Heat

The roses featured here are moderate to large hybrid teas – moving clockwise, “Out of the Blue” moderate, “Neptune” very large, “Hot Cocoa” large and “Remember Me” moderate to large.  In addition to being scorched all of them are less than a third of their normal size.  Lest you are walking through your garden wondering what you have done wrong, like so many people who write to me, you have done nothing.  This is the result of extreme heat stress, brought on by prolonged exposure to high temperatures – in this case unseasonably high temperatures.  On the Planes we have been in the triple digits now for several days. 

You may have noticed that your roses are not pushing much new growth, feed notwithstanding.  You may have also noticed that your lawn isn’t growing particularly well.  My husband usually mows once, even twice a week.  He hasn’t touched the lawn in nearly two weeks.  Again this is the result of inordinate heat that inhibits growth.

I have never seen a season where so many aberrancies conspire to confound the health of the garden, that is to say heat, drought, accelerated time and disease.  To deny the existence of these abnormalities is foolhardy, and yet it doesn’t really matter who believes in Climate Change and who doesn’t in the final analysis.  It is what it is, man.  The Earth existed and evolved thousands of years before we crawled out of the primordial slime, and I believe will long after we bore or blow ourselves out of existence.  She isn’t just a projection of our inflated and insipid egos.  If you doubt Her power to put us in our place or defend Herself, take a walk through your rose garden.