Weekend Roses and an Announcement

Weather was glorious here in Hartwood over the long Labor Day weekend. The rain and wind from Tropical Storm/Hurricane/Post-tropical Cyclone Hermine stayed to our south and east, and temperatures were in the 70s and 80s for all three days ... perfect weather to slip on garden shoes and venture into the garden with my camera.  

Sit quietly, while I will bombard you with my photos from Sunday morning.

"Ruth's Tiny Polyantha"

"Lundy's Lane Yellow"

'Country Doctor'

'Pink Princess'

'Cupid'

'Prosperity'

'Joan Taylor'

"Maggie"

"Unrootable Red China"

'Homere'

"Cato's Cluster"

'Mme. Antoine Mari'

'Rhode Island Red'

'Teasing Georgia'

Unknown Noisette

'The Squire'

"Hollywood Pink Cluster"

'Marinette'

'Emmanuel'

'Tamora'

'Belle Story'

'Dorothy Rose'

"Mableton Rouletii"

"St. Thomas China"

Unknown Floribunda

"Sumerduck Cemetery"

'Tagalong'

'Lafter'

'Patty Lou'

'Fair Molly'

'Fresh Pink'

Without too much searing heat and with adequate rain this summer, and with my renewed promise to myself to pay better attention to the fertilizer and fungicide needs of the garden, my roses look better than they probably ever have.  Even though many of them are babies, either relatively newly planted or recovering from transplanting or renewal pruning, it looks as if I may finally be on the right track with most of the garden ... fingers crossed.

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... and now for the announcement part of this post ....

Want to come see the progress for yourself and support a great cause in the process?  On Sunday, September 25, 2016, 11am - 5pm, we are hosting Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg's annual fundraiser, "Roses, Wines, and Canines" ... a day-long event with food, wine tastings with Baccus (our guest winery) and at Hartwood Winery next door, raffles and auctions, vendor market, tours of the rose garden and vineyard, and educational presentations ... on our historic property in its lovely country setting.  This is a dog-friendly event, and everyone is encouraged to bring their leashed, well-behaved canine friends.  Admission is $25 per person (children under 12 are free).  Please click HERE to register in advance, so we can plan as accurately as possible, but walk-ins are welcome.  (Just so you know, my fall schedule is completely packed, and this will be the only day this year that the garden is available for visitors.)

Blooming in the Basement ... Single Pink China

The cuttings that I took at Monticello's Tufton Farm last October are growing like crazy under their lights on the shelves in my basement workshop.  A few of the cuttings have buds, which I will leave in place so I can confirm that each plant still has its correct identity on the label.  More important than this is the joy that I get from seeing these tiny plants (ones that I started from a stick and a prayer) grow and push out buds and flowers.

The flower that opened this morning is on a plant of 'Single Pink China'.  'Single Pink China' is a very rare rose, thought to be a sport of 'Old Blush'.  The plants themselves are very much alike in the garden ... but 'Old Blush' has semi-double flowers and flowers on 'Single Pink China' have a single row of five petals.  As far as I know, there is no nursery in the US that sells this rose.

Five delicate petals on this flower, with a couple of quirky petaloids that many single-flowered roses have.  I could have groomed those out, but I didn't

It's still too early for me to begin the process of hardening these babies off to life on the outside, as they are only accustomed to my cool basement (around 55 degrees most of the time).  To be honest, I probably could start the in-and-out cycle of taking the pots outside during the day, then bringing them back inside at night, but I don't want to risk forgetting about them outside one evening while nights are still getting to or below freezing.    

My main mission with propagating these rare roses is to distribute them to gardens in other places to help insure that they don't disappear.  With this in mind, eight varieties of these roses in the basement (this one included) will be securely packaged and winging their way to a friend later today.

Bon Voyage, little rose!

Foggy Flowers on Friday, and an Invitation

It's raining today.  It also rained yesterday ... and the day before.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow, too.  I'm okay with it, because the roses love the rain (and saturated soil will make for easier weed pulling next week.)

