Windowsill, so good to hear from you. That haiku expresses my feelings and is a little depressing to think about, since it seemed we were talking about spring and summer just yesterday, and now winter is just ahead. Yet, tomorrow, our predicted high is 93F, and then down it crashes so that by Saturday the high will be just 71F. To distract from this gloom, I must later write a (n) haiku about Finn, the mighty Samurai warrior who caught a vole this afternoon and brought it back to us on the patio, then ate the whole thing, which I luckily couldn't see because some plants were blocking my view of the chow down. Then sated, Finn hid in one of the big flower beds because he knew we'd call him in for dinner after which he's not allowed outside. Tonight, was extra difficult bringing him in because who needs canned dinner when you have had pate de vole?

I wish I could be more charitable toward voles, but every time I think of my vole murdered Caramel Antike, charity flies out the window,.......Do you have any beautiful blooms to show us? How is Martha doing? Yours is such a beauty. You must be busy now. Did your mother make it back home safely? I hope you had a wonderful visit. Don't stay away. Diane

Caramel Antike

Trish, here's to the power of motion detectors. Otherwise it's Poss Off for you, and you'll be spraying roses like I do. Just change one letter in that trade name (which sounds so Australian) and it expresses my feelings about voles and winter. I hope this expensive sounding thing works. Thanks about the Rudbeckias and you've inspired me to do a Rude Becky album........ You probably knew that Nellie Melba, the coloratura soprano, was Australian. The dessert, Peach Melba, was named for her. And now it's a rose, too. That woman led such an amazing life. Her stage name derived from Melbourne where she was born. We have a Peach Melba thread going and that's why I mentioned it. Diane

Hummingbird mom feeds her babies. I thought I'd lost these photos that were taken by a friend of my son in law. I can't imagine how took these photos.

I'll do the rudbeckia thing later.

Beautiful blooms, Everyone!

Ooooooo! Judi, Beautiful Cappuccino buds & bloom! Yes! She lasts forever in the garden or vase blooming!

Otterbon,

Soooo many buds & blooms! Bright, Beautiful, Gorgeous!

Trish & Jim,

Lovely rose blooms! Aweeeeeeee!

Carol,

I’m into banana bread & cookies! Yum! Fabulous for the buyer’s visit!

WEEDING TODAY! FUN, FUN! All front yard and side yard beds! 2 wonderful hours gardeni g today-HA! At least it stopped raini g and was drier. Front/side yards looks good.and ckean! I need to do back yard beds next week.

City if Dan Fransisco had 3 dreamy blooms” wine colored and super fragrant.” She is really surprising me as a great rose!

A few blooms & fruits if my labor…

Red Delicious are ripe & ready to pick…. a smalker crop of about 50 apples on that tree. Many fell off earlier and I have maybe 20 in the kitchen now…..

Villa Muse, still trying to bloom.

Fading bloom & new bloom

City of San Fransisco

had 10 buds & some spent wine colored blooms.

I sprayed a few times porch roses, but the roses on the steps, out in the rain, have many aphids, anyway. If I was able to spray each bush under leaves w/ water I could remove them. Never had so many. They are feasting!

It rains every few days now and quite cool. I don’t use hoses anymore. Maybe next week I can wash all these roses when I am done with business?? It was 78F yesterday, but rained 1/2 a day & was cool. Today it was 73F and rainy morning, but dry by 4pm when I weeded. Next 11 days 56-71F. Cooling.

Tomirrow 68F & very rainy. Then I have a week with maybe no rain! GOOD!

