Flowers on Friday ... Think Pink!

This week's edition of Friday Flowers features some roses from the nursery in a lovely shade of PINK.  Most of these photos were taken this past spring.  With the heat and drought we have had for the past few weeks, the flowers in the garden now are a bit small, and the bushes themselves are a little threadbare ... and it's been too hot for this photographer to spend much time outside.

Albertine

Rambler, introduced in 1921

If you've read this blog for any time at all, you know how much I love growing ramblers!  They are easy care roses, that cover a lot of territory in a short amount of time ... and they produce a profusion of flowers in the spring that is without equal.  Did I mention the fragrance?

"Cato's Cluster"

Noisette, found rose

Found roses are another category that is very dear to me.  There's something romantic and thrilling about a unknown, beautiful rose discovered abandoned and neglected.  These survivor roses are a joy to have in the garden.

"Grandmother's Hat"

Hybrid Perpetual, found rose

This is another found rose that does well here.  When these roses are collected, they are given a study name to be used until the true identity is discovered.  Sometimes (as with this rose) no match can be found among known roses, so the study name sticks. 

"Natchitoches Noisette"

Noisette, found rose

This is the last of our found roses for this morning.  I love the shading and veins in the flowers of "Natchitoches Noisette"!  It usually send up shoots with loose clusters of these distinctive flowers.

Cornelia

Hybrid Musk, introduced in 1925

Cornelia is a well-mannered smaller climber, with fragrant, soft pink flowers, and few thorns.  This photo shows that Cornelia is lovely, even laying on the ground after a storm.

Jeanne Lajoie

Climbing Miniature, introduced in 1976

I love this rose!!  In spring, it is completely covered with clusters of these perfect petite pink flowers, and it continues to bloom off and on throughout the summer.  Mine grows free-standing beside the fence, and it has formed a graceful, arching shrub about 6 feet high. 

Here is a photo of what Jeanne Lajoie looked like this spring while we were replacing the boards on our fence.

Paul Transon

Rambler, introduced in 1900

This is another great rambler!  (I may be a bit biased, because I think they're ALL great.)  Paul Transon's canes are very flexible, making him particularly easy to train along a fence.  Remember, the more horizontal the canes, the more flowers they produce.

New Dawn

Climber, introduced in 1930

New Dawn is one of the most popular roses in history ... a distinction that it very much deserves.  If you have room in your garden for a disease-resistant climber, that blooms all the time, with fragrant flowers, New Dawn is a rose you should consider. 

Pink Gruss an Aachen

Floribunda, introduced in 1929

Pink Gruss, as I call her for short, is a lovely, rounded, short-ish shrub that looks good in the landscape ... with glossy, dark green leaves and clusters of these distinctive pink flowers.  They almost remind me of a combination of rose, a dahlia, and a camellia. 

Marchesa Boccella

Hybrid Perpetual, introduced in 1842

Marchesa Boccella (also known as Jacques Cartier) has it all!  Compact size?  Check.  Fabulous flowers?  Check.  Fragrance?  Double Check!

All of the roses you see here this morning are available in the nursery, for you to add to your own garden if you want.

I rarely mention nursery sales here, because I try as hard as I can to keep my blog and my business somewhat separate.  (I REALLY don't want you to come here and feel like I'm trying to sell you something ... that's a pretty serious turn-off.)  Right now, though, sales here are really slow ... as they are with everything, I know.  Most of us have limited resources, and roses are not really considered a necessary purchase.  While my own roses in the garden are struggling in the heat, the potted roses for sale in the nursery look amazing.  I work hard to make sure that they are healthy, and that they look their best to go to their new homes. 

Please take a minute to visit a couple of friends of mine.  Kat from Low Tide High Style is caring for an elderly dear friend, and Di, our favorite Blue Ridge Gal, said goodbye yesterday to her beloved Rottweiler, Missy.  Each of these lovely ladies could use a little bit of company and encouragement.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

My Favorite Rose Today ... Schoener's Nutkana

The roses in the garden are beginning to bloom fast and furious.  Every day, there's more and more flowers ... it's so exciting!

This is Schoener's Nutkana.  I look forward to it every spring, and it never disappoints.

I got this rose three years ago by mistake.  I had ordered a rare hybrid tea called Schultheis' American Beauty.  The tag on the rose I received was the one I ordered, so I had no reason to suspect that there was a mistake.

Then it bloomed, and I knew this was not the rose I ordered.  It's a large arching shrub, and every spring it is completely covered with huge, gorgeous, dark pink flowers.  Look at those stamens!!

These flowers are a full 4 inches across!  Look how many of them there are on the bush ... and it's just getting started.

By the end of the week, it will be completely covered.

Look at the stem ... it's almost completely thornless.  Schoener's Nutkana's one weakness is that it can be somewhat susceptible to blackspot.  This is easily controlled with fungicide.

