Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I discovered "Fairmount Proserpine" in October 1999 when a student who'd taken one of my Old Roses classes at The Denver Botanic Gardens walked with me all over the vast cemetery looking for fall color as the vast majority of the Old Roses and Mystery Roses there are once bloomers that peak June into July. My own root plant here in Tampa is 4 years old in a buried 5 gallon Water Wise Container Garden, organically grown...it hangs on year after year vs. being VERY vigorous in Colorado gardens. Here the petal count is much lower, the bloom form flat vs. buxom, with blooms much smaller, the color much more pink. The night I found it I curled up with The Old Rose Advisor and felt that 'Proserpine' is a likely ID. Fred Boutin has a plant and he was inclined to agree. Here it is quite dwarf, but in Denver it made a vase-shaped shrub about 6 feet tall. Attached are pics of two blooms from this morning...use the link below to see Michael Mowry's pics of the original plant at Fairmount Cemetery.

http://johnstarnesloveofroses.blogspot.com/2010/08/fairmount-proserpine.html



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