My roses (and veggies) will LOVE this! John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7B7im35UU
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Roses in My Life and Here in Florida
I went "mental" over Old Roses in Denver in 1989 after living there for a year and a half, and until two years ago they were a primary shaping passion of my life. But I realized some months ago that for the last two years or so I'd lost easily 90% OF that passion due to six years of unrelenting long term drought and draconian watering restrictions that had steadily decimated my collection, leaving me with a few tough stalwarts like 'Mermaid', R. bracteata, "Barfield White Climber", 'Newport Fairy', "Pink Cracker Rose", Francois Juranville, and R. laevigata. As an urban farmer who grows most of his own food and who has seen the lush wet green Florida of his youth (Key West native) turn into a dessicated sandy peninsula prone to catatrosphic fires, with the Everglades at death's door, I use what little water I DO have access on my food crops vs. roses. Plus I have heartbreakingly witnessed Tampa's high chlorides/high sodium reclaimed water destroy in months wonderful collections I'd created over the years in my landscape clients' gardens. So 20/20 hindsight made me realize some months ago that SLOWLY, very slowly, I'd lost most of my love for roses as here in Tampa they are a VERY rare sight except in the landscapes of the VERY wealthy who can afford sprinkler systems that A. Let them evade the restrictions without getting busted and B. They can AFFORD the resultant water bills. But with Tampa Water now talking about QUADRUPLING the base water rate, rose growing here could be even more of a challenge. But I MIGHT be getting my roses mojo back due to something I invented a few years ago by trying to figure out why so many of my St. Pete Times readers did not like their expensive Earth Boxes for veggies growing.....
I take 5-7 gallon discarded plastic buckets, and, for roses, use a 3/4 inch paddle bit to make about 5 drainage holes on the SIDES of each bucket, about 3 inches from the bottom, add layers of soil and compost, plant the rose, then bury the bucket. This protects the plastic from the brutal UV here, but also, when the rose gets rootbound, the roots can exit those holes at that depth of 2 feet or more where the sandy soil will have at least SOME moisture present and hopefully anchor then grow deeper towards the ever-dropping water table. Prototype plantings out front seem very hopeful: Safrano, "Fairmount Proserpine", Baronne Prevost, "Pink Cracker Rose", "Natchogotches Yellow" (sp?), "Morrocan Rose" and Cramoisi Superieur seem to be thriving! So even though my income has plunged due to the loss of my Times column 2 years as they struggle to stay afloat, I just placed a big order from Chamblee's Roses (Mark just called to confirm the order) plus will order an Autumn Damask from ARE and a THIRD 'Louis XIV' and 'E. Veyrat Hermanos' from RU. All will be planted in what I call 'Water Wise Container Gardens' and buried as one last effort to grow roses RESPONSIBLY in my native Florida, in hopes I can recover all my former roses passion. The whole experience reminds me of long term married folks I've known who've shared with me that they'd realized they'd fallen OUT of love with their spouses and wanted it back. Since I am still healing from the demise of my first real romance since 1994 with a top shelf guy who turned out to be confused and in denial about his sexuality, loving roses again could perhaps aid that process too.
I must apologize to Kim and Anita for failing to mail them cuttings of "Pink Cracker Rose" for a year now plus losing my cherished plant of "Not Fortune's Yellow" to this freakin' drought before I buried its bucket as I had not yet cut down the MONSTROUS Mermaid that had consumed my front yard. "Pink Cracker Rose" is now buried out front in a buried 7 gallon Water Wise Container Garden made from a swimming pool tablets bucket and should take off in the spring. Realizing that I had failed Anita and Kim repeatedly was a wake up call that I was very close to not caring about roses.
A few other catalysts to getting the fire in my belly back was having success in early prototypes of these Water Wise Container Gardens made from tree pots and 15 gallon detergent jugs with "Fairmount Red", Louise Odier, "Jo An's Pink Perpetual" (a Fairmount Cemetery rose), Pat Austin, and "York Street Yellow" (one of Tony Tichy's Denver finds), plus being asked to speak about Probiotic Rose Gardening at a roses festival April 30th near Gainesville, plus learning recently that my article on that topic was published in the newly-released wonderful book ' The Sustainable Rose Garden' co-edited by our own Gene Waering and Pat Shanley and Peter Kukielski.