Hi Ian, yes, Rugosas are self fertile. They are down right invasive to tell the truth. Where they are happy, they can EASILY overcome every other plant in a garden. Self set seeds germinate QUITE well and QUITE easily and their colonization abilities through suckering is legendary. Ralph Moore found them a little resistant to accepting foreign pollen so he mandated a protocol of pollinating the blooms repeatedly over several days to insure sufficient foreign pollen was applied when the seed parent bloom would best accept it. He also discovered the vast majority of resulting seedlings were down right terrible. He had several green houses full of rangy, unattractive, disease prone plants which refused to flower even after multiple years. When you see released results from his breeding efforts, those represent the best of thousands of attempts. If you want to raise more of the Rugosa you have and it isn't a known hybrid, simply allow it to set hips and plant the seeds. You should get pretty much what you want.

Mr. Moore created several quite nice Rugosas. Of course none of them are "perfect" everywhere but what rose is? Fire'n' Spice was never introduced and is spectacular in several gardens. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.69222 Keith's Delight is considered a Hybrid Rugosa and some like it. I found it too susceptible to rust (a common Rugosa issue in these parts) and I was not a fan of the gentleman for whom it was named. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.38239 Linda Campbell, even Mr. Moore agreed this may well have been is masterpiece. Again, not "perfect" everywhere but in climates similar to where it was birthed, a magnificent shrub rose and a remarkable result of a cross between a miniature and a Rugosa. Unfortunately so far completely sterile but it did sport to an orange-red. Hopefully it will again. Moore's Striped Rugosa is the first garden worthy result of an attempt to put stripes into Rugosa lines. And, again, lovely where happy. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.37560.1 Red Rugostar (Magseed), sister to Linda Campbell and a potential path forward from that line. Lovely, scented and unusual. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.32474 Rountuit, so named because it pretty much required nothing in suitable climates until you "get around to it". If THAT isn't classic Ralph Moore naming... HMF reports occasional repeat but in Visalia and the inland heat of Southern California, it flowered most of the year. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.26245&tab=1 This was it at Sequoia Nursery twenty years ago, a year before it's destruction. That was Shakespeare Festival (Golden Angel X Golden Angel) X Belle Poitevine.

Star Delight, Mr. Moore hesitated to introduce this as it "doesn't repeat". Well, it DIDN'T in a 4" pot at the nursery, but when I planted it out in full sun on a desert hillside in the Santa Clarita Valley, it grew to a low mountain of a plant which began flowering and virtually NEVER stopped! The rabbits left it alone. It never had aphids or any other insects. It never contracted any fungal issues, it just ate real estate and continued flowering. I loved it! I never found hips on it nor did any pollen I applied every stick but its pollen worked to create a thornless, ever flowering climber friends like to use to slip cover their fruit trees so they have color when not flowering or with fruit. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5954

Yesterday's Garden, a rather old fashioned appearing flower on an interesting plant. It repeated well and had good resistance in my old arid, hot garden. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.23070.1 

He also showed it was possible to cross Rugosa with mosses, though that combination creates a very unpleasant stench to the mossing. Those efforts are on HMF and weren't released for gardens.

All were results of crossing miniatures with Rugosas as that was his prime focus and he truly felt minis were the "bridge" from one class to another. That's pretty well been shown with stripes, mosses, cresting, Hulthemia "blotches", Bracteatas, Soulieanas and others. And, many of them are successful results using fertile triploid miniature breeders. Traditionally, triploids have been thought to be sterile, however a number of his mini triploids are quite useful in passing parts of both parents into offspring containing some rather impressive and wild traits. Topaz Jewel is one. It resulted from Golden Angel X Belle Poitevine. Golden Angel is a fertile triploid and bred a line of fertile triploids. There is much there to play with if you're interested. Greater health in more difficult climates may even be possible if populations of seedlings are raised and selected from where disease pressures are greater, but be ready for THOUSANDS of really awful results. Green houses full of REALLY awful results. Thankfully, there are still some of them out there.Hopefully, they'll remain in circulation a long while longer for others to enjoy and have fun playing with.

One of my best Austin winners has been blooming since early May, and that's Eglantyne. Diane

She isn't blooming like this now, but she's still blooming and under some trying conditions way in the back. I should move her, but at my age?? She's a big girl.