Flowers on Friday -- Hollywood Cemetery

We have had more rain than usual this summer, which is fueling unprecedented summer grass and weed growth.  The crew at Hollywood Cemetery have all they can do to keep up with the grass at the cemetery, and the rest of the landscaping has had to take a back seat to mowing ... sounds like what's happened here, too.  Our summers are usually hot and dry, and grass goes dormant, so there is ample time to do summer clean up on trees and shrubs and roses.  Not this summer.

It had been six weeks since I visited Hollywood Cemetery to check on the roses there.  We got the roses there off to a good start this year during our Volunteer Rose Day in March, and my own garden has needed as much of my attention as I can give it right now.  Yesterday seemed like a good day to hop into the Jeep and take a drive to Hollywood.

My first stop is always the Musk Rose in the Crenshaw plot.  Summer is this rose's best season (as it begins to bloom later than most other roses, and it does well in our hot weather.).  The sweet fragrance of this rose met me on the breeze even before I entered the fenced plot where it is planted.

 

 

 

 

It is not unusual for large, older examples of the Musk Rose like this one to have a few canes that revert to the original form of the species and begin to produce single flowers (flowers with only one row of petals).  This is a charming feature of the Crenshaw rose, and we are always very careful to remove as few canes as possible when pruning ... so we don't accidently remove the single-flowering ones.

 

 

See the single flowers on the left center of this photo?

 

I visited about forty of the 130+ roses at the cemetery yesterday, to check their condition, how well they are doing after their spring pruning, and making note of anything that may need attention right now.  One rose that needed some immediate help was the 'Duchesse de Brabant' on the Armistead plot.  I found that it was almost completely covered by a rogue wild grape vine.

 

All it took was a quick word with Donald, the grounds supervisor, and the problem was corrected right then.  Donald stopped what he was doing and went right over to take care of it.  He cut the vine off at the ground, pulled it off the rose, and made note to have a member of his crew dig the rest of the vine out of the ground as soon as he could.  The rose is pretty sad looking right now, but it will recover fairly quickly.

I'm pretty sure that the rose on the Bland plot is 'Carefree Beauty'. 

The red China rose on the Dorsey-Cosby plot was hugely overgrown before volunteers worked on it in March.  To my eye, it is still way too tangled with old, unproductive growth and needs some more work.  Yesterday wasn't the day for this, so I made a note, took some photos, and moved on.

Our rainy spring and summer have not been kind to the China roses, which are struggling to keep their leaves in the wet conditions.

 

 

 

 

There were some roses of note in the far sections of the cemetery, over toward Jefferson Davis's grave.  The Lyons plot has two nice roses on it ... probably 'Champneys' Pink Cluster'.

Near the Lyons roses, there is a pink rose that was just starting a new cycle of bloom.  It looks a lot like "Natchitoches Noisette" to me, but I can't say for sure at this point.

It's not all good news today, I'm sorry to say.  Among the roses I visited, I found three with Rose Rosette Disease.  I told Donald about them, and he assured me that they would be removed either today or tomorrow.  As far as I know, none of these three are significant or rare ... I guess this is something to be thankful for.

Barnhart plot, Section K

 

Branford plot, Section D

 

Tompkins plot, Section D

Whenever I'm at Hollywood, I don't usually spend any time in the newer section of the cemetery.  I did yesterday, though, because I wanted to get some photos of the roses on the newer graves for the program about Hollywood and it's roses that I am working on for a conference in November.  The roses in this section are mostly Knock Out, which is appropriate for new graves I guess.  Yesterday, I saw a statue that I had never noticed before ... a sweet life-size concrete dog, wearing a collar with what I assume is his mama's inscription.  So touching.

 

 

By the time I finished for the day, I was tired and sweaty and slightly sunburned where I forgot to apply sunblock.  It was a good day, and I got a lot done ... it's always a good day when I'm at Hollywood!

A Few Things That Caught My Eye

Hollywood Cemetery stuff again.  This project has become pretty all-consuming, as we are less than two weeks away from our big volunteer Rose Work Day.  Monday's weather was beautiful ... perfect for spending the afternoon with Donald (the grounds foreman), whizzing along in his Gator, locating, photographing, and evaluating the remaining roses on our list. 

Whenever I'm at Hollywood, I find sculpture and monuments there that are totally amazing.  It's hard, sometimes, to keep my concentration on the job at hand ... it's so easy to get distracted by all the beauty in the stones and statues around us.

I had to stand on a wall to get this shot.  Such high relief, with the cross on the top of this crypt and the roses strewn about, as if scattered by a loved one.

 

 

The wear and patina on this monument, with the roses tucked into the rolls of the scroll, was amazing in person.

 

 

This is the top of a tall monument.  Look at the detail and delicacy of the tassel on the left.  I'm not surprised that the two on the right are damaged, and am completely amazed that the one has survived for over a hundred years.

 

 

Look carefully at this bouquet, and imagine the skill that was necessary to carve it ... unbelievable 3D high relief, with roses, Lily of the Valley, ferns, Morning Glories, lilies, delicate stems, and a ribbon tying it all together!

 

 

I have photographed this little dove dozens of times.  There's just something about the simplicity of it, combined with the weathering and patina, that draws me in every time I see it.  It is in the Crenshaw plot ... a plot I visit almost every time I go to Hollywood.

 

 

 

For the rose history lovers among you, here are some images of the famous Musk rose.  This rose was thought to be extinct, until this specimen was discovered in the 1980s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rose is a treasure, and it needs a good bit of TLC to get it into shape.  The crown is a tangle of old, dead, and crossing canes, and the base is a mess.

 

 

 

 

 

On Rose Day, I will put one of my very best, most experienced volunteers to work on this.  It will be time consuming, but very rewarding to see a treasure like this put into shape to grow and bloom and thrive.

 

Speaking of Rose Day ... there's only 10 days to go!  I'm so excited to be doing this!!!

 

There's still time to volunteer to help, if you're interested.  (hint, hint)