I was having fun this evening, playing with backlighting.  The petals are delicate, and they glowed in the light of the setting sun.

After it finishes blooming, Schoener's Nutkana must move.  Since it isn't the hybrid tea I expected it to be, I cannot leave it where it is sprawling all over its neighbors.  I have a perfect new spot, a little behind where it is now, in a bed with two lilac bushes. 

This rose needs room to be able to spread its graceful branches.  I have been told that I can expect it to reach 6 feet high and 8 or more feet wide ... I can't wait!

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Let me take a minute to thank everyone who left comments here or sent emails expressing sympathy about our water-damaged ceiling.  Grandson's ceiling is the only damage (thank goodness)  Our floors and our furniture are fine.  The air conditioning repair-guy was here this afternoon.  He repaired the unit, and things should be working well from now on. Once things dry completely, I'll repair the ceiling and you'll never know there was ever a problem.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)

Flowers on Friday

The is weather gray here again today ... but we had a lovely, sunny day yesterday.  I worked in the greenhouse for a while, tending all the cuttings that will be next year's roses.  Most of them are coming along quite nicely.

For our Friday Flowers this week, let's continue our once-blooming theme that I started last week ... this time with some Old Garden Roses of European origin.

Apothecary Rose (Rosa gallica officianalis) is thought to be one of the oldest roses still in cultivation.  There are references to is dating as far back as the Middle Ages.

Rosa Mundi is a striped sport of Apothecary's Rose.  I think it's the standard against which all striped roses should be measured ... it's THAT good.

Charles de Mills (Gallica) is one of the best Old Garden Roses in the garden.  It is thought to date from before 1811.

Henri Martin (Moss)

Many people immediately dismiss these roses because they only bloom once a year.  I find this a bit puzzling, since we all readily plant azaleas, lilacs, forsythia, and other once-blooming shrubs. 

"Old Homestead" is a found Hybrid China rose.

Shailer's Provence, Hybrid China, 1799, is one of favorite roses ... I know, I say that all the time.  I mean it with this one, tho.  It begins blooming earlier than most of the other roses in the garden, and it's one of the last Old Garden Roses to finish.   It has a special place in my heart because it is one of the first roses I successfully rustled from a old house/construction site. 

The Bishop.  There are several roses in commerce called "The Bishop".  I grow three of them.  This one came from Vintage Gardens in 2007.  I have another one that was given to me by my friend Robert, and one that was discovered by Leonie Bell in Maryland (or was it Pennsylvania?)

Autumn Damask is the ancient, reblooming rose known in Europe and the Middle East in Roman times.  It blooms well in the spring and can have a modest rebloom in come climates in the fall.  Autumn Damask doesn't have the graceful shape of most of the other Old Garden Roses here ... I grow it mostly for its historical significance.

Bella Donna is another ancient rose.  It has been cultivated as a valuable source of Attar of Roses, which is used to make rose water.

I call this rose the Hazen Plot, because that's where the mother plant grows.  It's a modest-sized shrub that blooms profusely in the spring and sets a nice crop of hips in the fall.

I'll finish with a rose that never fails to make me smile ...

Banshee.  This rose is found in cemeteries and old home sites throughout North America, especially in the colder regions.  It is exceptionally cold hardy, and has survived without care in many locations.  We don't know the true identity of Banshee ... but it's widespread enough to have been a fairly popular rose in commerce in its day, and it appears to have been carried with settlers as they traveled across the continent.  When Banshee is happy, which is most of the time, it will sucker into a lovely thicket.  I use these suckers as gifts for rose friends ... which is how I got my first Banshee.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)

Flowers on Friday ... Wichuriana Ramblers.

Today is the anniversary of my very first blog post!  Those first few attempts were pretty awkward, but things got better and more interesting (I think) as I went along.  I was a cautious blogger back then ...  not sure what I had to say.  I have come to really enjoy my time here, and I look forward to sharing all sorts of things.  I think I've come out of my shell.

It's Friday ("Black Friday", as a matter of fact), so it's time for my Friday Flowers feature.  I want to celebrate my blog's anniversary by featuring my favorite class of roses ... the wichuriana RAMBLERS. 

Alberic Barbier:  Introduced in 1900 ... R. wichuriana X Shirley Hibberd (a yellow Tea)

Rosa wichuriana is a species rose native to Japan that has vigorous, lax growth and shiny, disease-resistant foliage ... but it has small, white, some-say-boring flowers.  It was brought to the US and Europe in the late 1800's.  Some rose hybridizers crossed R. wichuriana with Tea and Hybrid Tea roses to create the ramblers known today as Hybrid Wichurianas.  (The spelling of 'wichuriana' has evolved ... you may also see it spelled 'wichurana' or 'wichuraiana')

Auguste Gervais:  Introduced in 1916 ... R. wichuriana X Le Progress (medium yellow Hybrid Tea)

Aviateur Bleriot:  Introduced in 1910 ... R. wichuriana X William Allen Richardson (a yellow-blend Tea Noisette)

Rosa wichuriana contributed its ground-hugging, flexible, climbing growth habit and its shiny foliage to its descendants. The Tea and Hybrid Tea parents produced the lovely colors and form of the flowers.

