Hi Melissa. These days I seem always to be waiting for Out-of-Stock roses to become available again. Oh, and waiting for the new ones to bloom. Waiting for the heat to break. I know what burned plants look like, too.

Both of my new ones were cemetery finds. Those are always interesting.

Hope everything goes well with your arm!

What beautiful roses! "Each one prettier than the other" -- and fragrant, too, according to HMF.

We're all waiting, I suppose. Cemetary roses sound excellent.

No rain last night: I'm more disappointed than surprised.

bellegallica9a - I looked up both of those roses, and am intrigued - especially by "Miriam Wilkins". Of course the photos of that rose are all so very different from each other (especially the "light pink" color - most of the photos look very bright/dark pink to me), that I am dubious about what I would get if I ordered it.

Melissa - SO very happy to hear that your gardener re-surfaced! That is wonderful - sounds like you can use all of the help you can get. Our gardeners (2 - a father and son) came yesterday, and tidied up many things in the garden which had either dead foliage from the Spring bloom (Iris Naked Ladies, and other bulbs), or hedges and trees which were growing out of control. So nice to see things neater - nothing seems to die around here, everything seems to just keep getting bigger and bigger...

We have had a much cooler Spring and even Summer (highs in the high 70s F - unheard of for June , July & August here) than normal here, and only in the past week has it been in the mid 80s. Today is supposed to be 93F, so I suspect our normal temps for August have retuned. Oh, well, the tomatoes, and tea and china roses will love it.

I hope you get your cast off and your arm is perfect, so you can start exercising it and get back into the garden soon!

Jackie

Hello, Jackie. I'm also curious as to what I'm going to get with Miriam Wilkins. The picture at Rogue Valley looks nothing like the ones at HMF.

And here is the picture by Friends of Vintage Gardens:

Thanks, Jackie.

My gardener went to Rome to visit his embassy; while he was there he dropped off the face of the earth, at least as far as I could tell. I was afraid he'd died. Turns out he had first his wallet and then his phone stolen. Now he's back, and he says he's ready to work when I can supply transportation. DD will be back for the weekend to help us, and I hope I can find my gardener so he can come back from town with DD and get in a first day of work, which both he and the garden need.

Melissa, sorry to hear about your arm. I hope it is healing well.

It is good to have a gardener, especially for someone with a large hillside garden!

There is an epidemic of pick-pocketing in Rome and some other cities. Happened to my daughter two years -- still ongoing. Seems to be connected to some sort of international organized crime rings. The culprits are not Italian, but It sort of semi-spoils one's feelings about Rome. François Juranville, from the entrance to the 'Roseto Comunale' (Public Rose Garden) in Rome (2 May 2025).

Monarda, that's a beautiful photo; thanks! Sorry to hear about your daughter's experience during her visit. Rome is a little beyond my usual travel range: I haven't been there for over twenty years.

Too true, Rosefolly. My gardener is still not back on the job; I'll have to see. His morale was low the last time I saw him.

I got my cast off Tuesday, which was marvelous, but my arm is still pretty wrecked: swollen, bruised, painful, weak. Physiotherapy lies in my future, once I can get an assessment. Meanwhile, daily life is providing a kind of physiotherapy. I'm typing this with two hands! Can cook a little! Went out yesterday and cut more weeds. That last was good, because I liked what I was doing, and so didn't notice the attendant discomfort. Oh, yes, and I can drive a car again. All this forces me to use my hand and extend its range of motion, and that's all to the good.