Today I made three postings at my roses blog (see link below) about the roses at Denver's Fairmount Cemetery, and my years of work with them.
So maybe I AM falling back in love with roses!! Like I told Lee Sherman, if this labor intensive approach of buried Water Wise Container Gardens DOES not work in the increasingly dry climate here, that could well trigger a final break up and divorce. In my youth I could have never imagined that a flower of all things could be so capable of moving OR stilling my heart.
John
I take 5-7 gallon discarded plastic buckets, and, for roses, use a 3/4 inch paddle bit to make about 5 drainage holes on the SIDES of each bucket, about 3 inches from the bottom, add layers of soil and compost, plant the rose, then bury the bucket. This protects the plastic from the brutal UV here, but also, when the rose gets rootbound, the roots can exit those holes at that depth of 2 feet or more where the sandy soil will have at least SOME moisture present and hopefully anchor then grow deeper towards the ever-dropping water table. Prototype plantings out front seem very hopeful: Safrano, "Fairmount Proserpine", Baronne Prevost, "Pink Cracker Rose", "Natchogotches Yellow" (sp?), "Morrocan Rose" and Cramoisi Superieur seem to be thriving! So even though my income has plunged due to the loss of my Times column 2 years as they struggle to stay afloat, I just placed a big order from Chamblee's Roses (Mark just called to confirm the order) plus will order an Autumn Damask from ARE and a THIRD 'Louis XIV' and 'E. Veyrat Hermanos' from RU. All will be planted in what I call 'Water Wise Container Gardens' and buried as one last effort to grow roses RESPONSIBLY in my native Florida, in hopes I can recover all my former roses passion. The whole experience reminds me of long term married folks I've known who've shared with me that they'd realized they'd fallen OUT of love with their spouses and wanted it back. Since I am still healing from the demise of my first real romance since 1994 with a top shelf guy who turned out to be confused and in denial about his sexuality, loving roses again could perhaps aid that process too.
I must apologize to Kim and Anita for failing to mail them cuttings of "Pink Cracker Rose" for a year now plus losing my cherished plant of "Not Fortune's Yellow" to this freakin' drought before I buried its bucket as I had not yet cut down the MONSTROUS Mermaid that had consumed my front yard. "Pink Cracker Rose" is now buried out front in a buried 7 gallon Water Wise Container Garden made from a swimming pool tablets bucket and should take off in the spring. Realizing that I had failed Anita and Kim repeatedly was a wake up call that I was very close to not caring about roses.
A few other catalysts to getting the fire in my belly back was having success in early prototypes of these Water Wise Container Gardens made from tree pots and 15 gallon detergent jugs with "Fairmount Red", Louise Odier, "Jo An's Pink Perpetual" (a Fairmount Cemetery rose), Pat Austin, and "York Street Yellow" (one of Tony Tichy's Denver finds), plus being asked to speak about Probiotic Rose Gardening at a roses festival April 30th near Gainesville, plus learning recently that my article on that topic was published in the newly-released wonderful book ' The Sustainable Rose Garden' co-edited by our own Gene Waering and Pat Shanley and Peter Kukielski.
Today I made three postings at my roses blog (see link below) about the roses at Denver's Fairmount Cemetery, and my years of work with them.
So maybe I AM falling back in love with roses!! Like I told Lee Sherman, if this labor intensive approach of buried Water Wise Container Gardens DOES not work in the increasingly dry climate here, that could well trigger a final break up and divorce. In my youth I could have never imagined that a flower of all things could be so capable of moving OR stilling my heart.
John
List of Fairmount Roses presented to the Board in 2003
Sadly, I was informed 2 years ago that this list plus the many years of notes and reports I had prepared and given to the Board of Fairmount Cemetery, at no cost, was lost. I see now why I was told years ago by people who knew I was not charging Fairmount for my work that people don't value what they get for free. I'd love to have a dollar for every hour I spent at the cemetery, and researching the roses I catalogued there, over that delightful 12 years! It saddens me to think of the gems lost there needlessly due to my cautions not being heeded. John
ROSES OF FAIRMOUNT CEMETERY,
CURRENT AS OF 9-16-03
1. “Austin Pink Damask” ( Duc de Cambridge?)
2. “Fairmount Pink Moss” ( Beranger? Glory of the Mosses?)
