In many areas extreme heat is the order of the day and our roses are showing the signs — curled leaves, slow growth and smaller than normal blooms that sometimes look distorted. All these are normal under these conditions. While I was away in May the temps soared to the 90s and haven’t come down much since.
WHAT I’M DOING…
WATER
Do keep watering if you can. A good deep soaking once a week should be sufficient except for your containers — mine need water everyday unless we get rain. Resist the temptation to overwater!
FERTILIZER
I fertilized them when I cut them back in June. And I’m usually on a every 6 weeks schedule. I’ll see how the weather is then. If it’s too hot still, I’ll be careful about doing much. When they are under stress, I find that too much of anything just contributes to the problem.
Maybe we will get lucky and July or August will be the May we missed! I just received a notification from the Weather Channel that Tropical Storm Beryl has formed in the Lesser Antilles – who knows what that will bring! Don’t you just love real time notifications!!!
Back to today–managing all this heat is tricky as it is a first for my neck of the woods – so time will tell.
Several years ago we had a severe drought and had no measureable rain for 7 weeks. I was in a panic as we could only water very minimally. I assure you the roses looked horrible at the end the drought. However, it was amazing how quickly they bounced back once regular weather returned. Praying the same thing happens this year when “regular” weather returns.
JAPANESE BEETLES
We are also dealing with Japanese Beetles — who came very early to my garden. They usually show up around the first week of July. This year I saw them the second week of June. I made my decision that day to cut back all the roses (blooms & buds) to make them less appealing. I was leaving for California so it seemed the perfect time. The result has been fewer JBs! WIN. The roses are now starting their second flush of bloom now and we’ll see how the “population” of beetles go!
To control JPs simply have a bucket of soapy water to drop them in. If you bend the cane down, their tendency is to drop and the soapy “bath” will be waiting! I received another tip this year from good friend, Dr. Mark Windham … trim off the damaged leaves! It seems it is the “damage” that encourages other JPs to come. Resist the urge to squish. I hear that process sends out a signal to others JPs to come visit via pheromones released. Yuk!
BLOOM THYME THIS WEEK
There are some lovely blooms coming this week and the butterflies are loving them!
Watch the butterfly run through the coneflowers and daylilies in the video below…
Good evening, Despite the conditions all of your plants look healthy Our weather has been similar to yours with record amounts of rain in May & early June & lots of humidity in between storms. Despite this the roses have done well with very little black spot thanks to a systemic fungicide ,I believe. Poor little At Last is still only 8 in. tall with no buds. I am going to try changing the soil to see if that helps. Thank you for your posts , they’ve shown me roses can be worth the effort if done right. Good luck, Joe
Your video is lovely. What an elegant butterfly. Whilst we do have the heat and lack of rain to contend with, we don’t seem to have these pests. They look deliciously disgusting. Your garden is standing up magnificently.
So glad you do not have our pesky pests! Butterflies stop me in my tracks with their beauty, grace and hard work!
All that I know about Japanese beetle is that I am very pleased that I do not need to deal with them! Those who do are really bothered by them! The Santa Clara Valley happens to be one of the best places in the world to grow roses, even without much winter chill. (They do well in Los Angeles too.) I do miss the old hybrid tea roses that were popular decades ago. Your last picture of a rose looks familiar, but I do not know which one it is.
lovly garden, I happen to think the summer has been great for plants, even tho it has been somewhat on the muggy side and hot! sure beats winter tho.