This Friday, I'm going to do something a little bit different. Instead of showing you lots of different roses, I will introduce you to one of my most frustrating mysteries.
Meet "Mama Rose"
(You will recognize this as the photo I use for my Blogger profile photo.)
She lives in Hollywood Cemetery, in the Augustine plot.
I call it Mama Rose because she is the seed parent for two really nice seedlings I have here. (I pocketed a few hips one afternoon a couple of years ago.)
This one:
and this one:
I'm obsessed with this rose for two reasons ... (1) I have absolutely not been able to identify her, and (2) I have a 100% rate of failure trying to root her from cuttings.
Truth be told, Mama Rose isn't that nice of a rose. She's really thorny and prone to blackspot. By fall, after the heat and dryness of summer, she has very few leaves. The drought period last summer left her in particularly bad shape.
Her buds are dark gold, and the flowers fade from golden-yellow to paler-yellow as they age.
I'm fairly certain that this is some sort of modern hybrid tea. I would normally ignore a modern rose with so many faults ... but this one sticks with me. I want to know what it is, mainly so my seedlings have some sort of lineage. Based on the condition of the mama plant this summer, it's only a matter of time before the cemetery maintenance crew removes her. It feels like the clock is ticking.
Does this look familiar to anyone?
Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what other gardeners have blooming today. (and Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time)
(written by Hartwood Roses. Hartwood Roses blog.)
