Sunday Snapshot ... A New Seedling

Yesterday morning, while I was working in the Miniature Garden, I discovered a tiny seedling that had sprouted underneath one of the roses.  This whole plant is only three inches high, and that fat bud is the size of a pea.

Today after breakfast, I grabbed my camera and ran outside to see if the bud had opened ... I was not disappointed.  Look at this!

This tiny flower is only one-half-inch in diameter, and it's far from perfect, but it's one of the sweetest things that I have seen in a LONG time.  Yellow petals, with that fat orange edge, and a frosty white tip ... and it's a SINGLE!!  

The seedling grew underneath 'Simplex', so I will assume that it is the seed parent.  The pointy petals seem similar.

Which rose provided the pollen?  The only orange rose nearby is 'Orange Honey'  It has orange and yellow in the petals, so I think it's a good guess.

For now, I'm going to leave the seedling to grow right where it is.  I put a metal tag stand over it to protect it and to remind me that it's there.  It's going to be exciting to see how this little baby changes as it matures.

Speaking of babies ... do you remember the seedling that I found last year growing underneath 'Lilian Austin'?

This year, it has been in bloom continuously since the first flower opened in the middle of last month.  The flowers are three inches in diameter, the color glows as if they were lit from within, and they are fragrant!

Even with a year of growth and maturity so far, this plant is still small and immature (it's about a foot and a half high and it sprawls).  That's okay for now.  Watching seedlings like this grow and change as they get older is best part of raising them.

Happy Sunday, Everybody!

Sunday Snapshot ... Name That Rose

When I published last week's post about the lovely new seedling that I found in my English Garden, Nana Diana told me that I should have a blog contest to choose a name.  What a fantastic idea!

She gets more readers and comments than I do, so I asked jokingly told her that she should do that post instead of me ... and she agreed.  Her "Name That Rose" post, written in perfect Nana Diana style, is HERE.  The readers who commented offered some very imaginative names for consideration.

I have a couple of favorites among the suggestions, but I'm not going to tell you what they are.  I will let you decide that for yourself.  Run over to Diana's blog, and see what her readers said.  If you are so inclined, feel free to leave a comment here or there with your own idea for a name.

This is all I have time for today.  Open Garden starts in two hours, and I still have a couple of things that I have to do before visitors arrive.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!!

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Sunday Snapshots are posts that are devoted to a moment in time that represents a slice of life in Hartwood, or wherever else I happen to be at the time.

A Chance Seedling

Last Thursday, I was pulling weeds in the English Garden.  While working near 'Lilian Austin', I found a tiny rose.  At first, I thought that it was a sucker (since that's what these things almost always turn out to be.)  In this case, it was a seedling ... a distinctly different little rose, probably resulting from a seed in a rose hip that fell underneath the mama plant last fall ... and Seedling had a bud on it that was almost ready to open.

Just like any sort of offspring, plant seedlings are a combination of the genetics of each of their parents.  Considering the color of that bud, there is no doubt that one of Seedling's parents (the seed parent, most certainly, based on where it's growing) was 'Lilian Austin'.  The other parent has to be one of the Noisette roses in that garden, judging from the shape of the bud and the receptacle (that's the bulby part of the bud at the top of the stem).

Seedling's slim, coppery pink bud and round receptacle.

Fat, round buds on 'Lilian Austin'

Slim buds on "Frazer's Pink Musk", which grows immediately beside 'Lilian Austin'

The leaves on Seedling resemble its mama's rounded leaves.

Seedling's leaves

'Lilian Austin' leaf

"Frazer's Pink Musk" leaf

From the time I found Seedling on Thursday morning, I kept a very close eye on it ... checking on it multiple times per day and anxiously waiting for that bud to open.  

Thursday afternoon ... nothing.

Friday, morning and afternoon ... nothing

Saturday ... nothing

Sunday morning .... Eureka!!!

See it down there?

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the newest unnamed member of the Hartwood Roses family.  It has the same coppery pink color as its mama, with a respectable set of stamens that makes my little rose-loving heart go pitter patter.

Finding this tiny plant makes me feel as if I've been given a wonderful surprise gift.  There's more to come soon, because it has already started to produce another branch.  I can't wait to see what it looks like and how it behaves as it matures.

For right now, I will leave this seedling in place underneath its mama.  Soon, though, I will carefully dig it up and give it a place in the garden to call its own.