In spite of constant watering, some of my roses were looking rather sad, partially defoliated, no blooms - definitely not an ornament in the garden. Without much of a conscious thought process I discovered that they could be remarkably revitalized with some very simple measures.

1. I added a lot more mulch in the form of fallen leaves from my trees. Some of these roses didn't have much mulch left and I'd more or less ignored that situation. Bad gardener!

2. In addition to the usual handwatering, which I discovered did not always penetrate deeper in my dry soil, I directed a trickle of water to these roses, sometimes overnight, to thoroughly drench the soil.

3. If the rose had some buds or they developed because of the extra TLC they were now getting, I ruthlessly pinched them all off. Blooms in high heat are often not something to write home about, so this was not a great sacrifice.

I have to say I was surprised by the results. Filled with gratitude, my roses sprouted new leaves which soon filled out the bush. I then removed the tired old leaves that had still been hanging on and the garden now looks so much better. It didn't cost a penny (except for the extra trickled water), was not a great deal of work and I now have a happy-looking garden. Sometimes the simplest things can bring the greatest rewards. Many of you undoubtedly already do all these things but for some reason I'd never thought of doing all three at the same time, and I'm very excited about the results. It has saved the life of Mme. Joseph Schwartz which had looked skeletal for some time, the the point where I was considering taking her out. She looks great now and even has (tiny) flowers. There were so many buds after she recovered that I didn't have the energy to keep removing them!

Ingrid