3. “Fairmount Malton” ( almost certainly IS ‘Malton’ )
4. ‘Harison’s Yellow’
5. “High Country Banshee” smooth form
6. “High Country Banshee” prickly form
7. “High Country Banshee” semi-double form
8. “Fairmount American Pillar”
9. “Fairmount Red” (George IV? William Jesse? Prince Charles? Sir Joseph
Paxton? Vivid?)
10. ‘Alba maxima’
11. ‘Alba semi-plena’
12. “ Desiree’ Parmentier” (a Gallica likely NOT of this name)
13. ‘Dr. Huey’
14. ‘Dr. Huey Pink Sport’
15. ‘Dr. Huey, double form’
16. ‘Pink Grootendorst’
17. ‘Red Grootendorst’
18. “Jo An’s Pink Perpetual” ( Champion of the World? )
19. “Fairmount Semi-Double Pink” (St. Nicholas? Amelia? Gloire de Guilan? )
20. ‘Cl. American Beauty’
21. “Alice Flores’ Purple Hybrid China”
22. “Myers’ Magenta”
23. “Fairmount Flouncy Pink”
24. ‘Manettii’
25. “Jeremiah Pink” (the “real” Banshee?)
26. ‘Rose de Rescht’
27. “Fairmount Blaze”
28. “Fairmount Chameleon Rose” ( Hybrid Multiflora? )
29. ‘Mothersday’
30. ‘Rosa multiflora, thornless form’
31. ‘Rosa multiflora, thorny form’
32. ‘Rosa multiflora, thornless/rugose form’
33. ‘Rosa cinammomea’
34. ‘Rosa canina’ (banks of High Line Canal)
35. “Fairmount Scabrosa” (died)
36. “Odom Light Pink Moss”
37. ‘Gruss an Teplitz’
38. “Barclay Pink Moss”
39. “Alice Flores’ Alba/Damask hybrid” (“Evans Rose” of Riverside)
40. “James Russell Rambler”
41. ‘Ragged Robin’
42. “Fairmount Red Radiance”
43. ‘Dorothy Perkins’
44. “Fairmount Excelsa”
45. ‘White Dorothy Perkins’
46. “Fairmount Magenta Damask”
47. “Alameda Alba suaveolens”
48. “Anderson Red Hybrid Tea”
49. “Fairmount Proserpine”
50. “Couchman Pink Perpetual” ( “Fairmount Malton”? )
51. “Fairmount Paul’s Scarlet”
52. “Caswell Moss”
53. IXLR
54. “Fairmount Aloha”
55. “Rex Red HP” ( General Jacqueminot? )
56. “Fairmount Careless Love”
57. “Catherine Warren Gallica”
58. “Dardis Red HP” (Captain Hayward? Lord Bacon?)
59. “Sister Knight Species” (R. acicularis?)
60. “Rutherford Cerise Wichuraiana” ( modern groundcover rose? )
61. “McCray White Climber” (Cl. Frau Karl Druschki?)
62. “Strang Portland” (Delambre?)
63. “Rettig Lavender Rambler” (perhaps a thornless Geschwind hybrid?)
64. “Fairmount Kazanlik”
65. “Fairmount Eglantine” ( likely ‘Anne of Geierstein’ or ‘Amy Robsart’)
66. “Delaney Red HT, 1902”
67. “Johnson Magenta Damask”
68. “Ada Crouch Single Pink” (seedling of “Fairmount Semi-Double Pink” ?)
69. “Gaskin White Rambler” ( modern groundcover rose? )
70. “Alexander Thornless Pink” (Hybrid Bourbon? )
71. “MacDonald Pale Pink Myrrh”
72. “Elaine Holm Red HT’
73. Condesa de Sastago
74. Peace (likely an old original plant)
75. “Fairmount Chevy Chase”
76. “Butchart Apricot Pink Shrub” (Canadian?)
ROSES OF FAIRMOUNT CEMETERY,
CURRENT AS OF 9-16-03
1. “Austin Pink Damask” ( Duc de Cambridge?)
2. “Fairmount Pink Moss” ( Beranger? Glory of the Mosses?)
3. “Fairmount Malton” ( almost certainly IS ‘Malton’ )
4. ‘Harison’s Yellow’
5. “High Country Banshee” smooth form
6. “High Country Banshee” prickly form
7. “High Country Banshee” semi-double form
8. “Fairmount American Pillar”
9. “Fairmount Red” (George IV? William Jesse? Prince Charles? Sir Joseph
Paxton? Vivid?)
