Added new album to webshots so feel free to go view the roses that are in bloom right now.

Brought 4 new roses home with me from my mom's house in Alabama - Honest Red, Love Me Tender, Oranges and Lemons and the Green Rose. All traveled well with no wilting. Still noticed that there are a few Japanese beetles still around but the activity is defenitely diminished so hopefully they will be gone in the next few days. We still are in need of rain and the cooler weather as the hot days have taken their toll on the roses. The WV State fair is right around the corner and hope that I have roses in bloom to take. Black Magic and Pristine head the list for HT entries right now. Brought home Epsom Salt to put around the roses not covered on the first application.

Japanese Beetles were still lurking when I left Wed- Aug 2nd for Alabama so I sprayed all roses early that morning around 7am with a mixture of Orthene and Sevin Concentrate to kill any beetles that might be on the roses and to keep them off while I am in Alabama at Mom's. The Orthene also goes after other insect pests and helps prevent any blackspot from forming on the roses. So far only a few roses with any signs of blackspot and most all of those were from new roses that I have purchased this year and were already showing signs of blackspot. I have almost gotten rid of the blackspot on those roses by removing affected leaves and by spraying with Orthene to prevent any new from forming. Hope my son is watering as directed since it has been so hot the past few days.