Edmond Proust:  Introduced in 1903 ... R. wichuriana X Souvenir de Catherine Guillot (a red blend China/Tea rose)

Francois Juranville:  Introduced in 1906 ... R. wichuriana X Madame Laurette Messimy (deep pink China/Tea)

These roses are best with a firm structure to climb and room to grow.  Once established, they can easily grow 12 feet in a season.  Most of my ramblers are planted along a 4-board pasture fence, on 24-foot centers.  Their flexible canes make handling and training them a fairly straight-forward process .. despite their size.

Leontine Gervais:  Introduced in 1903 ... R. wichuriana X Souvenir de Catherine Guillot.

Leontine Gervais, in full bloom on my Rambler Fence.

Wichuriana ramblers bloom once a year ... beginning in late May and continuing into mid-June here in Virginia.  After they're finished blooming, their foliage is a great green background for the rest of the garden.

Henri Barruet:  Introduced in 1918, parentage unknown.  This one tends to have a modest rebloom in late summer.

Jean Guichard:  Introduced in 1905 ... R. wichuriana X Souvenir de Catherine Guillot.

Rene Andre:  Introduced in 1901 ... R. wichuriana X L'Ideal (red blend Tea Noisette)

One of the features of Ramblers that makes them unique is the fact that they are constantly growing new canes from their base (called "basal breaks" or just "basals")  These new canes that grow each summer will be the ones that produce flowers the following year.

To keep these ramblers tidy and under some sort of control, I remove about half of the older canes during my winter garden clean up.  I untie the canes from the fence, cut out the older canes right at the ground, untangle the remaining canes, and reattach them to the fence.  This job is a good one to do on a nice winter day, because the rose will be leafless and it's easier to see the what you're doing.

This is the south-facing, back side of my Rambler Fence.  Many of the roses grew through the fence, seeking the southern sun, and created quite a show on my neighbor's side.

I attach my ramblers to wire that I stapled between the boards of the fence ... if you look carefully, you can almost see one piece of it in the lower left corner of the photo above.  The roses here are Alberic Barbier, Francois Juranville, and Aviateur Bleriot. 

This last group of photos was taken in my friend Robert's garden.  He trains most of his ramblers onto arches over a path around his pond, which creates a lovely rose tunnel.

Gardenia:  Introduced in 1898 ... R. wichuriana X Perle des Jardin (light yellow Tea rose)

Gardenia on an arch.

Paul Transon:  Introduced in 1900 ... R. wichuriana X L'Ideal

Paul Transon on an arch.

It's easy to see, looking at the photo of Paul Transon above, why I love these roses as much as I do.  How could you NOT love a rose that can produce this many flowers? 

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)

Photography Workshop Assignment #1 ... a Colorful Quilt

I'm a gardener, but I'm also a frustrated quilter-wanna-be ... so the first assignment for the photography workshop at Bloom Fine Art and Rose Notes caught my eye and spurred my imagination.  We were asked to create a photo quilt, concentrating on color. 

My favorite color right now is pink.  Most old roses are some shade of pink, and pink can help keep the winter blues away.  Even though it's not winter here yet, I know it's coming.  (cue the music from "Jaws") 

My 'quilt' is a light and dark 9-patch design.

I downloaded Picassa 3, as was suggested, so I could make my quilt grid.  The prospect of learning a new program with a project deadline looming was more than I could do this week, so I used trusty (and familiar) PhotoShop. 

The roses in my quilt, left to right, are:  Row 1:  Maggie, Souvenir de la Malmaisson, Madame Isaac Pereire.  Row 2:  Romaggi Plot Bourbon, Gloire des Rosomanes, Natchitoches Noisette.  Row 3:  Charles de Mills, New Dawn, and Paul Neyron.

I'm not exactly sure how to find all the other participants in this workshop to see their quilts, but many of them have left comments at the bottom of THIS post at Bloom Fine Art.  I'll wait till later today and see how many projects I can find posted on the various blogs.  As I find them, I'll post links here at the bottom of this post.

Find details for the project for this week, due next Saturday, at Carolyn's Rose Notes HERE.

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Edited to add ... here are some links to other photo quilts.  Who have I missed?