10. ‘Alba maxima’
11. ‘Alba semi-plena’
12. “ Desiree’ Parmentier” (a Gallica likely NOT of this name)
13. ‘Dr. Huey’
14. ‘Dr. Huey Pink Sport’
15. ‘Dr. Huey, double form’
16. ‘Pink Grootendorst’
17. ‘Red Grootendorst’
18. “Jo An’s Pink Perpetual” ( Champion of the World? )
19. “Fairmount Semi-Double Pink” (St. Nicholas? Amelia? Gloire de Guilan? )
20. ‘Cl. American Beauty’
21. “Alice Flores’ Purple Hybrid China”
22. “Myers’ Magenta”
23. “Fairmount Flouncy Pink”
24. ‘Manettii’
25. “Jeremiah Pink” (the “real” Banshee?)
26. ‘Rose de Rescht’
27. “Fairmount Blaze”
28. “Fairmount Chameleon Rose” ( Hybrid Multiflora? )
29. ‘Mothersday’
30. ‘Rosa multiflora, thornless form’
31. ‘Rosa multiflora, thorny form’
32. ‘Rosa multiflora, thornless/rugose form’
33. ‘Rosa cinammomea’
34. ‘Rosa canina’ (banks of High Line Canal)
35. “Fairmount Scabrosa” (died)
36. “Odom Light Pink Moss”
37. ‘Gruss an Teplitz’
38. “Barclay Pink Moss”
39. “Alice Flores’ Alba/Damask hybrid” (“Evans Rose” of Riverside)
40. “James Russell Rambler”
41. ‘Ragged Robin’
42. “Fairmount Red Radiance”
43. ‘Dorothy Perkins’
44. “Fairmount Excelsa”
45. ‘White Dorothy Perkins’
46. “Fairmount Magenta Damask”
47. “Alameda Alba suaveolens”
48. “Anderson Red Hybrid Tea”
49. “Fairmount Proserpine”
50. “Couchman Pink Perpetual” ( “Fairmount Malton”? )
51. “Fairmount Paul’s Scarlet”
52. “Caswell Moss”
53. IXLR
54. “Fairmount Aloha”
55. “Rex Red HP” ( General Jacqueminot? )
56. “Fairmount Careless Love”
57. “Catherine Warren Gallica”
58. “Dardis Red HP” (Captain Hayward? Lord Bacon?)
59. “Sister Knight Species” (R. acicularis?)
60. “Rutherford Cerise Wichuraiana” ( modern groundcover rose? )
61. “McCray White Climber” (Cl. Frau Karl Druschki?)
62. “Strang Portland” (Delambre?)
63. “Rettig Lavender Rambler” (perhaps a thornless Geschwind hybrid?)
64. “Fairmount Kazanlik”
65. “Fairmount Eglantine” ( likely ‘Anne of Geierstein’ or ‘Amy Robsart’)
66. “Delaney Red HT, 1902”
67. “Johnson Magenta Damask”
68. “Ada Crouch Single Pink” (seedling of “Fairmount Semi-Double Pink” ?)
69. “Gaskin White Rambler” ( modern groundcover rose? )
70. “Alexander Thornless Pink” (Hybrid Bourbon? )
71. “MacDonald Pale Pink Myrrh”
72. “Elaine Holm Red HT’
73. Condesa de Sastago
74. Peace (likely an old original plant)
75. “Fairmount Chevy Chase”
76. “Butchart Apricot Pink Shrub” (Canadian?)
some photos of roses from Fairmount Cemetery, Denver Colorado
Enjoy! John
"Fairmount American Pillar"
My first find there circa 1991 "Fairmount Red"... 'Rivers IV' ?
