The rugosas and the old garden roses with their fireworks bloom displays and incredible fragrance are fading into the background, but there are other bloomers taking center stage.
Tom Carruth’s Anna’s Promise Grandiflora
Lovely / Vibrant / Easy Care / Fragrant
Another show of Music Box.
Ping Lim’s lovely Music Box is beginning to open.
Look at all those buds!
Dr. Buck’s Quietness is out of the world this week.
This rose is a part of the Earth Kind series.
Quietness up close … swoon … oh how I love this rose!
Keith Zary’s Gemini … One of the prettiest Hybrid Teas on the planet!
Tom Carruth’s Falling in Love … Another one of the prettiest Hybrid Teas on the planet!
Proven Winner’s Cherry Pie from the OSO Easy Collection
David Austin’s The Lady’s Blush … delicate and lovely
Keith Zary’s floribunda Our Lady of Guadalupe and her neighbors
Starting today members of ARS can vote for their new Vice President. This is a Triennial Election meaning that the chosen VP will serve for 3 years and then automatically become President.
We all have hopes and dreams for the organizations we love. If you need more information on the two men running for VP you can listen to their plans for the future of American Rose Society via the Rose Chat Podcast below…
WHEN TO VOTE: Any time between today and July 31 at noon.
DIRECTIONS
Find the six-digit identification number on your May/June issue of the American Rosemagazine. Every member has a unique number. If you can’t find your magazine (I had to look and look!)… you can request a replacement number and magazine by July 24. Go towww.rose.org– click on the VOTE box.
IN OTHER NEWS
When I returned from the Biltmore last night I found so many roses blooming! Spring is so fun!
This week the rugosas are taking a back seat as many other roses are taking center stage. As each of them bloom, is is like seeing old friends and many of them ARE old. They have been in my garden for a long time and they have been in the garden world a long, long, long time.
Meet some of the “oldest” roses in my garden.
Rosa Mundi (Gallica)
Gallicas are the oldest of the garden roses, having been grown by the Greeks and Romans! Gallicas are spring blooming shrubs with wonderfully fragrant blooms of pink, red and even some purples. My favorite Gallica is Rosa Mundi …. the earliest known stripped rose that dates back to the 1500s.
Legend has it that Rosa Mundi was named after Fair Rosa- mund, a mistress of Henry II, England’s monarch from 1154 to 1189. In The Book of Old Roses, Trevor Griffiths tells the story of their tragic affair. Henry was forced to marry a princess who, brooking no competition, is said to have murdered the lovely Rosamund. By Henry’s order, Rosamund was buried at Godstow Nunnery near Oxford, England, and each year on the anniversary of her death, he ordered her tomb to be decorated with masses of Rosa Mundi. My good friend Ann Chapman says that’s not the way it went down. For the rest of the story, check out Ann’s fascinating book… Women in my Rose Garden here. You can follow Ann on Facebook here.
Madame Hardy
Damask roses are very old, having been grown in Biblical times. They are known for their distinctive, rich damask perfume and beautiful pink or white blooms. My favorite Damask rose is Madam Hardy … amazingly fragrant white blooms with a unique green eye. Madam Hardy was named for the wife of Empress Josephine’s head gardener … Mr. Hardy. 🙂
I have had this rose in my garden for more than 20 years and hope to never be without it. A profuse one-time blooming Damask rose. Stunning and over the top fragrance. She never lets the winters bother her in this Zone 5b garden.
Celsiana (Damask)
This semi-double Damask has more charm and fragrance than the law allows … so don’t tell anyone I have her! LOL This one-time bloomer has been charming rose lovers since before 1750! That’s staying power! I love the “flouncy” growth habit of this rose. I love the way it looks against the herb garden fence.
Queen of Bourbon (Bourbon)
Bourbons were the roses of Victorian England. They produce beautiful, large, full old rose blooms on vigorous growing bushes with blooms of wonderful, heady fragrance. Many Bourbons repeat bloom. One of my favorite bourbons is the Queen of bourbon although it does not repeat bloom for me.
However, when she blooms, she blooms and I can’t wait to say to her, “welcome back, I’ve missed you.”
Les Reine de Violettes (Hybrid Perpetual)
These roses were developed as hardy garden plants between 1840 and 1900, by crossing the Portland, Bourbon and Gallica roses and were mostly used as cut flowers. My favorite Hybrid Perpetual is Reine Des Violettes (Queen of Violettes). Lovely, lovely, lovely. She is doing great this year but some years she is “attracted” to Black Spot so it pays to keep a watchful eye on her.
I’m on the road to the Biltmore to judge at the Biltmore International Rose Trails. I am excited to see the garden, garden friends and find out who the winners will be. I’ll keep you posted!
What’s blooming in your neck of the woods? Are you greeting old friends back to the garden or are you sending them off for a long winter’s nap?
Rose season is officially here in my garden and in the rose world at large (see rose calendar below).
The rugosas are exploding, so the fireworks are on as I have quite a few to explode! 🙂
Harrison’s Yellow is still adding the sunshine and new roses are opening every day. That is something to buzz about!
Therese Bugnet
Blanc de double Corbert
Other roses taking off …
Honey Bun … Proven Winner OSO Easy Series
Honey Bun
Smoothie … Proven Winner’s OSO Happy Series
Smoothie in front of a Red Double Knockout
Little Mischief … This rose is from the Easy Elegance collection from Ping Lim. This small shrub is covered in blooms!
