Photography Workshop ... Project #2

This week, we are supposed to create environmental portraits that represent ourselves and two other people.  Time got away from me, and I didn't plan ahead at all for this project ... sorry, Carolyn. 


I almost thought I was going to have to punt this week, until I got a brainstorm.  This whole house is a giant still life that represents me ... all I had to do was find a piece of it that told my story.

Here is one corner of my office ... the room here at home that contains all of my very favorite things.  This corner has clues to all sorts of thing about me.

1.  I collect antiques.  I love this little chair.

2.  Family is very important.  The "Interwoven Socks" sign represents my husband's family in West Virginia.

3.  Flea markets and second-hand shops are the best.  This sofa was made by Harden, and it was $50 at Goodwill.

4.  I read a lot, and I try to be organized.  My office has two walls of bookshelves, 9 feet tall.  All of the books are arranged by subject ... this photo shows my Lilian Jackson Braun books on one shelf and my general gardening books on the other.  My library of rose books takes up almost an entire bookshelf on its own, on the other side of the room.

5.  I love cats.  Meow.

6.  I collect quirky things ... you can see an alabaster bust of Beethoven and a concrete frog on a sphere.  Elsewhere in the room are die-cast models of most of my cars, a whole wall of greyhound prints and memorabilia,  and assorted small wood boxes.

7.  I'm not very good at finishing things.  This house is a huge work in progress, and I tend to get pulled from project to project.  Notice the wood filler in the nail holes on the window trim.

Be sure to see what the others have created for their project this week at Camilla's blog.  BLOOM.

(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)

White Roses on Wednesday

I find that I really enjoy these 'photo only' posts.  The garden is looking pretty nice considering Thanksgiving is tomorrow ... but there are not very many star-quality, photo-worthy roses out there.  As I said last Wednesday, the white roses are the first ones to look shabby.  I'm going to have to use photos from earlier in the year from now on, I'm afraid.  Digging for them on the computer gives me a chance to relive summer for a while each week.


This week, let's concentrate on white roses with a touch of pink.

Kathleen (Hybrid Musk, 1922) grows in my front border, on a rebar tripod by the fence.  I love the simple beauty of her single flowers.  They remind me of apple blossoms.  Kathleen produces a bountiful crop of orange hips in the fall.

Mary Washington (Noisette, bef. 1891) is named for George Washington's mother.  It is a lovely smaller Noisette that produces clusters of delicate white flowers all summer. 

Mrs. Dudley Cross (Tea rose, 1908) isn't here anymore.  I am sad to say that she was a casualty of the two consecutive sub-zero nights in late January 2009 (-3 and -6!).  She was still a baby, and she was killed right to the ground.  I will take cuttings from a friend's plant, and soon she will live here again ... in a more protected spot this next time.

Madame Cornelissen (Bourbon, 1865) is a sport of Souvenir de la Malmaisson.  She is relatively compact, with pale pinkish-white flowers throughout the summer and into fall.  Like her sport parent, she has a lovely powdery fragrance.

Pink Surprise (Hybrid Bracteata, 1987) is a big girl who wants to sprawl all over her neighbors.  You should see her thorns!  In spite of what sounds like colossal drawbacks, Pink Surprise has lovely, healthy foliage, and the flowers are HUGE.  They start pale pink but quickly fade to a lovely warm white.  She never fails to get attention from visitors.

Sally Holmes (Shrub/Hybrid Musk, 1976) is another lovely pinkish-white single rose.  Clusters of delicate, pointy buds start out apricot, and open to the graceful flower you see above.  She can be a large shrub (6 feet+) or can be trained as a smaller climber.

I don't know exactly which rose this is.  I'm fairly certain that it's one of the Hybrid Musks in the Rose Field ... but I can't be sure.  Maybe it's Daphne.  Whatever it is, it's sure lovely.

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!  If you're traveling to visit family today, I wish you a safe and speedy journey.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)

The Evolution of Our Old House

I was telling my husband this morning that I will probably have more house-related blog posts as winter progresses.  I know this is primarily a garden blog, but it seems impossible (and out of perspective) to separate the progress and happenings in the garden from our renovations of this house.  In fact, there are many garden visitors that would rather sit and hear about the history of our house and all the work we done instead of talking roses.

This morning, as a point of background and introduction, I will combine all the old photos I have of this place (generously given to me by former owners and/or their relatives) with some of my favorites that I have taken.  It's been quite a metamorphosis ... and there's still a lot more to come.

This is the oldest photo we have of our house.  We are guessing that this was some time around 1930, because we know which family lived here at the time it was taken.  The sidelights and transom show their original configuration ... divided lights with wooden muntins.

This photo is later, but I'm not sure exactly how much later.  The transom and sidelights have been changed to leaded glass (as they still are today).  There's a hedge out front, and ivy is beginning to cover the facade.

