Rose Notes

Rose of the Week – 'Gertrude Jekyll'

It’s one thing to know and love a rose and quite another to know and revere it’s namesake. I can’t just plunge in with glitzy photos and a few words about this particular entry. Hands down – the rose is great – in fact it’s one of David Austin's best, but Gertrude Jekyll (the woman), according to Graham Stuart Thomas, didn’t even like roses this color. However, she would have loved its growth habit. More on that later – let’s talk about the lady.

Gertrude Jekyll – An Artist First

Artist, craftswoman, writer, gardener, garden designer, photographer, pioneer, trailblazer – all apply to this woman who lived for eighty-nine very active years, from 1843-1932. In his wonderful introduction to Roses by Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Mawley, Graham Thomas writes that Gertrude’s proficiency in drawing, painting, carving, gilding, inlaying, embroidery and a dozen other specialties, prepared her for impressive accomplishments throughout a life devoted to gardens and design. By 1891,  poor eyesight impeded certain artistic pursuits, which led Gertrude to concentrate more on writing, gardening, and photography. Thanks to the exquisite black and white garden and floral design images she illustrated her books with, we have a record not only of her talent as a photographer, but a wonderful record of how she felt roses should be lived with. Gertrude thought of roses as “garden furniture” and showcased their many growth habits in all her work. For more information about Gertrude Jekyll, search amazon etc... for the books by and about her. The link above is the best source for the beautifully illustrated book I have, which I highly recommend.

Above, Ms Jekyll's namesake rose in a homage to her black and white images.

Gertrude Jekyll – The Rose

Lovely buds are an endearing trait on a lush healthy shrub that can also be trained as a climber, and pegged to suit whatever you might have in mind. Check out how I've pegged GJ here .

        My shurb faces West at the side of our house and is planted with Coleonema pulchellum 'Pink Breath of Heaven' and Spiraea thunbergii 'Ogon'. It tends to be nicely disease resistant in my San Francisco Bay Area garden.

Gertrude Jekyll in the Vase

        First comes the harvest picture, then . . .

         a vase shaped like a drawstring pouch. The narrow neck gathers in the stems showcasing the healthy attractive leaves. When I was done with this photo I had a few errands to run and realized I'd be seeing two people who might like a fragrant rose bouquet, so I grabbed a couple of olive jars and divided the roses.

       With or without ribbon, the roses do the talking.

        Sweet peas compliment the roses – but wait – that's the next post.

Catching Up

Computer problems and out of town rose adventures have played havoc with my posting schedule. I miss you though and thought it would be fun to check in and show you a few images from the past two weeks.

        Here’s a glamour shot of my good-as-new computer, with a harvest of today’s Tea roses.

ROSALIA

On June 30, I boarded a mini van with five women and one brave male driver to make the trek up to Willits. For all of us it was a pilgrimage of sorts, to Rosalia, the annual Open Garden hosted by Pamela and Michael Temple. The fact that four of the women in the van were named Carol, Karen, Carolyn, and Carolyn only added zest to our happy time together.

Perfect weather, millions of roses, luscious food, and guests that ran the gamut from adorable to exotic sated all our senses.

       David, a loving neighbor and former baker, creates a special cake each year.

        Noelli was happy to be photographed – her little friend wasn’t so sure. Pamela’s magical rose tunnel makes a fine backdrop.

       This miniature rooster (one of the guests) enjoyed the roses perched on the palm of a young woman’s hand for more than an hour – the best ice-breaker/conversation-piece in Northern CA.  For a more detailed look at the Temple’s exquisite garden, click here.

ROSEMARY'S ROSES

        The sign for Rosemary’s Roses with a ‘Mermaid’ hedge in the background.

This past weekend, Rosemary and Ron Sawyer hosted my friend Mary and I at their rose hideaway in Columbia CA. Roses are a fitting replacement to the gold that once sparkled on this Sierra Foothills property. Over two thousand old and modern roses ring around their hillside garden and rose nursery.

        An arrangement of Rosemary’s Hybrid Teas with the lush native Philadelphus that grows in the area.

On Sunday, I gave a talk at the local rose society, and afterward a champagne and hot dog party concluded with a surprise dessert. The past two weeks began and ended with cake!

