'Alister Stella Gray'

Today's boinks: ('Alister Stella Gray' X Rosa laevigata) and ('Monsieur Tillier' X "Secret Garden Musk Climber")

I heard of the California Mystery Rose "Secret Garden Musk Climber" many years ago in Denver, long before I knew my Tampa house even existed. Hard to get...I was on the waiting list for two years. Famed rosarian Fred Boutin told me once he feels a possible parentage might be (unknown white Floribunda rose X Rosa moschata). Mine has been growing several months.....first bloom this morning. The fragrance is just like people say.....pure cinnamon oil!!! I so hope it thrives here like it does in southern California! Kim Rupert says it is not a good seed parent, so I picked the bloom and put in a baggie in the fridge as a pollen parent.

Today's rose boinks: (Duchesse de Brabant X "Barfield White Climber") and (Crepuscule X. Rosa laevigata).

First rose boinks of 2016.....(Duchesse de Brabant X Rosa laevigata) and (Duchesse de Brabant X "Pink Cracker Rose").

Hi Mr. Hansen, My name is John Starnes and when I lived and taught in Denver I spent 12 years teaching the board of Fairmount Cemetery just what they had there....a remarkable living treasure. I invited many rosarians to visit this great historic place, including Michael Shoup, Fred Boutin, Stephen Scanniello, William Grant and many many more to see the 77 roses I found on their 240 acres over the years. In 1997 I co-hosted the Heritage Rose Conference in Denver and loved taking nearly 200 rosarians to see and experience the grandeur of Fairmount Cemetery. I used my gardening column in The Rocky Mountain News to encourage people to visit, and sent cuttings of the very rare Mystery Roses to many rose growers, like "Fairmount Red" and "Fairmount Proserpine", year after year. I could bore you with endless details and developments, both good and bad, but instead I very deeply hope that you LISTEN to the many rosarians who are contacting you and others in Sacramento who simply want you all to just leave "well enough alone" and instead be proud of YOUR living treasure there. Many of the roses, like at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, are unique indeed and are deserving of being treasured vs. moved and/or destroyed. I am sure you are aware of the love that so many people feel for the cemetery and its Old Roses....please do not waste this opportunity to preserve it for countless generations. John Starnes 813 839 0881

These various pollens will be kept in the fridge and used over the next few months plus others, often on my favorite seed parents 'Francois Juranville' and 'Seagull'.