Saturday, April 13, 2013

The First Rose of the Year

It's always fun every year to see which will be the first rose in the greenhouse to bloom.  This year, I am particularly excited to see the first flower on a rose that is new to me, that I have never seen flower in person.

I am pleased to introduce to you, 'Rosa acicularis'

I wish you could smell this ... it's Heavenly!
 
 
This flower was a bud two days ago, while I was releasing the ladybugs that I harvested from the inside the house.
 
 
 
My plant is tiny right now ... only about 6" tall.  I brought it home with me as a sucker, pinched from a flowerbed at the B&B where we stayed in Denali, Alaska, last summer.  At that time, I didn't know what rose it was ... I just knew that it was interesting and healthy and would make the perfect souvenir for my garden.
 
Photo of the rose at the B&B in Denali.
 
 
Thorny stems and lovely leaves.
 
 
I remember being amazed that this little rose could withstand the subzero temperatures of an Alaskan winter.  It's a fairly short grower, not quite two feet tall, and it had suckered quite profusely.
 
Thorny, thorny, thorny.
 
 
Beautiful red hips.
 
 
Using my foot for perspective.
 
 
It will be interesting to see if this plant behaves the same way here in Virginia.  I will have to be careful where I put it when I plant it in the garden ... placing it in a spot where it can sucker and spread without getting out of bounds.

10 comments:

  1. That is so beautiful and what a wonderful memento of your trip to Alaska!! Amazing thorns on it!!

    hugs, Linda

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  2. The first flowers are always the most special, aren't they? The rose is lovely, and when we lived there (for 10 years) I had some pretty good success with them, I wonder now if it was this same variety--It's really lovely and I hope it continues to do well in its new home!

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  3. Hi Connie, What a delightful little rose! I don't have my first rose yet but I'm guessing it will be Perle D'Or. It's always nice to have their sweet faces return to the garden.

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  4. What a lovely flowers has this rose and so early! So special that you took it from Alaska, a rose with a story, beautiful.

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  5. The roses outside don't even have buds yet, so it is special to me to speed things up a bit with the baby greenhouse roses. It's a bit of an artificial spring in there.

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  6. How do I begin to explain just how jealous I am of you having -flowers.
    This seems to be the winter that won't end around here.
    Catherine

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  7. When I first saw this post, I was like first rose, I was instantly jealous, no flowers here on the rose bushes, they are coming out nicely, clematis are about to open. But that little guy looks so sweet, love just about everything about him except his wandering ways. That rose hip is gorgeous! So is the sweet little flower. Looking forward to seeing what he does here in Virginia.

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  8. Such a lovely flower to see..

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