"Fairmount Proserpine"
"Mae Fair Pink" R. manettii
a remontant VERY fragrant Damask Perpetual
My first find there circa 1991 "Fairmount Red"... 'Rivers IV' ?
a remontant VERY fragrant Damask Perpetual
The Roses of Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado
I spent 12 years tromping this lovely 260 acre historic cemetery founded in 1890 and over that time with the help of folks taking my tours found and catalogued 77 varieties of roses, not counting Moderns and Minis. I helped the folks there, along with Jo An Cullen, to create a collection of many around the lovely Victorian gazebo, and submitted detailed annual reports. My friend Michael Mowry was invaluable in his dedication to helping me photograph specimens there over MANY a sleep-deprived morning. Sadly, I was informed two years ago that after the departure of yet another director of public affairs that ALL of those reports were missing. I will now and then list here some of the reports I gave them but will not list the locations of the roses as when I did, a board member there despite my warnings, had roses dug up to be moved to the gazebo.....which killed them...in some cases they were the ONLY specimen. Since I dearly loved (and love) those roses that were a centerpiece of my life for twelve years, I won't share data that could further endanger those that remain. Despite the objections of world famous rosarians, that same board member convinced the board to ban visitors from taking cuttings to root at home to increase their numbers to help insure their survival as had been done for many many decades. Since the Fairmount board's ACTUAL concern for the roses as demonstrated by real world action vs. words can easily be questioned, I agree with the many rosarians who called that year for civil disobedience by discreetly taking cuttings to make sure those stunning gems survive both time and political machinations seemingly stemming from a primary focus of tax-emempt status vs. truly caring for the roses as I did and do. See below the balance of a report (now lost) that I submitted to the board in 2003.
Balance of 2002 Roses of Fairmount and Riverside Report
Hi Nancy,
As promised I am providing the balance of my report on the roses at both cemeteries, along with my invoice for the tour I was asked to lead last June.
1. At my expense last year I sent cuttings of approx. 24 more varieties of the roses of Fairmount to 3 growers in Utah, Texas and Colorado as additional insurance against the extinction of any more varieties due to raspberry cane borer (now assaulting “Sister Knight Species”), landscape crews, herbicide applications and due to the public last year suddenly being denied its traditional century old role as an invaluable ally in the preservation of the wonderful roses at both cemeteries. I will not being asking to be reimbursed for those costs nor the time involved in gathering, processing, packaging or mailing them.
2. “Study names” were at last chosen for all 4 seemingly heirloom red Hybrid Teas I have found, catalogued and photographed at Fairmount. Comparisons so far indicate none are ‘Crimson Glory’ and a 5th was determined to be a somewhat modern red HT.
3. A board member theorized last year that the reason so many roses at both cemeteries can’t be identified was due to “120 years of exposure to high altitude UV”. But even if either cemetery had been open that long, there is no evidence, anecdotal or scientific, that UV radiation causes roses or other plants to “sport” (mutate). Plus such sports do not displace entire original plants but are individual branches, such as the pink sport discovered on a plant of ‘Dr. Huey’ at the south end of Fairmount 3 years ago. Instead it is simply a question of continued dedicated studies at Fairmount leading to the identification of the Mystery Roses at Fairmount as I have undertaken the last dozen years, aided by fellow rosarians fascinated by and commited to them. Last year was a watershed year in that effort, with visiting California rosarian Marlea Graham either directly confirming, (or providing crucial leads) that:
“Mae Fair Pink” is in fact the rootstock rose R. Manettii
“Fairmount Ragged Robin” is in fact Ragged Robin
“Fairmount Gruss an Teplitz” is in fact Gruss an Teplitz
All of these roses are associated with mild climates i.e. southern California so each year rosarians would hesitate to make those conclusions. Yet after her notion for “Mae Fair Pink” (which has stumped everyone for years) I used digital photographs sent on the internet plus a plant of R. manettii sent me to receive confirmation from some of the best rosarians that her seemingly odd hunch based on her familiarity with R. manetti in mild climate settings WAS on target
4. I have confirmed again with America’s top rose breeder Tom Carruth that Mystery Roses at cemeteries and elsewhere can NOT be renamed and patented for resale for profit as they are pre-existing varieties. I had hoped that this could be a source of in come for the preservation of the roses at Fairmount but plant patent lawns clearly prohibit it. All that can be done is for them to sold under their study names as Mystery Roses to increase their numbers and spread the recogntion of the Fairmount name. Perhaps growers selling them might agree to donate a portion of each sale, but patenting and renaming would be unethical and illegal. The notion that they are all radiation-induced mutants capable of being patented is a false one that the Fairmount Heritage Foundation would be ill-advised to follow through on.
5. While I may be in Denver to pursue business and rose studies this summer, I cannot project any dates with certainty that would allow me to conduct tours of and for Fairmount as in so many years past. Special provisions would need to be made to enable my schedule to coincide with the peak bloom times of mid June.
