Your blooms of Jesse are so beautiful! It gives me hope for my struggling plant, and tomorrow I'm going to give it some kelp to encourage it.

I know I’ve said it before, but I always think of the word “classy” when I see Jesse Hildreth. If I had the space, I think Jesse is the Tea I would choose. What gorgeous blooms you have! I’m glad they weren’t wasted in this terrible wind. Today’s winds are worse than yesterday’s, here. How’s it by you today? Lisa

Lisa, it's TERRIBLE here today. Bone dry, and shrieking wind. The smoke coming up from the other side of the hills (mostly the Malibu area) is downright terrifying, and apparently there's a bad new flareup near the 101 Freeway @ Westlake Village.

Thank you for the photos Jeri. Can't like that wind or smoke.

No. I don't think anyone could like it.

YIKES!!! Jeri, I hope you don’t mind me saying those are some ugly pictures. We need a “dislike” feature for those photos. At about 1:00 PM today, the wind suddenly stopped. It’s as still as can be, right now. It was almost eery, the way things suddenly became so quiet. I hope it’s done the same everywhere.

I’m driving to Visalia via the 5 freeway on Thursday night. I hope everything will be clear by then. I’m not sure if the fires are even near the I-5, but I’m nervous about traveling with everything going on right now.

I went to our usual 10 AM family “coffee time”, at my parents house this morning. The winds knocked the ‘Felicia’ rose that I bought my mom, down while I was there. Poor Felicia!

The wind blew away the trash cans, most of the mulch, and stripped most of Felicia’s foliage off. She was covered with lovely GREEN foliage until today. This is the first time I’ve seen our winds be strong enough to rip off the fresh green leaves of a rose bush. Unbelievable wind! Lisa

Poor Felicia. I hope she can be propped back up. She looks like a beautiful plant.

All you Californian rose lovers have been in my thoughts this past week. Hoping that all your friends and loved ones, and thier properties are safe from the wildfires.

I too have been thinking of all of you Californians over the past few weeks. I can't imagine what it must be like to loose your home, pets or loved onesese monster fires. Though I am certainly personally and intimately familiar with the new reality of monster wildfires. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Listening to the climate scientists, the fire fighters and the Governor, climate change and extended fire seasons are the new normal in the West, including here in British Columbia. Both last summer and the summer before have been the worst fire seasons on record here in my home province. Two summers in a row, I have watched human caused blazes take hold and go from nothing to raging brush fires in minutes across the lake. Both times, thank God, the fire suppression planes helicopters and three local fire departments were on them in minutes and had them out in less than a day. Both were human caused and in one case, a home was lost along with outbuildings and boats. But then, I live only 15 kms South of the fire suppression base at Penticton Airport.

This image across Skaha Lake June 31st. This is just the first 15 minutes of the blaze. If you look closely, you can see a Fire Cat spotter plane just above the ignition point of the fire. The suppression tankers were lined up and waiting for their instructions and ground crews were on the way. Still, more than 35 Hectares burned

The year before last, both of my brothers in law and their families were evacuated from their homes in the Chilcoltin area of the Province for weeks. The skies in our deep valley were filled with smoke most of both summers and we were surrounded by wildfires from the four corners of the compass, including large fires in the Pasayten Wilderness of Washington State, about 60 kms South of here.

We are beginning to have summer wildfires in places that could only be called rainforest previously, here on the central coast of B. C. So, yes, summers are hotter, drier and last longer along the entire Pacific side of the Continent. Anyone who still denies human caused climate change has their head in the ashes in my view.

We all need as a species to take a look at our impact on the planet and then make some hard choices about our impacts and effects of our life styles on the environment. That means trying hard to reduce our individual carbon output. But it also means pushing our leaders to make hard political decisions to put the environment ahead of our own self interests. If that does not happen, then Mother Nature will take care of things and fix our mess in her own way in the near future. I recently read a book that discussed how some, mostly third world countries, Ecuador, Columbia, Mexico, India, etc. have amended their constitutions to include constitutional protections and rights for nature and the environment. The US and Canada both have many environmental protection laws, but no mention of the environment in our Constitutions. That is what it will take, to give environmental issues equal footing with individual rights and the rights of Corporations. The fact that some countries are making those decisions gives me some hope, but the idea needs to spread. If we as a species and as global citizens do not make some hard choices, then Mother Nature will take care of our problem in her own way in the not too distant future.

I truly fear for the future of my Children and Grandchildren. I wish both mine and your Grandchildren a rose future living in and with the Environment as we were meant to do, not consuming it for comfort and profit as we now are doing. Sorry for the rant, but I think about this most days and am astounded by how ignorant and selfish we all seem to be about these environmental realities.

Rick

Good to hear from you Adam. My Adam rose is a treasure. Hope you are doing well. We are all with you on your support for California.

'Le Pactole' is the bloom furthest to the left, with a stronger yellow caste ... and most of the foliage is Jesse, tho probably a couple are 'Le Pactole' -- which dependably has incredibly clean foliage. A bit better, even, than Jesse.

Oh, and the foliage is stripped from quite a few of my roses. It more or less happens every year, here.

Thanks for those thoughts, Rick. I really hadn't realized that BC was in as dicey a situation as we are down here.

Intelligent animals don't mess up their own beds. It's hard to believe an intelligent species destroying its planet -- but we're sure doing it. And it's heartbreaking.

So sorry it affects BC too, Rick. I spend a week there every year with my sister and love it too.