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A. Several factors affect rose bloom. The first is sunlight. Although there are a few antique roses that accept some shade, most roses want full sunlight. You may also have an ill-adapted variety. Antique or old roses do very well here.

There are also many hybrid teas that perform reliably. Visit one of the many good nurseries in town that generally stock roses that will perform well in Central Texas. Another reason to make a careful selection is to get a rose that doesn't succumb to black spot or powdery mildew, which prevents the plants from processing sugar to bloom.

Please see the booklist for good rose books, including Liz Druitt's The Organic Rose Garden, and Michael Shoup's Roses in the Southern Garden. A final factor is nutrition. Make sure the roses have a healthy soil, rich in compost, and provide feeding on a regular basis.

Mulch your roses to maintain soil moisture, but leave a slight berm around them. Finally, if you have roses that only bloom in the springtime, do not prune them until after their final flush. If you have these varieties and pruned in February, you sacrificed this year's crop.

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Dahlburg daisy (Thymophylla Tenuiloba) is a graceful, ferny plant with delicious (deer resistant) fragrance and small yellow blooms spring through fall. It's an annual, but will sometimes perform as a perennial.

Its graceful carriage works well overhanging pots, a rock garden, or border. It's very heat tolerant, and doesn't require much water. In fact, the worse thing you can do is to plant it in heavy soils and water it too much.

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• For the new shrubs you planted, keep them watered, especially since we've had high winds and no rain.
• Water deeply on a weekly basis until they are fully established.
• Raise the mower blade height at this time. Mowing frequently and leaving the clippings on the grass is a great way to provide nutrients.
• Again, when watering, water deeply and infrequently to build a deeper root system.

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