tedln

Bill,

The only plants I've been successful at planting and growing in the high summer heat is Goliath Bush. They just sat in place for almost a month after planting and suddenly started growing one day. I did provide them a little shade protection. I also grew a few varieties from seed last summer and they started fine. When they were almost planting size, we had a week of 105 degrees. They all died before I could plant them out. With the exception of Fourth Of July, most of my plants seem to hibernate through the heat waiting for a cooler day past mid summer. They then spring back to life with new growth. They don't bloom until significantly cooler weather arrives. FOJ just keeps blooming and producing. It does occasionally abort some blooms in the heat, but produces new blooms in a few days which set fruit. Homestead produced similar to FOJ a couple of years ago. My black varieties also seem more tolerant of the heat than other varieties. Some people talk about how their cherry varieties stand up to the heat well. Mine don't with the exception of Juliet which I am not growing this year in favor of Cherry Roma.

I'm really curious how your grafted varieties perform in the heat. I'm keeping a close eye for your reports on those. It would be nice if grafting did more than offer disease resistance. Maybe a more vigorous root system also aids in heat tolerance.

Ted