I love old roses and have several in my rose garden … the fact that they have been around so long, are amazingly fragrant and have such a rich and varied history totally charms me.
Harison’s Yellow (Rosa x. arisonii) is one of my favorite roses … old and with a rich history. Also known as the Oregon Trail Rose and the Yellow Rose of Texas. This beauty was lovingly taken by pioneer women across the wilderness to their new homes in the west … packed away with other valuables, tender cuttings and roots were stowed in buckets, rooted in potatoes and even in tea cups. I have heard Harison’s Yellow can be found all along the pioneer trail. Don’t you just love that! Roses are survivors!
Harison’s Yellow was planted by the Heritage Rose Foundation in the Spring of 2009 near the grave of George Folliott Harison (American lawyer and amateur rose hybridzer), who in the 1830s created this rose in his Manhattan garden.
Our relationship with Harison’s Yellow began in 1986 when a friend in Tennessee gave my husband a cutting of a rose that had been passed through their family for generations.
It took the tiny cutting a year or so to become something of notice but NOTICE it has received for the past 20 years as it is the first rose to bloom in our garden and has a wonderful sweet honey fragrance.
Showing off!
Beautiful!
A honey-like fragrance
