Rose Notes

Honoring Rosarian Miriam Wilkins

Dear Friends– There is so much in the old rose world to mystify and entrance us. Now as the roses spring forward and buds of known and unknown beauties form, I find the old excitement rising, filling me with wonder. The old world goes oft awry, but there is always the comfort of the garden. Miriam Wilkins

Miriam Wilkins was a rose mentor to many, including myself. This morning, after learning about her passing, I wanted to somehow honor her in the garden, with my camera. A combination of morning dew, and light rain from the day before, jeweled the old fashioned roses she loved so much, and they sparkled for her.

 

 

 

More About Miriam

Miriam's quote, at the top of the page, was taken from the second issue of the Old Roser's Digest, which she founded for the Heritage Roses Group. For those of you who don't know about this remarkable and inspiring rosarian, here are a few articles that you might enjoy:

The Celebration of Old Roses was founded by Miriam, and this article was written as a promotion piece for this world-famous rose event.

Honoring Miriam Wilkins is about a December evening, in 2008, when Miriam was honored with a plaque on the El Cerrito Wall of Fame.

Miriam Wilkins' Old Rose Bouquet dissects a rose bouquet I gave Miriam on her El Cerrito award night, last year. Twenty-nine old fashioned roses from my garden joined the party.

R is for Rouletii, a chapter devoted to Miriam in my book R is for Rose that appeared in American Rose, the magazine of the American Rose Society.

Thank you Miriam, and rosily !

The Rose, Mrs. B. R. Cant

I would mold the world of fire and dew. William Butler Yeats

Aside from cooler temperatures, and the rich light and shadows caused by the ever lowering angle of the sun, another autumnal plus, for rose photographers, is the length of time dew remains on the roses. It's 9 a.m. and Mrs. B. R. Cant, shown here in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, is still getting her face washed.

November 7

I received an email that the beloved rosarian, Miriam Wilkins, completed her life's work, and passed on this morning. (I prepared this post yesterday– maybe Miriam is now happily washing her face in rose dew.) My friend Susan just posted the following beautiful comment– which couldn't speak more eloquently:

I'll never forget visiting her glorious garden with you...winding our way through her maze of roses that seemed to go on forever. I can't help but think that all the roses of the world are singing her praises this morning.

Mutabalis- Rose of the Month

Mutable- ORIGIN late Middle English: from Latin mutabalis, from mutare 'to change.'
 

"The color of 'Mutabilis' varies as it changes by the hour," wrote Janie, one of my blog commenters. Noon sunlight shining and shading these clever blooms called for, not one photo, but nine.

This China (from China) Rose is pre-1894. The shrub couldn't be more modern or more appropriate for today's gardens. A mature plant will weather severe cutting back and no water. That's exactly what happened to ours last year when we built our home addition.

The photo above was taken before I had a digital camera. Yes, this is a 2.25 Hasselblad transparency. (It's fun to show it here, and am I happy I don't have to deal with them anymore!)

I shot the transparency when the bush was about three-years old. The gallon pot is to let you know how small the original plant was. Note the new fence.

Here's 'Mutabalis' at the end of October (this year), after one big rainfall. You can see the  6-foot high fence has aged. Now picture the rose cut back, last year at this time, to five thick canes four-feet high. In the spring the shrub regrouped, and through a long hot summer it was watered, maybe three times (it doesn't rain here in the summer).

Some people call 'Mutabalis' a "glorious weed", because of its vigorous growth habit. The fence keeps ours supported and in check. If you have plenty of room the shrub can reach 7' x 7' or even more. One strong pruning a year is essential, unless it has room to grow wild and free.

BOUQUETS

Few roses find their way into a bouquet of lilacs. My friend Mary gave me these lilacs on March 27, my birthday, and I couldn't resist adding stems from the only blooming rose in the garden. 'Mutabalis' even provided Mary's March wedding bouquet, several years earlier.

At full-bloom stage, 'Mutabalis' makes a great show in a bouquet. Thin stems allow a generous gathering in a narrow vase.

The harvest here was taken at bud-stage. The shrub had only just begun to bloom, and I had to wait until the next day, to photograph open blooms.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Ghandi.

Pamela Temple- Raiser of Roses

I see the garden as a large never-ending work of art, my life's work. More than that it is a work of heart, part of me. Pamela Temple

My dear friend, Pamela Temple, lives in a paradise like no other. Some of my life's most precious moments have been spent under the bowers of her roses. Since she has so many roses (well over a thousand), both Pamela, and a few birds, have had fun planting seeds. Eight of Pamela's rose seedlings are now available in a special offer from Vintage Gardens.

Pamela's roses are listed and described in the October 31st newsletter from Vintage Gardens. Go to their website, and download the pdf, which is posted on the home page.

 

For two years in a row, I had the blissful pleasure of photographing Pamela's garden. Please take a look at the resulting slide show, and if you'd like to read an article about Pamela, her husband Michael, and their garden, click here.

Vintage Gardens Roses and Flickr Tips

Buff Beauty

Mrs. Oakley Fisher

Dr. Brownell

Crepescule

Perle d'Or

All these luscious roses grow in my garden and were purchased at Vintage Gardens. This renowned mail-order nursery, owned by Gregg Lowery, is located in Sebastopol, California. Rare, antique, hard-to-find, and modern roses are included in the Vintage Gardens nursery collection. More than three thousand cultivars make the collection the largest in the world.

