This topic is of interest to me, living in the southwest and growing roses. I have said before that we, that grow roses in this part of the country have to be very creative, since water can be a luxury some years. I have a finite amount of roses I will grow because I want to do my part to conserve water, therefore I am very particular about which roses I will grow. They have to really floor me to be kept in the garden. If I get a new one, I tend to remove one that has been sub-par many times.

I have some ideas on growing roses in the drought zone. Tell me if they are naive or have some merit, 'cause I'm still not as experienced as many of you here. A few years after college, I decided I wanted to grow roses and so I've only been at it for seven years or so.

I was thinking that growing once-bloomers would work well in drought conditions because roses tend to demand plenty of water when in bloom mode and not as much when not in bloom. Once bloomers seem like they would be less water demanding, only blooming for one season. There are so many gems that are once-bloomers too.

Another thought I have is how about growing roses that do well in partial shade? If a rose is shaded from hot afternoon sun, I would think their water demands would lessen somewhat.

Also, Jeri and others have made me aware of using grey water for roses. Very smart since it makes use of every drop of water possible. What if neighbors offered to put their grey water in a large container somewhere on the street and you could come collect it when needed.

Well, I'd appreciate your input on these and any of your own ideas on this important and relevant subject.

Chance

*** Yet another good reason to grow those great roses.
Well, as long as you have the chill hours needed to do them justice.
In Santa Fe, I'd think you would.
I know Albuquerque does.
One caveat -- old foliage on some of these guys seems sometimes to be troubled by rust.
This might be more of a problem if they were water-stressed?

Another thought I have is how about growing roses that do well in partial shade? If a rose is shaded from hot afternoon sun, I would think their water demands would lessen somewhat.

*** I have visited rosarians gardens in Las Vegas, and the Phoenix-Scottsdale area.
In those places, roses are commonly shaded by shade-cloth structures.

What if neighbors offered to put their grey water in a large container somewhere on the street and you could come collect it when needed.

*** Hmmmmm . . . Your neighbors might want to make use of their own greywater. :-)
Also, in most municipalities there are strict regulations applying to the use of
domestic greywater. You'd have to check on that.
But personally, I think I'd avoid messing with someone else's greywater.

Jeri

The shade-cloth structures sounds like a resourceful way to protect roses from that Las Vegas and Phoenix heat. Luckily, I rarely get that kind of intense heat here. I have some trees shading things a bit and a protective micro-climate type of garden.

About the greywater, perhaps you are right Jeri about one just making use of ones own greywater. One might not want to mess with someone else's. I didn't consider the regulations factor. At any rate, I have you to thank for the greywater idea. Ever since I read about your clever use of all your water, I've been chugging water buckets around with greywater. Thanks for all the input!

Chance

Chance

As I do here, too, when I was in Santa Fe I had all my roses on drip irrigation. I did 1 gal emitters for 45 min once a week for the "average" rose, 1/2 gal for bands, two 1 gal for extra large. I kept my grey water for roses the drip couldn't get to. Keep a 2" layer of mulch so the water doesn't evaporate. Check out The Firebird for drip parts. They are great!

Chance

Melissa

Chance

Olive trees aren't generally characteristic of the northern Italian landscape the way they are in, for example, Tuscany, but you find them cultivated here and there in warm zones, and we're in one of them. We planted a mini-olive grove, about ten trees, a couple of years ago. The site was a south-facing hillside with very poor rocky soil that baked in summer, and olive trees seemed like the most appropriate plant---that is, best combination of beautiful and adapted to the conditions--for the area. So far they're doing fine, and I'm looking forward to the billows of silvery gray they'll be (I hope) in a few years. In this same part of the garden (we have a sunny garden and a shade garden; this is the sunny garden) we've also planted other trees characteristic of warmer parts of Italy, namely Italian (umbrella) pines and Italian cypresses, the columnar ones, and they too are thriving. Bay laurel also gets big in our area: even at higher elevations than ours I've seen large--20'-30'--plants, though laurel likes some protection from sun. On the other hand, in shadier and cooler parts of the garden, classically English plants like peonies and clematis do fine, and we have lots of lilacs. For serious shade I'm investing in oak trees, which are magnificent trees but very slow-growing, and in flowering ash, a close to faultless tree, common in this area and far faster growing than the oaks. Summer went on forever last year, and left me with a great desire for more SHADE in summer, and for plants to break the incessant wind. It was still unbearably bright even into October last fall.

About your garden, people have lived for millenia in arid climates and have worked out ways to make themselves comfortable in them and make optimal use of water. I'm thinking of traditional features like courtyards, loggias, pergolas, fountains. And of course, people who live in areas that get a lot of sunlight in cold winters can benefit from solar heat both active and passive. Our house has thick masonry walls, and I definitely notice the difference when it's sunny during winter. We also have a small solarium that my husband built at my request, and it's warm all winter: I've taken to using it as a greenhouse as well as a place to snooze on a cold sunny day.

Melissa

P.S. I have some sort of unconscious compass that points me in the gardening direction I follow, but it's not always a clear vision at all. I'm more like a hound dog on the track of a faint but highly intriguing scent. When I plan my garden, I try to design only far enough ahead to accomplish a chunk of work; then I procede to elaborate that part. And all the time I'm praying I won't make any truly awful mistakes that I'll have to undo, painfully and expensively, in the future.

Do you have any idea what rose this was? Maybe I dreamt it.
Maureen