Ingrid, it may have only been 5 minutes, but it seemed like forever!

My 'Annie Laurie' insisted on arriving at my house with blooms on, even though she was shipped during our hottest weather of the summer... The effort was too much for her, though, and even though I snipped off those flowers and buds immediately, she lost almost all her pretty foliage as a result. She's put out beautiful new leaves though, and looks swell, though not as swell as your more mature plant...

Thanks for the eye-candy. 'William R Smith' gets me every single time.

Virginia

Ingrid, sending you rain from Houston...
The new arrivals are thriving. Acquisitions.

Your garden pictures never cease to amaze me.
The lack of grass, the foggy mist, hillside and yes, Ingrid,
the Italian Cypress.....a masterpiece in landscape cinematography.
Bliss, I like that word.

Ingrid, enjoying your pictures always. The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild looks so tempting. And after loving your bouquet pics of William R. Smith (and this one) I looked at HMF. Does he attain 12 feet in your garden? Or does he mind being cut back?

ps: off topic ~ had an odd moment seeing my hand and nails in the McDowell photos :-) Gogeous skies with the wonderful bolders.

Beautiful, Ingrid! I'm glad Annie has provided you with such perfectly formed flowers. Of course it looks awful to you, but in those photos, your garden looks wonderful! I'm sorry you missed the rain, but am happy your temps have fallen, but at least you had the "threat" (NONE here). It's getting VERY old enduring heat indices of up to 118, where it's most often MUCH less severe. Thanks. Kim

Lovely Ingrid. I always think of this time of year as a bit of everything, a beautiful rose hear and there. To me your garden looks great.

Ingrid - Those are lovely. Really like the Bishop's Castle and William R. Smith. You are doing a wonderful job in difficult conditions. I so enjoy all your pictures. I don't always comment, but I love seeing them!

I think I post pictures just to hear wonderful comments like these. mauvegirl, yours came close to being poetry.

Virginia, if your ALMD is putting out new leaves I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. I imagine it just went into shock for a time. My plant is still very small also, and I think going from pot to ground affected it, not to mention the terrible heat wave. It's also made the leaves somewhat chlorotic, but I hope that will pass.

Kim, I do believe your temperatures are worse than mine. How in the world do your roses hold up under that? I'm happy to say that none of mine have died (yet) although many of them look as though they'd like to.

Iris, my Wm. R. Smith, is much shorter after quite a few years, perhaps 4-5 feet at most, which I attribute to several years of drought. None of my teas are as huge as those I've seen in pictures; I don't think that dry heat and poor soil are conducive to their lifestyle. And yes, those actually are your hands and nails; I borrowed them for these pictures:).

Ingrid

Ingrid, I don't know how or why, but there was a trough of extremely hot temps which went right through this area. For the past nearly a week, we were even hotter than the warmer sections of the Santa Clarita Valley, which is highly unusual. The roses (and most other plants) really show it. Most things are FRIED. It's pretty bad. None have died, but very many of them appear ready to give up the ghost just to escape. Kim

Thanks Ingrid. Love, love pink roses.

Exquisite!