm sorry for the hardship the farmers are going through since they seem to depend on the local water supply. Here we have plenty of water now, but that can change from one year to the next. I'm glad that it's still at least looking lush and the roses are blooming because that makes a difference to a rose gardener's whole outlook on life. I can only say that I wish for rain for you. You've put tremendous amounts of sweat equity into your property and have created a truly beautiful garden. Hopefully your roses are mature enough to get by with very little water now until you hopefully soon have more rain.

I, too, have been pleasantly surprised this past week, finding two roses alive that I was positive were dead, Souvenir de Claudius Denoyel (missing with no trace since late last summer and Lagerfeld (cane dead since last mid-winter). Two more that I really want to keep are still missing in action, one of my two Mrs Herbert Stevens (the more vigorous one - of course) and Nimbus which will be difficult to replace if replace I must. When I was a child my father had a willow tree that was "dead" for two years and then resprouted to become a large tree with no sign of its sketchy history. So I live in hope, as most gardeners come to do, and take losses as philosophically as I can.

Rain wishes for you, Melissa.

Cath

Melissa, I rejoice with you for the great crop of cherries!! It's so heartening when a plant responds like that to hardship. Just the pick-me-up you need.

Drought is hard. It's hard to watch your garden suffer.

The years ahead will be more unpredictable. I imagine that California will be using water from the ocean sometime soon. I miss our old weather patterns but the important thing now is strategies to live with the changes.

Farmers and wildlife will be hit hardest. I'm glad you had some cherries to enjoy. Hang in there plants!

On Tuesday Nimbus resprouted for the third time this season. I had transplanted it late last season for both aesthetic and horticultural reasons. It had a deep tap root and I lost a significant part of it in the process but Nimbus is a toughie. Hope she survives and this time is here to stay.

Cath

Well, good luck to all you Californians with your recent drought history and questions as to the future; and good luck to your roses, Cath. Greetings to all my fellow cherry lovers! Virginia, I've wondered if there are any breeding programs for sweet cherries involving Prunus serotina to create cherries that could grow in the southeastern U.S. It grows as far south as Florida and has edible fruit. I picked two batches of pie cherries, put one batch, pitted, in the freezer for pies for DD's birthday dinner in December, as is traditional in our household, and turned the other batch into two delicious pies. Your torte sounds pretty wonderful.

Ingrid, would there be any possibility of your building a pergola, or do you already have one? I don't recall one from your photos. You sound like you could use some outdoor shade. I know I notice the lack of it very much in those parts of the garden that don't have trees and large shrubs; in fact, in this weather I just don't go in those areas, which include the bulk of the garden.

Still no rain, and the forecast isn't comforting. There's a possibility of thundershowers in a few days. What worries me most is the possibility of running completely out of water: nothing coming out of the faucets. Summer is here, early, now that all the spring flowers have shrivelled up in the dry heat. This is the time of year when I regularly admire my Sansevierias, brought out for their summer sojourn under the pergola, the only time of year that they have conditions that really suit them. I went through a phase of collecting them several years ago; most survived, and they do their active growing now, just a leaf here and there. I like their sculptural character, and their near-immortality. Most of mine are probably about ten years old. My sister has one that I remember growing in our dad's store half a century ago. Also the hardier succulents that spend the winter in an improvised cold greenhouse seem to be practically immortal. I have a white variegated Agave americana that I bought as a neglected small plant for too much money about a decade ago. I took it home, cleaned the rot out of the root and repotted it, and over the years it has grown a good deal and is a respectable specimen. Idem others, that have stayed with me over the years and become members of my plant family. None of them are rarities, I don't take good enough care of my potted plants to risk that, but they have character and I enjoy them during the hot months. They're my summer garden. The rest of the season is dedicated to clearing brush, in whatever areas the shade happens to fall. There's a lot of satisfaction in clearing out brambles, nettles, and wild clematis, and somehow I stay ahead of the massive invasions from our neighbors' properties. DH is in charge of watering, for as long as we can water. There's already a massacre happening among poorly established plants. And the roe deer are busily destroying such trees as we have gotten started. These are a fairly recent arrival locally, dating back perhaps six years or so, and we're overrun with them.

Ah, what can I say ? drought sucks; it's the worst. I feel so depressed myself, and we haven't even had real drought in my area; not "good rain", exactly, because it's been pretty uneven,but still it's been enough to get by...I hope things improve, Melissa. Sadly, the local forecast for a change of weather and some rain has been changed today by most of the weather sites,but hopefully your area at least will get some,since I think you guys need it more than we do. And hopefully we'll get some as well!

Bart, I thought you folks had gotten rain this winter: was I mistaken? or not enough? Of course you have to carry your water, which makes it all hugely more difficult. Here, possibly on Monday we could get a shower at 5 p.m. After that it just gets hotter. It's not even officially summer yet. My philosophy is eroding in a hurry.

Melissa, I've considered a pergola and we do have something like that toward the back of the house and it's quite large, but it's not in a place where it would do some good in shading the roses or me. Unfortunately there is no place to put another one, not that I'd have the courage to ask my husband to build one. We have so many other (expensive) projects we need to tackle first.

I'm sorry about the added problem of the roe deer. Apparently the wolf population in your area is not yet large enough to help with that problem.