Gardeners are obsessed with the weather. All we do is talk about the weather. We discuss rain levels or lack thereof, the cold, the heat, the amount of day light, it is a never-ending obsession. We’ve had pretty much everything so far this year from the late April snow which snapped tree branches, to the cold spell in May with frosty nights burning the delicate leaves of baby tomatoes everywhere followed by searing heat drying out the seedlings and then torrential rain with storms which destroyed the delicate blooms of the ephemeral peonies. We are never happy. The roses have really benefitted from the chilly spell and all the rain, it does show however how much roses like to be watered and how much better they do when they are regularly drenched. The difficulty is when the rain is so prolific that the blooms fill with water and collapse. Rain is a problem that we’ve not had to deal with recently. With such tremendous heat it is best to move all your pots and containers to the shadiest position in the garden. If you have no shade, tent the plants with horticultural fleece to make some shade, you could even place the pots beneath the garden furniture especially if you are going to be away. Water well in the morning or evening and cross your fingers that everything will make it through this heat. Good luck!