Little Mischief Up Close
Madame Hardy: Damask
COMING SOON TO THE GARDEN…
Celsiana (Damask prior to 1750) … This is a very large shrub just full of buds and ready to explode any day now. The fragrance of this rose is over the top! It is a one-time bloomer, but soooo worth it.
Celsiana
Lady Salisbury (David Austin) … Look at all those buds! I just cannot wait to see the delicate blooms of this rose. Hopefully, I will have pictures to share in a few days.
Lady Salisbury
Felicite Parmetier (Alba 1830s) … This is another one-time bloomer but the fragrance is out of this world!
Felicite Parmentier
ROSE CALENDAR:
Biltmore Rose Trials … Who will be the winner?
The Biltmore International Rose Trial is coming up next weekend! I have the honor of being a judge for the wonderful event under the direction of Paul Zimmerman. For more on the rose trials, read on here.
The Rose Chat Crew checking out the winners.
Miracle on the Hudson
Chris VanCleave, Lynn & Chris Hunt, Me
Me and Mr. G
Pat Shanley (ARS VP) & Jolene Adams (ARS President)
Judging
Lucas Jack, Christ Van Cleave, Teresa Byington, Paul Zimmerman
Click on any of the pictures in this group to start the gallery feature.
If you are going to be at the Biltmore next weekend, let me know so we can meet up. The Rose Chat crew will be there and we’d love to see you.
The Rose Chat Crew checking out the winners.
INDIANAPOLIS ROSE SOCIETY MEETINGS (All meetings are open to the public and we’d love to see you there!)
JUNE MEETINGS
SAT, JUNE 20, 4 PM
PROGRAM: Mark Nolen—Preparing Roses for a Rose Show
Mark, winner of numerous rose show awards including last year’s Queen of Show, will take us through the steps he takes to get his roses ready for a rose show. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Mark and Cathy’s beautiful garden.
POP BOTTLE DISPLAY: Bring your roses for “show and tell.”
SAT, JUNE 27 / 5 pm
GARDEN TOUR / PITCH-IN: Nick & Anne Stanley
A wonderful opportunity to see one of the areas most beautiful gardens.
POP BOTTLE DISPLAY: Bring your roses for “show and tell.”
ARS SPRING NATIONAL AND MINI NATIONAL CONFERENCE & ROSE SHOW Sing a Song of Roses
June 11 – 14
Columbus, Ohio Details here.
ARS FALL NATIONAL CONFERENCE & ROSE SHOW Roses in a New York State of Mind
September 10-13 Syracuse, NY Details here.
The Rose Chat crew plans to attend!
On November 20, 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed a resolution making the rose the national floral emblem at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden…
“Americans have always loved the flowers with which God decorates our land. More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity. For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and God, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.”
The Fairy Rose is a pink Polyantha rose that is part of a select group of roses designated as Earth Kind. (Read more about Earth Kind here.) This lovely little rose is disease resistant and can take the heat! It just keeps blooming even during those hot, hot, hot days of summer! You can also expect the blooms to fade to almost white as the heat climbs!
I have this rose in the ground and love it’s free flowing shape and how it moves and grooves in and out of the companion beside it but I hear it does very well in containers too.
The Fairy is hardy in Zones 4b through 9b and grows to about 3′ wide and tall.
Gene Boerner is a beautiful, profusely-blooming floribunda with pointed exhibition form.
This rose was named for Eugene Boerner who many believe had much to do with the development of the floribundas we have today. He was hired by Jackson & Perkins in 1920 and spent his entire career with them. I think he would be very happy with the rose that bears his name. It has exquisite form, is disease resistant and is rarely without bloom.
The Grande Dame is a lovely and very fragrant hybrid tea.
Here’s what Weeks Roses has to say about this 2011 release…
“Everything old is new again … or is it the other way around?
Here’s a clean mean flowering machine whose big bountiful beauties reek with old rose romance, style & fragrance. Each lovely blossom invites you to bury your nose…to swoon from the perfume of the ‘old time’ roses of your dreams. A big vigorous ‘shrubby’ bush whose nodding clusters, abundant deep-green leaves & low-thorned cutting stems provide a perfect touch to a landscape or bouquet.”
This is my 3rd year to grow the Grande Dame and she always gets noticed.
This rose is a modern bloomer with old world charm and mixing old and new is what my garden is all about!
Zephirine Drouhin is a thornless, very fragrant climbing bourbon rose that dates back to 1868.
It technically is a repeat bloomer however it does not repeat very well for me. Regardless, I think it is so worth it!
Since it is thornless, it is the perfect choice to train over a trellis or porch near a pathway. And, since it is a Bourbon, there will be plenty of fragrance to enjoy!
Another thing to note… this has been a very, very rainy spring and her blooms have held up remarkably well when some of the others have not.
Mary Rose blooms have lovely old rose form and strong old rose fragrance-with a hint of honey says David Austin “Rose Nose” Michael Marriott.
It is considered one of the most widely grown English Roses. This rose is a very strong bloomer for me and does very well in my mixed rose border. I do keep my eye on her for signs of black spot. It can happen!
This lovely rose is one of the first to bloom in the spring and also will bloom way into the fall!