6. It is increasingly possible that the vigorous plant I found of ‘Peace’ near a 1948 headstone is in fact a specimen of the long sought after original strain of ‘Peace’ sold before it was weakened by decades of over-propagation. And it seems the cuttings obtained by a skilled plant propagator are in fact thriving in that greenhouse Since author/lecturer/rosarian Bill Grant has proposed that the traditional date dividing Old Roses from Modern Roses be moved up from 1867 (the year ‘La France’ was introduced) to 1945 (the year ‘Peace’ was introduced into commerce) finding and cloning from one of those original plants sold would be in valuable. Last June I showed this plant to several rosarians and we all agreed that due to the vigor of the plant, its apparent longevity in that spot, with its base nearly integrated with the base of the headstone, and that tantalizing death date of 1948, there is cause to be hopeful.
7. Heather Campbell at High Country Roses in Utah continues to be a valuable ally in my efforts to increase the numbers of the best roses at both cemeteries off site, and this year should have a few more available to the public. In 2001 I sent her cuttings from Riverside knowing that none there had ever been cloned off site and it is thrilling to know that Toni Tichy’s lovely discoveries “Beulah Blakely” and “Obrecht” are now finding safe haven in the gardens of rosarians and rose lovers. I have 3 testing here in Tampa as “longshots” and several in my Denver garden plus many are now thriving on the grounds of the Denver Zoo due to the foresight and dedication of Merle Moore, who a few years ago was entranced by the roses at both cemeteries when I gave him and a few other rosarians a private tour.
8. Studying and cataloguing and preserving Old Garden Roses is hard work that takes TIME and focus, and early on I ignored the admonition I kept receiving from a now-board member that I was seeing the same 6 varieties over and over year after year. With so many noted authors and rosarians now having visited Fairmount and Riverside and seeing why I was so enthralled with the richness of rose varieties and Mystery Roses and now aiding me actively in my ongoing efforts that will continue despite my now living in Florida, I am hopeful that the board of the Fairmount Heritage Foundation will perhaps this summer spend some time getting to know (and hopefully love as I do) the remarkable roses under their oversight and thus reverse the tragic decree barring the public from taking cuttings that so alarmed high caliber rosarians within and outside of Colorado as it embodied the antithesis of Old Rose preservation. Maybe even a few board members will take cuttings and root them for their gardens.
9. In 2001Frank and Mary Sue asked me to commit June 16, 2002 to lead an abbreviated tour of Fairmount for the usual fee of $150. Please accept this line in this report as my invoice for having returned to Denver from Tampa and meeting that commitment and also providing detailed handouts to the tour-goers. My address is:
John Starnes
3212 West Paxton Avenue
Tampa, FL 33611
10. I have made provisions that photographs be taken of a few remaining varietes at Fairmount in June, and possibly all at Riverside by Colorado photographer Michael Mowry who has with great dedication and no pay allocated the last 3 sleep deprived Junes to cataloging the Fairmount roses just after sunrise on countless sleepy mornings. I have also made provisions to insure more cuttings be taken of key varieties not yet cloned off site, in particular the remarkable “Fairmount Red Damask” that Fred Boutin and Marlea Graham and Brent Dickerson all suspect is a crucial early Bourbon or early Hybrid Perpetual stemming directly from the Damask Perpetuals. It is perhaps one of top 3 discoveries made at Fairmount
11. Despite many hours buried in books and many repeat visits to Fairmount in late June and early July, I have yet to devise an effective study name for the extremely enigmatic plants that Michael and I discovered last year that closely echo “Fairmount Excelsa” yet are very clearly different...based on my spending 2 weeks with author Stephen Scanniello who in 1998 was the curator of the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, using his and other books, and photographs I took on that remarkable trip with him seeing cemeteries MUCH older than Fairmount ( 1700's ) I keep returning to the notion that these 3 plants we photographed last year in fact contains traces of the species R. soulieana...on that basis I am succumbing to the urge to name them “Fairmount Chevy Chase”. That whole era that produced ‘Excelsa’ and ‘Dorothy Perkins’ and their ilk also produced a number of EXCEPTIONALLY similar hybrids, all stunted into dwarfdom by Colorado’s harsh winters. But since with the help of many rosarians over many years it was finally confirmed that the non-climbing mounds of pink roses all over Fairmount in July were in fact ‘Dorothy Perkins’ (which is a rampant rambler in mild winter regions like Seattle and Tennessee and England) I am hopeful that continued work by myself and others will solve this new intriguing mystery that illuminates once again the singularly spectacular treasure trove of roses that Fairmount and Riverside together offer the world.
