My first stop, as always, was to visit the Crenshaw Musk Rose. Yesterday, I could smell it before I saw it, as its sweet fragrance wafted on the breeze. Late summer and fall is the time when this rose is at its best.
Within this plant, which produces primarily the double-form flowers, is a section with canes that produce the more primitive five-petal single flowers. I was able to gather sprays of both for my arrangement.
Double
Single
I next visited two plants that are special to me, the large Noisette on the Ritchie plot (which is very similar to the rose known as 'Mary Washington') and the smaller Noisette on the Bolling plot (which is grown at Tufton as "Hollywood Pink Cluster").
"Ritchie Noisette"
"Hollywood Pink Cluster"
There weren't very many other flowers for me to gather. I needed ones that would hold for two days, and most of the other plants I visited had flowers that were too far open, and would fall apart in the next day or so, or had buds that were too immature to open within my time frame. Not to worry, I have a plan.
This was my harvest from the cemetery. I wish I could attach the fragrance of these beauties to this post, so you could experience how heavenly my kitchen smells because of them.
I can supplement these flowers from Hollywood with a few Noisette flowers from my own garden ... most of which came from Hollywood or Tufton originally, or are my own foundlings. I will put my arrangement together later today, and I will show it to you tomorrow.
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I can't leave you today before I thank you for the lovely comments and notes that you shared in response to my tribute to Doug in my last post. I am comforted, and humbled, by your kindness.