Before the rain started on Wednesday, Ruby and I went for a walk through the garden to see what was blooming.  It was overcast and a bit foggy, and I am really pleased with what this did for my photos.  I hope you like them, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention here that I am having a pot luck Garden Social next Saturday, October 19th, from 2:00 to 5:00.  I am excited to show everyone the improvements in the garden (fewer weeds, more roses, and my new garden along the fence behind the greenhouse.)  If you would like to come, please send me an email so I know ahead of time who's going to be here.  Plan to bring a dish to share, and a rose (or other plant) to trade.  (It's okay if you don't have anything to trade ... there will certainly be enough extra plants so no one goes home empty handed.)

I love a good garden party!!  I hope you can come.

Aunt Vicki's Rose

I'm home now ... flew in late last night from my whirlwind trip to Florida for my uncle's funeral.  (Thank you SO much for all the kind comments and messages.)

On Thursday, after Uncle Jack's funeral, we all went back to the house he shared with my Aunt Vicki, to eat and spend time with family and friends.  As I was walking up to the house, I saw a rose growing beside the garage.  It was a tall, red China rose with spotless foliage.

I asked Aunt Vicki about it, and she said, "That was my mother's rose.  I dug it up and moved it here after she passed away."

"Do you know the name of it?" I asked.

"No, I don't."

"Would you like me to tell you?"

"You know what it is??" she asked, excitedly.

"I do.  I'm pretty sure that it's 'Louis Philippe'."

You will not be surprised to when I tell you that I brought three cuttings of Aunt Vicki's rose home with me in my carry-on bag.  They are now planted in a milk jug, covered with the top of a soda bottle, and are sitting in the north-facing window of my basement workshop ... where I hope at least one of them will root and grow into a new plant for MY garden.

Rockin' the Red (Roses) in Hollywood Cemetery

In yesterday's post with photos of monuments and sculptures in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery, I promised to be back today with photos of the roses.  As I sat here on the couch yesterday afternoon with my laptop, and a cat, I realized as I was formatting photos that I have THREE posts worth of rose photos to share. 

Today's subject is .... RED.

This is a China rose, in the Dorsey/Cosby plot overlooking the James River.  I'm fairly certain that it is 'Louis Philippe'.

This bush is taller than I am ... and look how many flowers are on it!!

Here is 'Louis Philippe', marked with a tag, in another part of the cemetery.

This is what the whole bush looked like this week.

and this is the same bush, three years ago, after it was blown over in a storm.

'Mrs. B. R. Cant' is one of my very favorite Tea roses.  She is not fussy, loves hot weather, and she blooms her butt off in the cemetery, and in my garden, from spring until late fall. 

Technically, this rose isn't red ... but I put it here anyway, because dark pink is almost red.

(Besides, this is my blog and I can do whatever I like.)

This bush is beside President Monroe's grave in President's Circle (President Tyler is there, too.)  You can see the tag that the cemetery puts beside some of their roses.  Most of the roses, however, are unmarked.

There is an Old Blush also in President's Circle.  It was full of hips, and I pinched a few to see what the seeds will do.  (If you missed the post about my winter project of growing roses from seeds, click HERE to go to the post where I show you how to get started.)

This red China rose is in one of the Williams plots.  I don't know which rose it is, but it was incredibly photogenic ... soft, cloudy light is PERFECT for photographing red flowers.

This was probably my favorite shot of the whole day!

Do you see how many buds are still on this rose??

I'm fairly certain that this large bush is 'Radiance'.

The rounded flower form and darker petal reverse is a classic characteristic of 'Radiance'.

I'll finish today's ode to RED with a China rose whose flowers start pink and age to a beautiful red.  This rose is in the Reuter plot, and I'm fairly certain that it is 'Archduke Charles'.  Whatever it is, it loves where it lives and it was a beacon in the landscape.

Wait, maybe THIS one was my favorite photo.

Today's lesson is this:  if you want to get the best photographs of RED flowers, wait for a day with bright, high overcast skies.  Now get out there with your camera and see what you can do.

The title of today's post is a reference to the fact that it is now my favorite time of year ... HOCKEY SEASON!!!  It is tradition for Washington Capitals fans to wear red to home games  ... which is referred to as (you guessed it)  Rockin' the Red!  So far, my Capitals are 2 - 0 (having beaten Carolina and Tampa), and we are playing the Penguins, in Pittsburgh, this evening. 

LET'S GO CAPS!!