The drought here in California is definitely affecting my roses this year.

I have limited the watering of my roses as you can tell by the condition of the blooms on my St. Patrick rose bush.

Here you can see one of the blooms that has dried out. The blooms start to open, but then they do not have enough moisture to withstand the heat of the day. Especially if the wind is blowing.

Here is another dried out bloom. In the background you can see some of the newly opened yellow rose blooms that haven’t dried out. However, they soon will look similar to the one shown here.

Here is another bloom that has dried out. The blooms really hold their shape when they dry out and they do have their own beauty. They also look like they are made of parchment.

It is interesting that the leaves of the rose bush retain their moisture and do not dry out as much as the blooms. However, I have noticed that this St. Patrick rose bush usually has blooms that dry out easily. A long hot windy day will often dry out the blooms even when we are not in the middle of a drought and I don’t cut back as much on watering.Here is what the blooms should look like instead of being all dried out. This is one that I picked and took to work with me earlier this year.

See: Around the Yard II

I have missed having as many blooms on my roses this year. Hopefully we will have a good long wet season and catch up on some of our rainfall.

Steven