Ramblers, by Anne Belovich

Ramblers are the first roses that I remember falling head-over-heels in love with.  It's not a class for the faint of heart, because many of them can easily put out canes that grow ten to twelve feet or more in a single season.  

Anyone who loves and collects Ramblers* will eventually cross paths with Anne Belovich.  She loves Ramblers, too, and has been collecting and growing them for decades ... she has what is thought to be the largest private collection of Ramblers in the world.  I have corresponded with Anne for a few years, exchanging cuttings and plants, and I met her in person at an event in Texas two years ago.  During our conversation, Anne told me that she was in the process of writing a book on Ramblers.  That book was released last month.  My copy arrived in the mail a few days ago.

Last year, Anne contacted me to ask if I would send her photos of "Pink Van Fleet", a rose I grow that she and I think may be the true 'Bess Lovett', which is lost in the US.  I was honored that she asked, and thrilled that one of my photos is in her book.

I am most surprised that, in addition to photo credit in the back of the book, I was mentioned among some very big names in the acknowledgements at the beginning of the book.

I have only had time to thumb quickly through Ramblers.  All roses in it are presented in alphabetical order, for easy use as a reference.  I can already see that this book will get a LOT of use as an important addition to my rose library ... and it stands as a reminder of a mentor who made a big impression on me and on my garden.
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* A Rambler, as I know it, is defined as a large, once-blooming climbing rose.  The American Rose Society no longer recognizes Ramblers as a distinct class of rose.  Ramblers were recently reclassified and split into separate classes based on their genetics. No matter what their new classifications, they will always be Ramblers to me.

Click HERE to order Ramblers for your own rose library.

More Deer, and Other Critters

I moved my trail camera to a slightly different location on Sunday.  This new place appears to have a much better view of the night time wildlife activity.  Looks like the tidier areas of the Rose Field are quite the hang out spot!

Here are the images from early Monday morning and Monday night ...

... and here are Tuesday's critters:

The most awesome photo from this set of images is this one, from mid-morning on Tuesday.

Having a sneaky trail camera on duty gives me a whole different idea of who's the boss around here.  Not me, at least at night.  This place belongs to the critters ... and I'm totally okay with that.

Deer

My trail camera captured this image a few nights ago.  

That a pretty big deer there in the Rose Field.  I see evidence of light deer damage on my roses from time to time, but it is rarely anything really terrible.  To be safe, though, I plan to protect my newly planted baby roses with little wire cages till spring.

"Hart" is an old English word for deer.  It's no surprise, therefore, to see deer in a place named Hartwood ... though I see WAY more deer in neighboring subdivisions than I do here in our country setting.

Wills Cigarette Cards

In 2009, I scored a 48-out-of-50 card set of antique Wills Cigarette Cards on eBay.  (ancient post about the buy is HERE)

When they arrived in the mail, I savored each of them, carefully put them back into their tiny little package, and promptly misplaced them.  Occasionally I wondered where in the world I could have put them.  Yesterday, that question was answered.  I was cleaning out a basket of CDs, and there were the rose cards.

These tiny, idealized prints make the roses look gorgeous and SO tempting.  Let's see how the card images compare to the real roses that I grow here:

'Alberic Barbier'

'American Pillar'

'British Queen'

'Excelsa'

'Irish Elegance'

'Lady Alice Stanley'

In the old post about these cards, I was wondering how to display them.  I'm still wondering.  For now, I have repackaged them and will keep them stored away safely ... at least I put them someplace logical this time!

2017 Heritage Rose Foundation Conference ... Save the Date!

It's time for everyone to mark your calendars and save your pennies for the 2017 Heritage Rose Foundation Conference in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  May 18-20, 2017.

Visiting the garden at Rose Petals Nursery, 2013.

Mottisfont Abbey, England, 2014

Activities will include day trips to Monticello and the Center for Historic Plants in Charlottesville, a tour of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, a day of programs and speakers at Belmont in Fredericksburg, and at least one or two other things that I'm working on.

New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014

Brenham, Texas, 2015.

Information on accommodations will be coming soon.

Huntington Library, 2016

With the dates and basic schedule in place, now I have to fill in all of the activities and details.  Stay tuned for registration info in a few weeks.

Where Did My Blogroll Go?

Google/Blogger has done something that made my blogroll disappear.

My blogroll used to be right there on the sidebar, between the baseboard tutorial and the photo of Winnie.  Now it's not on the page, and the widget is gone from my template.  Poof.  Gone.

I saw a notation on a Google product forum about engineers working on a fix.  I couldn't tell if this was a real answer or a canned reply.  I used the Internet Wayback Machine to pull up a recently-cached copy of my blog so I can at least write down what I had there, which I have done ... because I just know that I'm gonna have to recreate it.

In the meantime, it's gonna be hard for me to easily keep up with all the latest stuff on my favorite blogs.  Thanks, Google. 

(This post looks odd because I'm on my iPad, out of town, doing fun stuff for the next few days.  The Blogger iPad app doesn't let me do pretty stuff like I can do with my PC.  I have a recommendation for a different app, which I will test drive soon, and let you know how it goes.)

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Edited to add:  Though my Blogroll itself vanished without a trace, the Blog List widget is still available when you click 'Add a Widget' to your blog's layout.  I did this to add the blogroll back to my sidebar, and now I'm rebuilding my list.  It looks as if I'm about halfway finished as of this morning, 10/5/16.

"Roses, Wines, and Canines"

Every year, Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg puts on a dog-friendly gathering ... the proceeds of which are donated to canine cancer research and support charities.  This year's event was held last Sunday, here at Hartwood Manor.

We started the day off with games, one of which was to determine the "Best Kisser".  I volunteered to be the judge.

This is Danny, a greyhound service dog.  No kisses from him.

At 12:00, we listened to a presentation about the benefits of Cold Laser Therapy by Dr. Laura Chretien of Loving Touch Animal Hospital, a nearby not-for-profit veterinary clinic.

Kanga, another greyhound service dog, was quick with the kisses, then he climbed into my lap.

Lunch was at 1:00 ... a tasty array of burgers, hot dogs, pulled pork, side dishes ... yummy cook out food.  (If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I was up and cooking at 6am that morning.)

Bill the Borzoi puppy was very generous with polite kisses.

At 2:00,  Patti Goettler, of Greyt Hearts Service Dogs, told us about training retired greyhounds to be service dogs.

More kisses from Bill.

At 3:00,  we paused to celebrate and remember all of our guests' dogs who had passed.  There was hardly a dry eye in the crowd ... mine included, as I hugged Ruby and Winnie as each name was read.  After this, Theresie Houghton blessed each dog individually, offering them prayers and a small biscuit.




Organized activities ended at 4:00, with the raffle drawings and announcement of the Silent Auction winners. Companies and individuals were VERY generous with donations, and bidding on many items was very spirited.

This is Freya, who was leery of that overly friendly lady who wanted a kiss.

... and then it was over.  In between the organized activities, guests toured my rose gardens, (which look awesome, if I do say so myself), visited our vendors, and drank wine from our guest Bacchus Winery and next door at Hartwood Winery.  No one went home hungry, and everyone appeared to have a really good time ... me included.  It was exactly the type of event we tell people it is, a relaxing, fun day in the country with your dog, to support a great cause and learn a little in the process.

Who was the Best Kisser, you ask?  Bill the Borzoi, of course, because he was such a sweetheart.