Florali

Farmama

Bloom Fine Art

Neuroknitter

Patricia

Anmarie

Earth Mama

Sarah / Bee House Hives

Filamental

Under the BIG Blue Sky

Rose Notes

Mackville Road

Give a Girl a Fig

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)

Flowers on Friday

I haven't worked in the garden at all this week.  Last week's rain left the ground too soggy to plant anything, and I didn't feel like weeding or mulching ... both of which desperately need to be done, BTW.  A garden club friend yesterday asked me, "Are you ready for winter?"  Not on your life, was my answer.  He smiled.


So, I spent a couple of days planting the last of my cuttings and putting them on the propagation table in the greenhouse to (hopefully) grow roots and become new roses.  These cuttings are my final push to balance the selection of roses for next year.  We'll see how well they root and if I succeed in having a well-rounded inventory of roses among the various classes.


For this week's Friday Flowers I'll show you some of the roses that you can expect to find here for sale next year, concentrating on the pink ones.  (We'll do another color next week.)  Enjoy!

Union Redwood Cemetery, Hybrid Perpetual, found rose.  This rose was discovered in California, in Union Redwood Cemetery (need I say 'duh'?).  It is one of the most floriforous hybrid perpetual in my collection.  Most HPs bloom beautifully for their first flush in the spring, take the summer off, and produce a flower or two in the fall.  Union Redwood had at least one flower on it for most of the summer, and produced a modest flush of bloom in October ... and, like most HPs, it's fragrant.

La Marne, Polyantha, 1915.  I showed you a full-bush photo of La Marne in this post about roses in full bloom in October.  From the time La Marne started blooming in May, until today, there has never been a time that it is without flowers.  Never.

 

New Dawn, Climber, 1930.  What can I say about New Dawn that hasn't already been said over and over.  It's a great climbing rose with well-deserved popularity ... and it's the parent of a whole race of other great climbers. 

Pink Gruss an Aachen, Polyantha, 1929.  Pink Gruss, like its paler-colored sport parent Gruss an Aachen, makes a tidy, rounded shrub, with large, shiny, dark green leaves ... covered with flowers in the spring and throughout the summer into fall.  It attracts a LOT of attention from visitors, because the flowers resemble peonies.

(For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a 'sport' is a mutation that causes a portion of a plant to look or behave differently from the rest of the plant.)

 

Albertine, Hybrid Wichuriana rambler, 1921.  Albertine lives on my rambler fence, and she's wonderful.  She's not as stringy and flexible as some of the ramblers I grow, and I find that it's best to train her into a fan shape because her canes are so stiff.  This little bit of effort rewards me with masses of flowers in May and June.

Baltimore Belle (pink version), Hybrid Setigera rambler, 1843.  Baltimore Belle is said to have pink buds that open to a creamy, pink-white.  The flowers on my version which came from the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, stay pink.  We have agreement among some rose experts I know (that stood and stared and discussed this rose here last summer) that the rose in my garden is probably not the original Baltimore Belle ... it appears to be identical to another rose I grow here called "Arcata Pink Globe" (a mystery rose discovered in California).  Regardless of its ultimate ID, this rambler is one of the healthiest, showiest ones I have here.  I grow it in the corner of the Rose Field fence, so I can spread its canes out in three directions.

Felicia, Hybrid Musk, 1928.  Felicia grows to form a tall, upright shrub that can easily reach 8 feet tall.  This is good, because her clusters of flowers tend to nod downward gracefully.  I use Felicia whenever I need an example of an extremely fragrant rose.

Jean Bach Sisley, China rose, 1898.  I think there has to be some tea rose in Jean Bach Sisley, because her lovely buds open to graceful, tea-shaped flowers.  She has the twiggy structure of a China, however, and she holds her flowers in clusters above the main structure of the bush.  Her new growth is red-purple, like both Teas and Chinas, and she will eventually build into a fairly large shrub.

Lady of the Dawn, Floribunda, 1984.  I had never heard of this rose before I bought it.  I thought the name was appropriate for me, because I'm such an early riser.  I love the semi-double flowers with their yellow stamens.  Other people must like this rose, too, because there were quite a few of them exhibited in the Floribunda class at the District rose show in September.

La France, Hybrid Tea, 1867.  No collection of antique Hybrid Tea roses would be complete without the rose that is considered to be the first member of that class.  La France is planted front and center in Hybrid Tea bed in front of the house, and she performs well enough for me to deserve this prime location.

Mlle. Augustine Guinoisseau, Hybrid Tea, 1899 ... also known as 'White La France'.  Mlle. Augustine has all the characteristics of La France, her sport parent, with pale silvery-pink flowers.

Sarah Van Fleet, Hybrid Rugosa, 1926.  I'll finish my show and tell this Friday with a rose from one of my favorite hybridizers, Dr. Walter Van Fleet.  I could go on and on about why I admire this man and the roses he created (I'm trying to get my hands on every one of them, if I can.)  This rose is named for his wife, Sarah, and it deserves the honor.

This Friday is sunny and mild here, and I am going to work outside for a while.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)