Pages

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

White Roses on Wednesday

It's Wednesday, and the weather is gray and chilly here in Hartwood.  Let's brighten things up a bit with some white roses from the garden this summer.



Darlow's Enigma is an unknown rose, possibly a Hybrid Musk, discovered in Eugene, Oregon, by Mike Darlow.  It is very fragrant.





Mary Lovett is one of the Hybrid Wichuriana ramblers bred by Walter Van Fleet in 1915, and named for three Lovett sisters.  Mary, and her sister rose Alida, grow here on my Van Fleet fence.  I have a dark pink mystery rose that I am evaluating to see if it may be their lost sister Bess.





Rosa Moschata, the musk rose, was once thought to be extinct.  It was rediscovered in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery, where it still grows today.  Though it is technically a once-bloomer, it starts to bloom in July (later than almost all other roses in the garden) and finishes in October ... and its scent is wonderful.





Ivory Triumph is a rare floribunda from 1961.





Baby Alberic looks just like a dwarf form of the famous rambler Alberic Barbier.  It is small, and round, with beautiful shiny foliage and creamy white flowers.





British Queen is a lovely old hybrid tea from 1912.





Out of Yesteryear, Hybrid Bracteata, 1989 ... nice shrub with snow-white flowers.





Unidentified Alba rose in the Doswell Plot in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.





Sir Thomas Lipton, a beautiful white Hybrid Rugosa bred by Dr. Van Fleet in 1900, is completely undeserving of its miserable ARS rating of 5.5.  It's fabulous in the garden here.  This is a clear example of what a mistake it is to use the ARS ratings to help you choose your roses.





Moonlight.  Beautiful, photogenic, white Hybrid Musk.  'Nuff said.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)