I'm ever grateful for this unique nursery, but gratitude can't keep a business afloat during these challenging economic times. On October 31st, Gregg Lowery sent out a newsletter stating that Vintage Gardens would be scaling back production in the future.

In Gregg's words copied directly from the newsletter: The very good news for today is that Vintage Gardens is extremely well-stocked with roses, most of which will not see a return to our inventory for many years to come. We hope this will help you to make the easy choice between a latté on monday morning and a lifetime with a rose in your garden, and in your heart.

To take advantage of this rare opportunity, download the availability lists on the Vintage Gardens home page.

Vintage Gardens also has a catalog (only $15.00) that is one of my favorite rose research tools. It's invaluable, not only for its three thousand rose descriptions, but also for its rose lineage information. And the line drawings, showing shrub size in relation to human figures, have helped countless times in my rose planning.

'Perle d'Or', the last rose photograph in the group above, has the #5 growth habit.

The Unknown Rose

Now, if Gregg pops in to see this post, I hope he can tell me the name of the rose, above. It's a climber by the hybridizer, Poulsen. I'm sorry to say, I misplaced the label.

Gregg got back to me right away; it's not a Poulsen rose after all. This is 'Opal Brunner', a Polyantha Climber bred by O. C. Marshall in 1948.

F L I C K R

All the roses in this post are in my Flickr Rose Faces Set. I added more roses to the set recently, and thought it might be a good idea to post the Flickr Tips for you again. Most of the roses, and all the rare ones, in the group are in the Vintage Gardens collection.

Flickr Tips

When you click on a rose picture (in the flashing flickr box), in the sidebar at the left of the post, above, you’re taken to that rose’s flickr page, which has a number of choices– starting from the top right at my picture:

1. If you click on my pic, you’ll be at home page. Don’t go there at this point.
2. The “Carolyn Parker’s photostream” thumbnails are all the pictures I’ve loaded to flickr; some are not roses. Don’t go there yet either.
3. The next set of thumbnails “Rose Faces (Set)” are where I’d like you to experiment. If you click on a picture, you can see the roses one-at-a-time, and the captions, and helpmefind links.
4. If you click on the little screen icon where it says, “­­­­__ items,” the slide show will begin. Before you click, get the popcorn or a cup of tea . . .
5. See where it says “Tags” in pale gray? Try clicking on a rose color, say “peach rose,” you’ll be taken to a page that shows all the peach roses in the set. How great is that?
6. Now, click on the title (also in pale gray) that says “Rose Faces (Set).” Voila, there they all are.
7. Last but not least, simply placing the curser on a rose in the set grid, will flash the rose's name.

Enjoy!

November 4

Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday Judy !

The cute little girl on the right is my sister, Judy– that's me on the left– and my brother, Robby, is in the middle. Funny that the Desoto was thought to be a nice backdrop. We are wearing matching pink nylon, dotted Swiss dresses that my mother made for us to wear to our Aunt Patty's wedding. I like those flats and socks.

November 3, 2009

The Sun Behind the Sun

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun. Pablo Picasso

The glowing centers of five-petal (single) roses always remind me of the sun. I photographed these two yesterday. Can anyone guess which rose this is ??? 

November 2

Gratitude

Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday morning, after a photo frenzy with some rose buds, I looked at the kitchen counter. The formica expanse had a cluster of the week's vases, ready for putting away. Shoot it- I thought- don't move anything- no styling.

As I clicked, I plunged into a rapture of gratitude for loving photography. Later, when I looked at the shots, I liked one and thought- why not post just the one photo and find a gratitude quote for it?

As the day progressed with more photography, blog reading, and photo processing, it occurred to me that it would be fun, and a challenge, to post something everyday in November. 

Happy November 1st!

Hallow or haunted ?

L X I X

One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.

Far safer, of a midnight meeting
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That whiter host.

Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase,
Than, moonless, one's own self encounter
In lonesome place.

Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assasin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror's least.

The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O'erlooking a superior spectre
More near.

Emily Dickinson

Barbara Worl's Autumn Garden 2009

How would you feel about entering the fantastical garden of a treasured, Bay Area rosarian? Once outside Barbara Worl's gate, I forgot everything! I was there to interview her, but didn't even have a pencil and paper. I did have a camera though, and managed to take this image of Barbara as she came out to greet my friend Mary and me. The neighbor's kitty, Firecracker, checked us out, and then we were allowed entrance into Barbara's magical world.

It's hard to believe that Barbara's lush, other-worldly garden is on a modest city plot, located near downtown Menl Park, California. Well-pruned fruit trees– guavas, kumquats, peaches, persimmons, and tree-leaping roses form a canopy, hiding Barbara's home, and sheltering a horticultural paradise. Light enters the canopy lace, and spotlights garden details throughout the day. In the back garden, amaranth rules the kingdom.

Roses and dahlias thread their way through grasses, clumping asters, lilies, rudbeckia, Japanese anenome, abutilon, salvias, solanum, and endless other delights.

Mary and I couldn't stop the exclamations and Barbara was a cheerful fount of stories and horticultural gems. Stay tuned, I have much more to show and tell you about Barbara, and her garden, in a future post.