Sincerely,
John Starnes
813-839-0881
JohnAStarnes@aol.com
Balance of 2002 Roses of Fairmount and Riverside Report
Hi Nancy,
As promised I am providing the balance of my report on the roses at both cemeteries, along with my invoice for the tour I was asked to lead last June.
1. At my expense last year I sent cuttings of approx. 24 more varieties of the roses of Fairmount to 3 growers in Utah, Texas and Colorado as additional insurance against the extinction of any more varieties due to raspberry cane borer (now assaulting “Sister Knight Species”), landscape crews, herbicide applications and due to the public last year suddenly being denied its traditional century old role as an invaluable ally in the preservation of the wonderful roses at both cemeteries. I will not being asking to be reimbursed for those costs nor the time involved in gathering, processing, packaging or mailing them.
2. “Study names” were at last chosen for all 4 seemingly heirloom red Hybrid Teas I have found, catalogued and photographed at Fairmount. Comparisons so far indicate none are ‘Crimson Glory’ and a 5th was determined to be a somewhat modern red HT.
3. A board member theorized last year that the reason so many roses at both cemeteries can’t be identified was due to “120 years of exposure to high altitude UV”. But even if either cemetery had been open that long, there is no evidence, anecdotal or scientific, that UV radiation causes roses or other plants to “sport” (mutate). Plus such sports do not displace entire original plants but are individual branches, such as the pink sport discovered on a plant of ‘Dr. Huey’ at the south end of Fairmount 3 years ago. Instead it is simply a question of continued dedicated studies at Fairmount leading to the identification of the Mystery Roses at Fairmount as I have undertaken the last dozen years, aided by fellow rosarians fascinated by and commited to them. Last year was a watershed year in that effort, with visiting California rosarian Marlea Graham either directly confirming, (or providing crucial leads) that:
“Mae Fair Pink” is in fact the rootstock rose R. Manettii
“Fairmount Ragged Robin” is in fact Ragged Robin
“Fairmount Gruss an Teplitz” is in fact Gruss an Teplitz
All of these roses are associated with mild climates i.e. southern California so each year rosarians would hesitate to make those conclusions. Yet after her notion for “Mae Fair Pink” (which has stumped everyone for years) I used digital photographs sent on the internet plus a plant of R. manettii sent me to receive confirmation from some of the best rosarians that her seemingly odd hunch based on her familiarity with R. manetti in mild climate settings WAS on target
4. I have confirmed again with America’s top rose breeder Tom Carruth that Mystery Roses at cemeteries and elsewhere can NOT be renamed and patented for resale for profit as they are pre-existing varieties. I had hoped that this could be a source of in come for the preservation of the roses at Fairmount but plant patent lawns clearly prohibit it. All that can be done is for them to sold under their study names as Mystery Roses to increase their numbers and spread the recogntion of the Fairmount name. Perhaps growers selling them might agree to donate a portion of each sale, but patenting and renaming would be unethical and illegal. The notion that they are all radiation-induced mutants capable of being patented is a false one that the Fairmount Heritage Foundation would be ill-advised to follow through on.
5. While I may be in Denver to pursue business and rose studies this summer, I cannot project any dates with certainty that would allow me to conduct tours of and for Fairmount as in so many years past. Special provisions would need to be made to enable my schedule to coincide with the peak bloom times of mid June.
6. It is increasingly possible that the vigorous plant I found of ‘Peace’ near a 1948 headstone is in fact a specimen of the long sought after original strain of ‘Peace’ sold before it was weakened by decades of over-propagation. And it seems the cuttings obtained by a skilled plant propagator are in fact thriving in that greenhouse Since author/lecturer/rosarian Bill Grant has proposed that the traditional date dividing Old Roses from Modern Roses be moved up from 1867 (the year ‘La France’ was introduced) to 1945 (the year ‘Peace’ was introduced into commerce) finding and cloning from one of those original plants sold would be in valuable. Last June I showed this plant to several rosarians and we all agreed that due to the vigor of the plant, its apparent longevity in that spot, with its base nearly integrated with the base of the headstone, and that tantalizing death date of 1948, there is cause to be hopeful.
