Even Mons Tillier has big leaves, and you almost can't see through him anymore. Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to have some beautiful rose bushes. Now the question: what if I have to reduce the numbers to afford the water bill?

Sherry

My water bill is very reasonable and California is in a notorious drought.

Good luck to you! I don't think you'll regret it. It saves a lot of money from evaporation.

Debbie

Ingrid

Jeri

Mind you, it DOES need minding (ha!), but you'll find it's more efficient and you also get much less weeds.

I know a lot of folks on this forum use 'pro' drippers, but I just went with the stuff at Lowe's, maybe next time. I procrastinated a lot, so I suggest just DO IT! If there's something you don't like, you can always change/improve it, tubing isn't that expensive and anyway you can reuse it and the drippers.

At our mountain place we have water hard enough that you can 'bout stand a spoon in it, so they do clog from mineral build up. I found out early on, that I liked the 'flag' drippers because I can rotate the end to loosen up any buildup (which I find by periodically making sure all the drippers are working ok - once every week or two with this water). This year I bought a duplicate set of drippers and changed them out, the originals I plan to take apart and soak in vinegar (warm is better) to clean off the mineral deposits, then swap them out next year.

One tip if you have a hilly yard, best to run your main line up the hill and then branch it off and run your 1/4" line. For example, I have a run up the hill that then follows the fence downhill in an upside down "L" which then has 1/4" lines feeding the roses down the fence line. If you do it backwards, you have less pressure & flow at the top.

My drippers do sometimes get clogged. I lost a black eyed susan to that this summer. Now I make a point of turning them on manually during the day once a month while I make the rounds and check that the drippers work. It doesn't take too long.

The flag drippers are great - they're very easy to unclog. The type I like for roses are also easy because the top unscrews sending the water straight up (usually right into my face). I haven't tried the vinegar trick - I'll do that in the future. I get some of my parts from Home Depot but get my emitters from a local irrigation supply store. They're cheaper in bulk that way and have more choices.

I run the main line on top of the ground but under the mulch. The small 1/4 inch lines that run to the emitters come up from under the mulch then end about 2 inches from the roses (my mulch stops about 3 inches out).

I couldn't garden the way I do if I didn't have the drip system. I work about 10 hours a day so I could never hand water like that!!

Give it a try! I think you'll find it economical and easy for you!

Debbie

Thanks for your responses about drip systems. I've been getting the "Drip Works" catalog. It really is all Greek to me. I'm hoping DH will supervise. :))

Sherry

Ingrid

When I got home from work, I stuck my fingers in the ground in a couple of places. The top 3" weren't even damp but not quite dry, so I watered again. It is becoming very apparent that the roses need it. It is making a huge difference. Jean Bach Sisley is no longer a see-thru bush, and they're all leafing out like I haven't seen except for early spring. I'm just amazed. I water each plant by counting one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two up to 15 or 20. That should be putting at least a gallon (maybe more; I need to measure it in a bucket) daily. Even the potted roses are doing better (they were leafless sticks for the last several months watered every other day). Roses growing in my garden definitely need daily watering - and it's only in the mid-80s during the day and down in the 50s at night. And still they dry out too much to keep the roses satisfied. I have read many times that water, water, water is the main thing with roses, especially in Florida, but I had no idea they required it daily. You folks with clay need to count your blessings, because you are definitely blessed. Which is not to say that we here are not blessed. We have other blessings that need to be counted, too, but moisture-holding clay is not one of them. I guess all that sunshine accounts for a lot of our blessings :))

Sherry

We had a " normal " summer rainfall this year . Central Florida is coming out of a prolonged drought of many years so any rain seems different than previous years . November is our second driest month of the year with December ranking number one . Couple that with higher than normal winds and I see a lot of watering in my future !

Sherry - Have you checked with your local Extension Agency to see if they have any irrigation experts there who could help you ?

gatormomx2, I'm quite happy to hear that maturity brings some drought resistance. I have not checked with the Extension Office. I should do that, but their hours of operation seem to conflict with mine. I will call them though. This summer was closer to the normal of my memory, not pre-drought normal, but better than we've had in some years. I haven't noticed much wind lately here.

I'm thinking that my 'every other day' watering was allowing these young roots to be permanently damaged by drying out in between, and they couldn't recover from it enough to support foliage even with the next day's water. (They did continue to bloom some.) Does this sound right to anyone else? Suddenly, my Rosette Delizy's yellow is closer to light egg yolk yellow with some red. Haven't seen those colors all year - just pale yellow. Everything is looking SO much better today - like I've never seen. I'm really happy to have stumbled upon this.

Sherry

Melissa, the roses are still improving. Duchesse d'Auerstadt (the poor leafless thing) is sprouting new shoots all up and down her canes. It's so exciting. Crepuscule has been in the same state, and he's slower about sprouting but they're coming. It's really incredible.

Sherry

I'm afraid I'm like Greybird: I thought it rained A LOT in Florida. Now I know...

If you decide to replace some of your roses, due to high cost of water, with drought-tolerant plants, maybe you could arrange all your remaining roses together in a central spot - or in a line, say, around the house, so that the heavier watering would cover just them; and then fill in the outer perimeter with your drought-tolerant plants. By the way, I have seen daylilies listed as drought-tolerant plants. Ornamental grasses are great-looking, too. AND - I have seen some airy-looking plants with blue flowers that look wonderful with roses (can't remember their name, but I seem to recall that they, too, were drought-tolerant. Sorry, not very helpful, I know...)

Anyway, I hope that you will find the cost of water to be do-able, because I know how much you love those roses!

Laura

Laura, I'm hoping I don't have to go there, although tonight I saw on the TV that we're down to watering once a week - "cooler weather means drier weather so..." Ya think if I water at 6:00 in the morning anyone would notice? 5:30?

The rose bushes look SO good!

Sherry