Absolutely does age affect how much we can do, or care to do, for our plants. Some of my benign neglect flowerbeds over the years have also become favorites.

Ferns and forest grass.... Ah... we of course admire and like best the plants of others that we struggle with growing well. Still pretty sure Ostrich fern is gonna be the death of me. Or maidenhair fern. Or a fine crop of forest grass.....

I'm still happy to share...

Guys, thank you for all of the information. It seems to me that in my climate, pruning in February is probably the way to go. In this part of the country, the summer blooms are a bit smaller than the spring and autumn ones, but they're still respectable, and the plants have no trouble surviving the summer. They start to get really nice again in the autumn when it cools down, and I usually get the last flush of really nice blooms about this time (my Midas Touch is covered in buds right now, and they will probably be almost as good as the first flush in the spring when they bloom).

They stop growing in the winter, but they never lose all of their leaves, but they haven't stopped yet, so I think if I were to prune now, the new shoots would start to grow, and then they'd get blasted if we get a really hard freeze (we don't always get a hard freeze, meaning like in the 20s,or below freezing for an extended period of time, but sometimes we do).

I like comparing how we have to do things in different parts of the country based on our different climates. Although I think now my initial instinct to wait until February or so to prune is probably right, this has been an interesting discussion, and I thank all of you for sharing with me.

But I still thank you, ES, for suggesting that I plant with the graft union below the soil. The one I planted that way really has thrived in a way I never would have expected from a first year rose.

Hahaha this thread is great and super informative

My wife told me a year or two ago that I could not put any effort into plants that were not my orchids or did not give fruit or veggies.

I still like roses and hydrangeas and others but I choose to put my efforts elsewhere

You guys are super heroes

This is one of my favourites, Thunbergia Grandiflora, it's in bloom most of the year for me but I've never had one seed set.

https://i.imgur.com/IvLR5Tj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lCFYDgy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YJv2SGq.jpg

Another Thunbergia in my garden, Erectus, darker flower and completely different growth habit.

https://i.imgur.com/1vQfX3q.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oBCGZ2N.jpg

An easy grower, self seeds like mad, Datura Blackcurrant swirl.

https://i.imgur.com/DiHVUhQ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CaDOXNG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/j4mHPZo.jpg

We had a rare bit of drizzle the other morning and I couldn't resist taking pics of everything in bloom, hundreds of pics to trawl through and delete :rofl:

very nice!! i especially like the cool edge on the purple one

Is it perhaps "Blackberry Current" (as in the fruit) swirl? We can grow all those as annuals only, unless wintered inside. If you have little ground water, and little rain, where does your water source come from?

It's definitely Blackcurrant (as in the fruit!) Swirl. I bought the seeds in England about 10 years ago. They are perennial but I find they bloom best in years 1 and 2 so I let self sown seedlings take over and cut the old ones out from time to time.

Water? From the sea!!
All our water is desalinated. I get through about 20-25 cubic meters a month depending on time of year. I think our water is quite cheap, 1.20€ per cubic meter, I don't know how that compares with where you are? The majority of my water gets used twice. EVERY bit of water used in the house goes into a dirty water system and when it has 'matured' it goes to an overflow tank that gets pumped around the garden every night. That covers the watering/fertilising for everything planted near the boundary walls. If I think those plants need extra iron for example I just tip a large dose down the loo and flush it on it's way! Not very scientific but it seems to work! I've then fixed up an irrigation system to water the plants that are inside that area, ie nearer the house. That comes on for 20 minutes every other day but has no fertiliser so I go around with a watering can every couple of weeks to cover that. I really enjoy that as I get to have a close look at everything and see if anything needs doing or has come into bloom without me realising etc.
My Phals get the desal water as well after it has been through the carbon filter that we use to produce our drinking water. Had some early worries that the desal water was affecting the phals but turned out to be bugs and maybe a temp hiccup in the desal. On Ray's advice I tried to get a full water report - I'm still waiting nearly 18 months later!

Sorry, seem to have run on a bit there :blushing:

No, I asked. I've always thought it wasn't cost effective to desalinate sea water. I've never had to think about recycling every bit of waste water either (although the grass is greener over the septic drain field.) But, recycling grey water (if possible) makes good sense.

We have a well and septic. Recycling those would be against code (I believe.)

I'm not sure if producing desal water is cost effective or not but there's really no alternative as we don't get rain and what groundwater there was ran out years ago. We've only had piped water in our village for just over 10 years, before that there was a never ending queue of water lorries topping up everyone's reserve tank every week. The energy for the desal plants are wind turbines and they put their excess into the general grid. The island has invested heavily in wind turbines, another 8 have gone up in the last couple of months for general electricity production and I'm sure more will follow. One thing we are not short of is wind! Everything here is run on electric, no gas (except bottled), no oil, but many places are now installing solar panels as well. One of the smaller Canary Islands, El Hierro, has managed to go totally self sustained with renewable energy.