Great Rosarians of the World

On the weekend of June 5, the rose world will be awhirl in the New York area. The New York Horticultural Society on West 37th Street, the beautiful Opia restaurant on East 57th, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the gorgeous private garden of Stephen Scanniello in Barnegat NJ will host events for the 2009 Great Rosarians of the World IX Lecture Series.

Rose Garden Hall of Fame Award

The Sacramento Historic City Cemetery Rose Garden will be awarded as the second inductee in the Rose Garden Hall of Fame. Dedicated volunteers have made this garden a spectacular show place for heritage roses.

The 2009 Great Rosarian Honorees

Marilyn Wellan

Marilyn Wellan is the immediate Past President of the American Rose Society. She is only the second woman to serve in that position in the 116-year history of the organization. Among her many accomplishments, she helped bring the ARS and the Heritage Rose groups together to jointly embrace the mission of the protection, preservation and promotion of heritage roses. She lives and gardens in Louisiana and has the distinct honor of being the namesake of a spectacular rose.

'Marilyn Wellan' – the Hybrid Tea

Stephen Scanniello

Stephen Scanniello is best known as a hands on gardener who transformed the Cranford Rose Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden into one of the world’s most acclaimed rose gardens.

After leaving the Cranford in 1998, Stephen is devoting his full attention to maintaining and designing private gardens throughout the United States. He continues to lecture, write, and serve as a judge for the international rose trials in Europe, and the United States.

An updated edition of Scanniello's award-winning classic, A Year of Roses, was released in May 2006 . His most recent book, co-authored with Douglas Brenner, A Rose by Any Name, tells stories related to rose names.

For a tour of Stephen's beautiful garden by writer/photographer Denise Foley click here.

Here's information about attending the Great Rosarian's of the World events.

Award for the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden

 

On May 18, this famed San Jose garden was selected as the first inductee in the Rose Garden Hall of Fame.

Dedicated to the public in September 1995, this garden displays an outstanding collection of historic roses and provides public programs and demonstrations. The garden is maintained by a dedicated cadre of volunteers in cooperation with the City of San Jose, Guadalupe River Parks and Gardens, Santa Clara County Rose Society, and South Bay Rose Group.

Rose of the Week – 'Madame Hardy'

“Belle of the Ball," “Prettiest Girl in the Room (vase),” “Scene Stealer,” “Everyone’s Favorite” – all apply to ‘Madame Hardy’. Graham Thomas writes, “This variety is still unsurpassed by any rose.”

 

Thomas mentions the bloom's perfect shape and goes on about "just a suspicion of flesh pink in the half-open buds, emerging from their long calyces, and the flowers open cupped, rapidly becoming flat, the outer petals reflexing in a most beautiful manner, leaving the center almost concave, of pure white, with a small green eye."

 

Elaborate frilled buds almost always appear in threes. I've found that once the leader blooms, the two side blooms don't mature into flowers anywhere near as showy as the first, even when deadheaded. I used to think this was a loss – but that's conventional thinking – the buds are a wonderful decorative feature, especially in arrangements. I haven't tried pinching out the leader to force a pair of blooms.

The shrub tends to be willowy or even lanky, throwing up tall new canes just as it begins to bloom. The beautiful light green leaves are dry and papery. That may sound strange – I don't know another way to describe them.

 

Here's the first bloom and the fresh new growth I mentioned. For several years, once the canes were strong and as long as they were going to get, I'd twine them together into loops. Click for a picture shown in my pegging article. This would increase bloom and keep the shrub looking tidy.

After last year's bloom I decided to sacrifice the long canes as greenery for arrangements – they are spectacular as a filler. I was tired of the loops and cut the shrub down to less than three feet – another way to keep it neat. In some parts of my garden, I don't have room for runaway roses.

The result was armloads of heathly blooms that I was able to take to The Celebration of Old Roses. White sweet peas were blooming at the time and I used them as a filler.

 

It turned out so nice I mourned the thought that I hadn't taken a picture – I thought I'd harvested all the blooms. But no, a few days later there were more sweet peas, plus the little white bucket of blooms shown above.

In this arrangement, the sweet peas went in first and pretty much filled the vase, the MH stems, with most leaves removed, were then easy to place into the fragrant pillow of sweet peas.

 

Here she is all by herself – not too shabby. An interesting thing about the blooms is that they tend to just naturally face forward in a bouquet – all those sweet green eyes!

