I agree with Sylvia and Kim, water is ever so important. I am always finding dry spots in the yard , places where the water just doesn’t soak through or the sprinkler missed. I find that improving irrigation is a task that never ends. Sprinklers got clogged, spray patterns change, plants grow and block the water from others. Lately I’ve been watering all my roses almost every day by hand, in addition to the automated sprinkler watering they get 3x a week…I’m seeing so much incredible wonderful new growth .

Boy do I know dry. In a normal year, we have 10 inches of precip and that includes snow. So far this year, we have had 6 inches of precip, over one inch below normal for this time of year. We live and die by irrigation as do the farmers. I am generous with the water, and our water bill shows it. I am a firm believer that water is the best fertilizer like Kim stated. Diane

Hear, hear to all the above. We're still dry here, having enjoyed about an inch of water a week or two ago, our only rain in who knows how many weeks. Given that our reservoir has a lot of demands made on it, we don't water plants in the ground after the first year. I may have lost a young Cornelian cherry. The roses are mostly hanging on, though.

Sylvia, congratulations on your rain! I hope our turn comes next.

OMG, this makes my poor heart so sore. I have bent over backwards watering once a week this summer and am now so exhausted , but it's never enough. Without running water there's just no way I can provide my newer implants with sufficient water. I'm dreadfully afraid that I am going to find that all of my years hard work are going to add up to nothing. This drip system over which I'm labouring is my last chance, I think.

I get it, folks. Our Monsoon this year has pretty much been a Nonsoon. By now we are supposed to be up to 7” for the season. We have had almost two inches. Several times a week the clouds come up, it gets windy and thunders around us and we smell rain… and the storm fizzles out before our eyes. We keep praying for more rain, but the good Lord hasn’t seen fit to answer that way yet. So I water and water some more! It never feels like enough, but everything looks pretty decent anyway, so it must be enough for everything to survive at least, just not exuberantly thrive.

bart bart, I can’t like your comment but am really hoping your drip system helps. Once a week might not be enough for them to thrive yet but hopefully it will allow them to hang on until they grow up a bit.

Water is also huge here. We took out a large japanese maple and while the additional sun was fine, what really made a difference was the tree not stealing all the water. The branches and leaves stopped rainwater from coming down and the matted root systems would steal whatever the sprinklers deposited. Everything looks much better, minus a couple hosta that are getting a wee bit fried now

Can't wait for your pics. I have noticed that our garden is still, now, reacting to the 48 inches of rain we got last Winter. There has been none since April-May, but the roses, and everything else, are blooming and growing more than in a typical year. Even lately when our Naked Lady lilies came up, there were way more blooming shoots, and the flowers are lasting way longer than usual. My "re-blooming" iris (which hardly ever re-bloomed before) are re--blooming already, and more and more are looking like they will too.

Jackie

Here are the pics.

Buttercream.

Our Lady of Guadalupe. ”Freckles” from last week’s rain.

Camille Pissarro. Wow!

Love Song.

Raspberry Cream Twirl

Bud on Moonstone. Look at these leaves! I am speechless.

Gorgeous, Sylvia! This is the one I'm most excited about. It's a semi double Hugonis hybrid which has previously thrown a few later flowers after the spring into summer flush. With no ants, no grass or tree roots and LOTS of water, it's lush and pushing buds all over! This is just a few short weeks ago.

A few minutes ago

This hibiscus looked to be a goner. I nearly dumped it. Now?

Imagine what they will do when I start FEEDING them, too!

• Since we had all that lovely rain last winter/spring I'm very happy to water my new roses every day and even several times a day. I'm anxious to see whether this will save my Purple Skyliner which had all of its leaves eaten the other day. My clever ground squirrels pulled out the metal pins holding the chicken wire barrier to the ground and went to town. This rose is in quite a bit of dappled shade and this is the second time it's been eater, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
• bart bart, I'm lost in admiration for what you endure to keep your rose plot going. It makes my problems seem like a walk in the park.

When it rains is also very, very important.

Three years ago my gardens had over fifteen inches of rain in February. Mostly cold rain.

Rain did a rotting number on the organics in the beds. The soil surface dropped about two inches. (Mice moved out, it was so wet.) And Spring growth wasn't as good as previous years even though rain continued, but not ridiculous rainfall. What residual K and P was in the soil dropped a lot. And I didn't really see the problem until mid May when the temps zipped up to 90s and new growth slowed as it always does with our first hot period.

Ah,Ingrid, I thank you for your admiration, but don't think I deserve it much, since I fear that all my efforts will prove to be vain. I know I don't want to spend another summer like this one. I CAN'T; I'm hurting myself acting like this. Plus, I don't want to spend the rest of my life just trying to water! So if this drip irrigation doesn't turn things around, I'll have to invent something else for these difficult spots in my garden.

Sad to say, I see that in spite of my efforts several roses are showing that wretched sunburn at the base of their canes -and these are all young plants that have no canes to spare,so basically they seem to be "growing backwards". I fear I will lose "Blue for You"; this plant has survived for several years without regular watering,and bloomed well this spring, but this summer, after recieving weekly water and being shaded in the worst of the summer heat, seems to be dying off- cane girdler wound,sunburn, probable canker-UGH. How discouraging! True, this poor creature did not have very good soil preparation when first planted out-at the time I didn't know what I know now-but I'm worried that perhaps this area just isn't adapted for roses. It's a very prominent spot, so I probably will try one more time,but looking at my pot ghetto roses that now look so healthy and flourishing, I fear that I may doom them to death by putting them out in my garden. But I have neither the energy nor the desire to start a pot rose garden. So, as you can see, I'm feeling pretty depressed about it all just now. The weather forecast is not encouraging, either-it continues to be very, very hot and dry.

Oh Bart. I do hope you get rain sometime.

I hate that sunburn thing so much too. I also hate canker, stem girdler and voles. I'll throw in gophers too.

A pot ghetto can be beautiful too, but I understand your and Ingrid's desire to have the plants in the ground. It seems more natural and permanent somehow. Wishing you the best.

Bart, I'm also fervently hoping for rain in your area. I'm worried also that you may be overextending yourself, and the combination of heat and exertion can be dangerous. My situation is nothing like yours as I have water at the end of a hose any time I need it, but since I now find myself becoming weaker literally from one week to the next I'm limiting myself to just a few roses. I really hope that your automatic watering system is the answer for your watering dilemma. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you both so much for your good wishes. Sheila, one of my problems with roses in pots is that they really do demand SO much fuss and maintenance,and there's no end to it,period. At least in the ground one can hope-possibly in vain, but yet it's there-that one day they may reach a point of at least semi-self-sufficiency. And considering the recent weather trends...well, all it would take to put an end to my pots would be a ban on watering,and , sad to say, this is a real risk in these dreadful times.

What's more, roses or no roses, I do want to continue my garden project. As frustrated as I may be now, as unpleasent as it is during the summer, in fall, winter and early spring I love to be out there! It's close to being really kind of wild out there, and I love being under the sky (when the sun isn't trying to kill everything, lol), and feeling all that space around me, and gaze at the beautiful views of the hills...But what with that, and painting, and all the weary, boring every-day stuff, not to even mention medical bs,I just would not have time and energy to fuss over potted roses-repotting every few years, remembering to fertilize regularly,watering them (and they REALLY can't survive without constant watering)...no. At that point I'd prefer to just be content with the roses I have already out there, and put in more trees ,etc.