Just gorgeous, Jeri. We are down from the 100F temps the last couple of days. I'm hoping 14 days of 100 F or over is it for this Summer. Many of my roses are resting in the heat.

Sheila, most of mine are, too. "Jesse Hildreth" is a "cropper" ... one big flush, then a rest, then a flush ... and he doesn't alter his schedule. 'Lady Ann Kidwell' is, too though it's shocking how much paler she is, in this tropical heat.

Jeri, I got mine because of you and this is the first year she is looking like a real bush.

Jesse Hildreth is a stunner! And Ann Kidwell is a nice contrast. All my roses are either setting new buds or in bloom right now. I was expecting rest from them in this heatwave, but maybe I would need to withhold fertilizer? I went out today and not one rose is resting. I gave them a shot of Regular Miracle Grow about a week or so before the heatwave, which started about two weeks ago. The blooms are pretty small on all my Teas in this heat.

I am seeing the virtue of half days sun now. These are the plants that did the best during the extreme heat. My place looked like a circus. I had a big pop up canopy over a big section of the garden and beach umbrellas everywhere.

That's funny, Kitty! It reminds me of an old friend who was a VERY avid exhibitor in Orange County. She even had commercial florist wall coolers in her "pantry" between the garage and kitchen. I know she had at least two dozen of the portable pop up aluminum framed covers which were so popular years ago. Visiting her garden was like going to a swap meet! She would move them all over the garden, or she'd have her "help" do it, as they were awkward to move around and they had to be staked to prevent the wind from moving them around. Also, there was good reason so much of Euro Desert was under shade cloth. Most plants do grow better when they aren't physically cooked all the time.

We have always been taught that roses need full sun, all day ... but we need to take into account the length of days and the ambient temperature. I've visited the gardens of "serious" rosarians in Nevada and Arizona, where the roses had little individual shade-cloth "tents".

Yes ma'am, that's that Edwardian Britain edict and they generally DID require full sun, in Edwardian England. In today's England (and much of the rest of the world) they don't. And, the closer you get to the Equator, the less full sun they can withstand. (Just like US!)