 

Lately I'm enamored with roses in this small bronze vase. It sits on my computer desk, and came from my favorite florist .

Paul Barden wrote a lovey piece (that I've often referred to) about 'Madame Hardy'. If you'd like to know more about her, take a look .

Rose of the Week – 'Rouletii'

Without this perky rose, my second book would never have come to be. ‘Rouletii’ (also known as ‘Pompon de Paris’) inspired an entire rose alphabet, which then became the basis of my book, R is for Rose.

In 1989, I purchased the little guy in a gallon can from Vintage Gardens, at The Celebration of Old Roses. In those days I didn’t research a rose's growth habit. I just assumed it was a mini, since it had such tiny leaves and flowers. I planted the rose against a fence near a gateway to our back garden. When twelve-foot canes erupted, of course  I was shocked, but also thrilled, because the canes would form an arch over the entrance.

 

‘Rouletii’ is one of the first roses to bloom in early spring. One morning, as I admired the swooping canes, fully clothed with blooms all the way to their tips, a thought passed through my mind. Make an R for the word Rose. Hmmmm----------oh----------my mind raced. Yes, I could form an oversized R, photograph it, scan it, and then use it as a decorative cap with typography. My life was all about roses, surely I needed a rosy R.

The rest is history. The letter turned out great, and when I saw its photo it dawned on me that the R was ‘Rouletii’s’ initial! I immediately wanted to make another letter. Thank goodness 'Lady Banks' was also blooming. I made a B. Next came the entire alphabet, but that’s another story. Let’s get on to the arrangements.

ARRANGING 'ROULETII'

 

I assumed 'Rouletii' was difficult to arrange when it was time to take this picture for my book. The canes are long and quite prickly. This was an awkward attempt, but the vase, not the rose, was the problem.

 

Working occasionally with Martha Sturdy's resin vases (their breadth is about 5-inches) made me think I should give arranging 'Rouletii' another try. I wanted to see if I could contain both ends of the canes in long arcs. You can see that I added two vases together to maximize cane length. This arrangement was world's easier to put together, and it highlights the unique style of the blooming canes.

 

Small roses on big shrubs offer both grand and humble possibilities for arranging. This is one of my Mother's demitasse cups. If you wanted to give something like this as a gift, it would be good to tie the stems together.

 

Smaller yet, but how cheery!

 

Finally, 'Rouletii' inspired the artist.

Tea Roses Part I

A Visual Feast from Jocelen Janon

        Kauri Creek Bouquet– the light rose is 'Baronne Henriette de Snoy', the other is most likely  'Archduc Joseph' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

When I saw this photo on Jocelen Janon’s Facebook page, it made my head spin with even more love for Tea Roses. The picture also reminded me of how much I look forward to studying the roses gathered each year at The Celebration of Old Roses. Eight-foot tables display collections from each rose family – Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, Mosses, Chinas, Portlands, Hybrid Perpetuals, Teas, and many more are poised to be passionately observed. It’s a unique opportunity to see the special characteristics particular to each group. It’s also a great time to compile your wish list.
The 2009 Celebration of Old Roses is on May 17, from 11:00 to 4:30 at the Community Center in El Cerrito, CA, at Moeser and Ashbury.

At the 2007 Celebration, I was newly infatuated with Tea roses, and had a wonderful time  choosing the roses I wanted in my garden. Since my Teas are small, and I don't have that many photos, I asked Jocelen if he would like to share his Tea images and be this post's guest photographer. He generously agreed. 

'General Gailieni' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

        'Papa Gontier' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

I particularly enjoy how Jocelen likes to photograph roses both in the garden and in the vase. His work is exquisitely represented on his website, Rosarosam, which is a vast treasury of roses, rose gardens, and beautifully illustrated articles about roses.

'General Schablikine' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

        'E Veryat Hermanos' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

'Jeanette Nicol' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

'Comtesse de Labarthe' photographed by Jocelen Janon.

Jocelen Janon was born in France, and has lived in New Zealand for the last six years. He has a fine arts degree and began his photography career with architecture and events, and now includes horticulture and food. He was a contributor to the recently published Australian book, ‘Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Climates.’

Thanks Jocelen !