This photo was taken in 1958.  The shrubs and hedge are more mature, and the ivy is beginning to take over.  The wooden front steps are now brick.  This is probably my favorite photo of the house, because it shows a sense of grace that's hard to explain.  In the future, as we put together the cosmetic portions of our restoration, I want to recapture this feeling ... minus the ivy.

There was a large addition built onto the back of our house in 1967-68.  In the process, all of the original Gothic gingerbread trim (and the dormer) were removed to simplify the house into a more Colonial style.  Notice that the window above the front porch is now a set of narrow French doors.  There are now two porch posts, instead of the original four.

It's now 1976.  The hedge has been removed, and the brick walkway is grown over.  Notice how the patch in the roof where the dormer was is peeling.

This photo was taken in the 1980's, for a real estate brochure when the house was for sale.

This is the first photo I took, as I got out of the car to take a real estate tour in July of 2002.  (I have lots of interior photos from this day, that I'll share as part of before-and-after posts of our interior renovations.  Some of them will make your hair stand on end.)  This newest hedge is Burford holly, there are foam corner brackets on the porch, and the brick walk has completely disappeared.

I saw this view of the house one afternoon in 2004, in my side-view mirror as I drove out of the driveway.  I loved how the house appears to be cradled by trees, and the picnic table added a nice element to the foreground.  You can almost see the new standing seam roof that we had installed earlier in the year.

This was our Christmas card picture from 2005.  Notice that there are 4 x 4's holding up the porch.  The porch is new, and we hadn't decided what to do about the posts.  The tapered posts seen in the earlier photos were not the originals, and they were rotten beyond saving.  We still haven't decided on the design of the replacement ... but we are definitely going with the original 4-post configuration.  I have some salvaged tapered round columns that might be super.

There is still a LOT of work left to do to make this place show well.  Up until now, we have been concerned about things like rot and roofing, and paint, and have left the fun decorative details to do later.  I hope to be able to tell about some progress on this real soon.

(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.

************************************************

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)

White Wednesday Roses

The white roses that are still blooming in the garden took quite a hit from the rain late last week from the remains of Hurricane Ida. The cool temperatures of fall always make good conditions for botrytis ... the added dampness from three straight days of rain and drizzle have caused a king-sized outbreak. Most of the lighter-colored flowers have balled and drooped. Those that can open, are covered with lovely purple fungus spots ... how attractive.


Sit back and enjoy a little White this Wednesday.

Alberic Barbier, Hybrid Wichuriana rambler, 1900. Technically, Alberic Barbier is pale yellow. I love how the flowers fade to the most beautiful creamy white as they age.

Grace Seward, Miniature rose, 2001. I love singles!! There's something unbelieveably appealing about the simple form of 5 petals and a shock of colorful stamens. Grace Seward's flowers look like pure white stars.

Snowbird, Hybrid Tea, 1936. The creamy flowers on Snowbird contrast nicely against its dark green foliage. It's a relatively early hybrid tea, that has a much softer form than the stiff, upright modern hybrid teas.

Nastarana, Hybrid Musk, 1879. There are flowers on Nastarana throughout the whole growing season. They come in clusters, and the bees LOVE them.

Dairy Maid, Floribunda, 1957. This is another rose that's (technically) pale yellow. The yellow doesn't last long, and it becomes a lovely cream color. Look at those stamens!! They look like eyelashes.

Westside Road Cream Tea, found rose. This rose was discovered by Philip Robinson in California. This is a tea rose for the smaller garden ... it's not quite 2 feet high here, in its second year in the garden. It almost died to the ground last winter, but it recovered quite nicely and is a lovely little rounded shrub.

Alba Meidiland, 1986. The American Rose Society put Alba Meidiland in the Shrub class ... which is just a way to put it somewhere because it doesn't really belong in any one class. This rose wants to hug the ground and grow like mad. This makes it good to as a ground cover, but I like it best trained to climb. I grow it on an arch in the Rose Field, and it never fails to get attention from visitors. It is one of the most vigorous, healthiest, most floriforous roses here.

Golden Ophelia, Hybrid Tea, 1918. This is another one of our 'creamy whites' for today. Golden Ophelia's yellow buds open into soft, ivory white flowers.

Aimee Vibert, Noisette, 1828. I have the climbing version of this rose. It's trained to the fence on the east side of the Rose Field. Aimee Vibert begins to bloom later in the year than most others, and it doesn't stop until late fall. It is one of the most fragrant roses I grow.

Princesse de Nassau, Noisette, 1835. I love the clusters of shaggy flowers on this rose. Right now, it's three years old and about 4 feet high ... though I expect it will get quite a bit taller as it matures. Like many of the other Noisettes, Princesse de Nassau is quite fragrant.

My final White offering for you this Wednesday is a jigsaw puzzle. (I LOVE online puzzles ... the cats can't jump onto the table and 'help'.)  To play the puzzle, click on the arrow at the bottom left corner of the puzzle. Have fun.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)