Friday, September 16, 2016

Little Rose in a Downtown Cemetery

Last summer, while I was spending a summer afternoon lunching and cemetery exploring with my friend Sharon, I found a small rose that I had never noticed.  I took a couple of lousy photos of it with my old iPhone 4, to remind myself to come back another day to look at it more closely, and we moved on.





A few days later, I returned with my pruners and other supplies ... to tidy up the bush and snip a few small cuttings.  One of the cuttings rooted, and the resulting plant now lives in the rose garden in our front yard.



Which rose is this?  My own plant is still too small and immature to make an accurate assessment, so I made a visit to the cemetery plant last week to see what I could figure it out.  





I was thrilled to see that the plant was much larger and healthier than when I first saw it in 2015 ... about four feet high and three feet wide, in contrast to last summer's just-over-one-foot-high size.





I think I figured out its identity.  I believe that it may be 'Clotilde Soupert'.





Bush is thick, with rounded, disease-resistant foliage.  It has very few thorns.  Flowers open pink with a darker pink center, and quickly fade almost to white.  Spent flowers turn brown and hang on the plant for a long time.  All of this definitely suggests 'Clotilde Soupert' or another rose like her.  

Do you rose people agree?

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When I opened Blogger to write this post, I noticed that it is post #1200.  Dang!  Hard to wrap my head around the fact that I have had 1200 separate things to say here since November 2008. 

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful heirloom roses, those are! I too like to give 'orphan' plants a helping hand whenever I can. Over the Winter I tackled a patch of neglected agave by the side of a local church that had been overlooked by the local council for years. It felt quite satisfying to clear the entangled dead leaves and restore a little shape and grace to the spiky bunch!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I know the feeling. A little trim and some attention is all some of these plants need. If a few of the trimmings end up in my bag, and happen to grow roots, it's good to have a back-up copy if it's needed. :)

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  2. Congratulations Conny, 1200 little stories which is a thick book full written. That rose you found on the cemetry is a beautiful one, even her name sounds pretty, but I never heard before of ´Clotilde Soupert´.

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    Replies
    1. Each post IS a little story, with beginning, middle, and end. I have always hoped that everyone who reads this enjoys it.

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  3. 1200 posts! Holy smokes, I'm embarrassed by my unproductivity. lol

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  4. Pretty rose. 1200 posts, wow, mine hangs at 285 and hasn't moved in over a year.

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    Replies
    1. I'm only updating every week or so, when I feel the urge and have something to say. It's just not been your thing, that's all.

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  5. What a lovely rose and now you have a rooted bit growing in your own gardens.

    We both started blogging the same year, I'm just at 1117 posts. I am so happy to have found your blog, and it is filled with so much info and beautiful photos of my favorite flower.

    Have a lovely weekend ~ FlowerLady

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    Replies
    1. It always makes me feel good to know that a rose out there in a cemetery, like this one, has a bit of an insurance policy growing in my garden.

      I am happy to have found you, too.

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  6. Oh I do like that rose!
    Very pretty.
    Wow 1200! Congrats!
    xoxo

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    Replies
    1. The rose in the cemetery was very healthy and vigorous. It's a lovely thing.

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  7. I thought that rose looked familiar. I have one, from the Antique Rose Emporium. Very sturdy and attractive.

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    Replies
    1. Glad to hear that it looks familiar to you. I grew 'Clotilde Soupert' for a while, in a less than ideal spot, and it never did much. It was puny, and the flowers balled, and I shovel pruned it. This latest plant is in a better spot, and I expect that it will do much better there.

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    2. Mine is in zone 6, full sun, I throw fertilizer around it about once a year, water maybe once a month or two, that's it.

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