The Rose Riot is on its Way

That went fast.

Late winter to early summer in three weeks. And, with it, everything is growing out of control. We generally have a little more time to do seasonal work. Last year it was cold and rainy through June 18th, the day of Anne’s Celebration of Life. This year, for the past two weeks it’s been sunny and in the high 70s. I’ve even had to water already. In the Pacific Northwest!

Cantabrigiensis started blooming a few days ago and today looks amazing. This is usually the first rose to bloom. The other spinosissimas are following and I noticed the Austin roses around the house are ready to burst.

Because of the heat and lack of rain, pruning quickly turned into dead wood removal and tying up lose canes. The roses on the pergolas, especially pergola 2 which holds many Barbier varieties, have been particularly troublesome this year. The bounty of wildness and cascading blooms were built upon the deadwood of the year before for almost 5 years. People loved the look but roses need to be revitalized by removing old and damaged canes or they will fizzle out. In addition we’ve had two unusually long cold winters that caused die back. We started seriously pruning and clean up in April on Pergola 2, but were not able to complete the task before the heat. With the blackberry vines growing with a vengeance from last year’s removal and the spinosissima transfer project, we’ve had to divide our time between all three tasks.

The great thing is that the ramblers are very forgiving. I’ve gone into priority mode, paying attention to those roses who have recently been rediscovered after removing berry vines or brush or, for whatever reason, are not thriving. Most of the ramblers have large roots to find their own water, have enough sunshine, and have outcompeted the weeds that grow around them. They will be fine for a little longer.

The spinosissima rehoming project has been on hold for the past week because of the high temperatures, but today it was overcast and cooler. We took the opportunity to move another wingthorned rose. This one was much easier to get out and we quickly brought it back to the property, put it in the hole we had dug prior, put in a layer of phosphate rock and soil to help with root growth, watered it well, and filled in the hole. I believe that this is the R. sericea pteracantha. There are seven sericeas being moved in total and while one can tell that they are sericeas by their thorns, it is difficult to discern the individual varieties until one has observed their bloom and other characteristics. The tags that identified them are long gone. However, Leonard kept a listing of all of the roses in his garden so by process of elimination and observation I am confident we will be able to identify each rose.

Last week we moved the El Areana rose, a Geschwind hybrid of Harrison’s Yellow (pre-1910, former Austria-Hungary). It was a beast, taking two full days to carefully dig out the roots. However, it was worth it. In her book of Ramblers, Anne says that it was lost many years and discovered growing in Norway in 2003. Anne imported this rose and because it was a spinosissima hybrid though that Leonard Heller should have it for his collection. Above you can see the picture of one of the flowers and the entire rose bush shown in July of 2011 in Leonard Heller’s garden (photo by Anne and used in her Rambler book).

The third picture is of El Areana, after a slight trim, as we began the task of moving it. As Len said, “Anne gets her rose back.”

I was more than worried about moving her in the heat and she has shown signs of stress. I was relieved today when I went out to check on her and found two new canes and new foliage.

A Chance Virtual Meeting…

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Donald Rogers from A Reverence For Roses, Inc. while participating in a Central Florida Heritage Rose Society meeting via Zoom (technology does have its bright moments). He mentioned that he has about 50 of Anne’s roses at his nursery.

They have a special interest in preserving and distributing heritage roses and sell own root roses propagated on site.

Until next time…

I’ll leave you with a few special moments of joy from this past week at Anne’s Gardens.

Shown above from top left: Rosa moyesii (Geranium) Anne’s most anticipated rose; clematis – perhaps manju; a moss rose; lilacs on the front fence; the Austin’s off of the front porch; Allard (from the Leonard Heller collection); and Rick’s friend, an Anna’s Hummingbird.