Sunday Snapshot ... Propagation Time!

Now that the roses in my garden are past peak bloom, it is time for me to take cuttings for propagation.  When I was running the nursery, I felt the need to cater to the market and propagate the roses that customers expected to find in stock.  These were mostly old garden roses that are fairly common, ones that most rose-growing folks had heard of.  I was never comfortable with this.  The few rare and unusual roses that I rooted for sale tended to be ignored, while the familiar ones sold without much effort.

Yesterday morning's harvest of cuttings.

Now that I don't have to supply a nursery inventory anymore, I can propagate what I think is important ... roses from here and other places that are the rarest and most vital to multiply and distribute, roses that I have agreed to trade with friends, and, beginning this year, roses from the Rose Field ... the next step in my current plan to reclaim that heinous mess of a former garden.

The cuttings are now safely sitting in the north-facing window in my cool basement, where I can easily keep an eye on them.

You're probably wondering ... what roses were in this first batch of cuttings?  They are:

"Tidewater Trail" is a Hybrid China rose that I found in 2009, growing beside the fallen porch of a derelict house south of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

"Dennis's not-Anemone Rambler" is a wonderful unidentified Hybrid Setigera rose.  Dennis received it as a small plant, with a tag in the pot that said 'Anemone' ... which it obviously is not.  He shared his plant with me.

I have shown you this rose many times, "Pink Van Fleet", which is possibly the real 'Bess Lovett', that appears to be lost in the US.

'White Cap' is the best performing climber that I grow.  Most people don't know about it, though, and it is very hard to find.

"Faded Pink Monthly", a rose found by Mrs. Keays, is the first Rose Field rose that I took cuttings from.

If you want to learn how to root your own roses, THIS LINK will take you to my photo tutorial that teaches you the method that I use.

Happy Sunday, Everyone ... I'm heading outside now, to go take more rose cuttings.

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Sunday Snapshots are posts that are devoted to a moment in time that represents a slice of life in Hartwood, or wherever else I happen to be at the time.