7. Heather Campbell at High Country Roses in Utah continues to be a valuable ally in my efforts to increase the numbers of the best roses at both cemeteries off site, and this year should have a few more available to the public. In 2001 I sent her cuttings from Riverside knowing that none there had ever been cloned off site and it is thrilling to know that Toni Tichy’s lovely discoveries “Beulah Blakely” and “Obrecht” are now finding safe haven in the gardens of rosarians and rose lovers. I have 3 testing here in Tampa as “longshots” and several in my Denver garden plus many are now thriving on the grounds of the Denver Zoo due to the foresight and dedication of Merle Moore, who a few years ago was entranced by the roses at both cemeteries when I gave him and a few other rosarians a private tour.
8. Studying and cataloguing and preserving Old Garden Roses is hard work that takes TIME and focus, and early on I ignored the admonition I kept receiving from a now-board member that I was seeing the same 6 varieties over and over year after year. With so many noted authors and rosarians now having visited Fairmount and Riverside and seeing why I was so enthralled with the richness of rose varieties and Mystery Roses and now aiding me actively in my ongoing efforts that will continue despite my now living in Florida, I am hopeful that the board of the Fairmount Heritage Foundation will perhaps this summer spend some time getting to know (and hopefully love as I do) the remarkable roses under their oversight and thus reverse the tragic decree barring the public from taking cuttings that so alarmed high caliber rosarians within and outside of Colorado as it embodied the antithesis of Old Rose preservation. Maybe even a few board members will take cuttings and root them for their gardens.
9. In 2001Frank and Mary Sue asked me to commit June 16, 2002 to lead an abbreviated tour of Fairmount for the usual fee of $150. Please accept this line in this report as my invoice for having returned to Denver from Tampa and meeting that commitment and also providing detailed handouts to the tour-goers. My address is:
John Starnes
3212 West Paxton Avenue
Tampa, FL 33611
10. I have made provisions that photographs be taken of a few remaining varietes at Fairmount in June, and possibly all at Riverside by Colorado photographer Michael Mowry who has with great dedication and no pay allocated the last 3 sleep deprived Junes to cataloging the Fairmount roses just after sunrise on countless sleepy mornings. I have also made provisions to insure more cuttings be taken of key varieties not yet cloned off site, in particular the remarkable “Fairmount Red Damask” that Fred Boutin and Marlea Graham and Brent Dickerson all suspect is a crucial early Bourbon or early Hybrid Perpetual stemming directly from the Damask Perpetuals. It is perhaps one of top 3 discoveries made at Fairmount
11. Despite many hours buried in books and many repeat visits to Fairmount in late June and early July, I have yet to devise an effective study name for the extremely enigmatic plants that Michael and I discovered last year that closely echo “Fairmount Excelsa” yet are very clearly different...based on my spending 2 weeks with author Stephen Scanniello who in 1998 was the curator of the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, using his and other books, and photographs I took on that remarkable trip with him seeing cemeteries MUCH older than Fairmount ( 1700's ) I keep returning to the notion that these 3 plants we photographed last year in fact contains traces of the species R. soulieana...on that basis I am succumbing to the urge to name them “Fairmount Chevy Chase”. That whole era that produced ‘Excelsa’ and ‘Dorothy Perkins’ and their ilk also produced a number of EXCEPTIONALLY similar hybrids, all stunted into dwarfdom by Colorado’s harsh winters. But since with the help of many rosarians over many years it was finally confirmed that the non-climbing mounds of pink roses all over Fairmount in July were in fact ‘Dorothy Perkins’ (which is a rampant rambler in mild winter regions like Seattle and Tennessee and England) I am hopeful that continued work by myself and others will solve this new intriguing mystery that illuminates once again the singularly spectacular treasure trove of roses that Fairmount and Riverside together offer the world.
Sincerely,
John Starnes
813-839-0881
JohnAStarnes@aol.com
Friday, January 14, 2011
A truly decadent deep red rose.....Louis XIV
Thursday, January 13, 2011
OGRs in Denver
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
'Teasing Georgia'
Newly repillarized for the 2011 growing season. Enjoy, John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irgw5pABxf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irgw5pABxf4
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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