Rose of the Week – 'Chevy Chase' Part II

Growing Three Ways in One Garden

After a full day of rose enjoyment, I was about to leave The Celebration of Old Roses*, when a pert little red rose, named 'Chevy Chase', caught my attention, and purchase. The rose bloomed beautifully the next spring, but mid-bloom when long canes began shooting up, it looked like I had a rambler on my hands. Since space was an issue, I trimmed the canes for two years, until I traveled to England and saw pegged roses at Sissinghurst.

Pegged

On my return, the new rose pegger (me), now relished those long canes and all the circling, twisting, twining, and tying. The end result looked like a modern sculpture! See the results below.

 

'Chevy Chase' is a bountiful shrub no matter how you grow it, but when pegged like this, there’s almost no end in bloom production. I’d harvest an armful and you couldn’t even tell.

Trained as a Climber

 

When my husband built our beautiful deer fence, I wanted a Chevy that climbed. The canes propagated easily, and in the picture above, the climber is only two years old, spread out on 27-feet of fencing. I love how the sun happened by for a little highlighting to show the extensive reach.

 

Here’s a bloom view from the outside of the fence. By the way, the deer in my neighborhood don’t show much interest in this rose.

 

This is a peek from the inside. My garden is color-themed, and ‘Chevy Chase’ provides a rich backdrop for the dense plantings in front. R. glauca is to the far left, ‘Baby Donnie’, ‘Sweet Chariot’, ‘LD Braithwaite’ and ‘The Prince’ mingle with Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’.

Free-style (unpruned for a year)

 

Last summer, when the canes were ripping through the air and cascading in awesome arcs, I didn’t have the heart or heft to train them, and decided to let them make their own special statement.

 

If you’ve been following ‘Rose of the Week’, you know that this post is late, because I was waiting for Chevy to bloom. I tried for two days to get good shots of the unpruned version, and so far this is the best I can do. Photographing the whole shrub is always a challenge and the light wasn’t what I would have liked, but I hope you can get the idea. It’s so much more impressive in real life. This is the front of our property along the sidewalk.

Next year, I'll have to cut it back or risk a takeover.

 

People wonder what the tall plant to the left is. It's Melianthus Major and this is the first year it has bloomed. I originally planned to cut off the flowers when they first emerged, but I let her go and wow what a look, especially with the seed pods forming.

Chevy Chase is tough, flexible, and cooperative. The leaves are grayish, dry, leathery, and crisp. Small, sharp prickles grab my wrists as I harvest. Blackspot is minimal. Sturdy, long lasting blooms do not bruise easily, and rain does no damage. However the flowers have no fragrance and, for me, it's a once-bloomer.

*The Celebration of Old Roses is next Sunday, May 17, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Community Center in El Cerrito, at Moeser and Ashbury.

Jars Make Great Rose Vases

      Hmmmm..... What's with the olives, you wonder? Well they go great with tacos and when they're gone, the jar becomes one of my favorite rose gift vases.

This morning my husband said I should pick a bouquet for my osteopath (I had an appt. this afternoon.) Usually I ignore him when he says I "should" do things, especially when it comes to bouquets. Maybe I'm softening. I not only made one for my O but we were invited to a lunch for visitors from India, so I decided to make two bouquets. Leroy (my husband) kindly took the labels off the jars, which by the way, came from Trader Joes.

 

Thinking about two small hand-held bouquets, I took a bucket into the garden and went around picking two or four stems from each shrub. I removed the leaves that would be in water with my trusty thorn remover and then placed the stems in the bucket.

In the kitchen, I emptied the roses on to the counter and began gathering the stems in my hand, one at a time. The magenta 'Yves Piaget' is a stunner isn't it? The bouquet on the left has one on the back side. The stems were cut the length of the jars and become part of the over-all look.

The roses included– 'Apricot Nectar', 'Graham Thomas', 'Poulsen's Pearl', 'Evelyn', 'Belle Story', 'The Pilgrim', 'Common Moss', 'Belle Isis', and 'Yves Piaget'.

At the doc's office they went nuts over the roses. Cooped in an office on the second floor of a building in Emeryville, who wouldn't love a lively fragrant bouquet? I "should" give roses more often.

 

The Celebration of Old Roses Part II

        This is the Hybrid Perpetual table at the Celebration of Old Roses. Nowhere in the world will you find displays of so many antique roses in one place.

