Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
One of my earliest rose fragrance loves came from visiting Malcolm Manners' collection of the Musk (Rosa moschata) Roses in the early 90s....that cinnamon/clove perfume from the anthers (vs. the petals) is simply incredible. It is even found in the very earliest Noisette roses like 'Champney's Pink' and 'Blush Noisette' and 'Jaune Desprez'. So I am VERY excited to see these seedlings coming up from hips of 'Graham Stuart Form' of "Rosa moschata that Jill Perry so kindly picked from the fabulous San Jose Garden and mailed to me. I was there some years ago with Bill Grant, and when I think of the MANY roses' pollens that bees could have brought to the blooms on those roses I levitate! And many could well be repeat bloomers.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
A few weeks ago South Carolina rosarian Michael Reisman came to visit me, gave me a large thornless strain of Rosa multiflora and what seems to be Rosa bracteata, and I gave him a bunch of cuttings of roses, including that of central Florida's "Pink Cracker Rose". On the drive back home he stopped at Pam Greenewald's lovely own root roses nursery 'Garden Angel' in Alachua, Florida where they swapped cuttings, he bought some roses including my 'Gold Blush' and he gave to her a BUNCH of cuttings of PCR. She is licensed to export roses and wants to be able to send PCR to California rosarians. Years ago it was so common in older Tampa neighborhoods like Seminole Heights and Hyde Park but for years now is rarely seen...it is so indestructible that getting it back in peoples' landscapes has become a part of my life's mission. My ONLY regret for the rose is that it is SO sterile both as Mom and Dad! It very rarely makes hips, but some years ago the huge hedge of it on Davis Island made a handful of hips, maybe as a response to years of drought. There was just a few seeds in them total, none sprouted for me. John
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