The Celebration of Old Roses is coming up soon! Mark your calendars for Sunday, May 17,  2009,  from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will be held at the  Community Center, in El Cerrito, California on Moeser at Ashbury. For those of you who live in far off places like Louisiana, Australia, India, I hope this post gives you a sense of how fun it is.

Here is an excerpt from my book R is for Rose about my first visit to the Celebration in 1989.

A carnival atmosphere swung me into a throng of Old Rose lovers. Plant vendors lined both sides of the walkway outside the entrance. The delectable roses and perennials tempted me to stop, but I had to see what was going on inside.

At the entryway, stood a tall basket that looked like a wicker wedding cake. Packed close together on three tiers were numerous and varied Old Roses in their well-known pinks, mauves, and deep violets.

Walking past raffle tables displaying tempting prizes of superb rosebushes, I tried to contain myself as I entered a scented sea. A rectangle of long tables in the large room displayed a vast assembly of roses. Arranged by family, the roses were all carefully labeled in clear glass bottles. Even though I was by myself in the large crowd, I started laughing – overwhelming beauty had me laughing! I perused the roses intoxicated by fragrance and splendor. Taking reference notes was useless – I wanted every rose.

       This is a close-up of two little bouquets that I brought to the Celebration from my garden, in 2006.
At the back of the room, artful arrangements of Old Roses waited to be judged. Additional vendors had display tables against the walls. You could purchase a dollop of rose jelly on a cracker, accompanied by a recipe for 10¢; a flower-shaped cookie with rose flavoring for 25¢; china hand-painted with roses; rose clothing; rose greeting cards. A tiny lady who must have been 90 years old, stood waving an astonishing sphere of pale peach petals, like a flag. It was a poppy. She offered to send seeds when the pods were ready. I signed my name and address on her seed list and gave her $1.25. When I was able to tear myself from the room, I walked by the plant vendors again. I purchased two roses I had been looking for, 'Belinda' and 'Ballerina' and what looked like a darling mini rose labeled 'Rouletii'. I left the memorable event in great happiness.

        Miriam shares the picture with the famous climber 'Belle of Portugal'.

In 1975, Miriam Wilkins founded The Heritage Rose Group. She lives on a hill above the El Cerrito Community Center, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. The Celebration of Old Roses, held at the center the first weekend after Mother's Day, was her idea and is the group's labor of love to introduce Old Roses to a wider public. The members focus on the preservation, history, re-introduction, and identification of these roses.

Read more about Miriam here.

 

Rose of the Week – 'Chevy Chase' Part I

Hand-gathered bouquets and more

This week, I’m putting the vase before the shrub, because my garden's most recent incarnation of the rose ‘Chevy Chase’ is not yet ready to be photographed. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this unique rose, try to picture the shrub from the photos here, and see if your imagination comes close to the real thing. Part II will post a few days from now.

It’s Just a Posey

Originally, posies were fragrant hand-gatherings of flowers that women, and even men, carried to mask the unsavory scents of the old world. Today, they've inspired an indispensable method for arranging roses.

Flower arrangers gather one bloom after another into their hand, and enjoy the process of how good the flowers look together as the bouquet expands.

The posey stems, above, are wired to form a nice poof. The wiring creates a mobile bouquet that's fun to experiment with. I like to see how the bouquet looks in different, similarly sized, containers. Following are three distinct looks.

 

This is a modern look in a beautiful Klein Reid vase available at Florali.

 

The roses take on a traditional look in this metal urn.

 

Silver repousse lends an air of opulence to the blooms. All three treatments would look good as a dining table centerpiece.

Posey Bow

 

'Chevy Chase' has compact bloom clusters that gather easily into a small posey, perfect for gift wrapping.

Let It All Hang Out

The next two images give clues to how the shrub grows. However, I have some surprises for you next post, you'll see 'Chevy Chase' growing three different ways.

 

This is an acrylic vase by Martha Sturdy, also available at Florali. One cane of 'Chevy Chase' makes a dramatic statement, and holds its own in this large container.

Wildly Ambitious

That's me when it comes to arranging roses. Anything for a picture!

 

When I saw the open base on this 5-ft. tall tuteur, I noticed that a square glass vase would fit nicely inside. I thought, why not try placing long canes in the water and weaving them up through the wire. It worked beautifully and once again I marveled at how cut canes last very well in water.