Saturday, January 18, 2014

Rose Alphabet: A and B

It is a quiet time in the garden (still waiting for rain), and I have finally succumbed  to some rosarians' winter pastime of making an alphabetic list of my roses and adding a few notes on how these roses do for me.

Pat Austin
I garden in a Mediterranean climate with mild winters and dry summers. The prevalent foliar diseases of roses in this climate are powdery mildew and rust. Blackspot is rare in our low humidity. Although unsightly, mildew and rust are not nearly so detrimental to a rose's health as blackspot (even when sick, our roses keep most of their leaves and are thus able to maintain vigor). Many roses grow large because of a long growing season and lack of winter freeze damage.


 Our native soil is heavy alkaline clay rich in minerals but poor in organic matter. In my garden, planting beds are amended and mulched.












 Many of my roses grow in only half day sun. Because of high heat and light intensity, providing some shade for the blooms helps them last longer without diminishing their quantity.



It is important to keep all this in mind because roses do badly or well depending in large on the climate in which they are grown.




Amazone (tea, Ducher, 1872)

'Alexander Hill Gray' at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden
This is the name under which I received my rose from Chamblee's nursery a couple of years ago. I agree with those who think that it is very similar to, or the same as, the found rose sold as 'Alexander Hill Gray'.


Mine is growing vigorously and blooms well. It is one of the mildew-prone teas. Not much more to say because it is still quite young.






Angel Face (floribunda, Swim and Weeks, 1968)



It is a very well known rose, still widely grown more than 50 years after its introduction. It has mauve blooms with wavy petals and a wonderful fragrance. The petals often develop an uneven (and unwelcome) purple edge.



Its growth is not very vigorous, but it sets many blooms in regular flushes. It is one of the few roses that blackspot here losing a lot of leaves by midsummer.


However, in my garden Crepuscule and a lavender penstemon do a great job of hiding its mostly naked canes, so I don't mind the blackspot.







April in Paris (hybrid tea, Zary, 2007)

I bought this rose the year it came out, on impulse, sight unseen, because of its name. As if this wasn't foolish enough, I bought it as a tree (standard) rose, which is more than twice as expensive as buying a rose bush. Never again :) Its color is innocuously described as "pink blend", which in this case means pink blotches on a greyish background. It often makes me think of a skin disease.




However, the color is this rose's only drawback. It blooms almost continuously, it is completely healthy, very vigorous and wonderfully fragrant. It has a "lollipop on stick" growth habit typical of a hybrid tea. The blooms are always well-formed with high centers and it never blooms in clusters.

Sometimes, even the color is beautiful :)






Baron Giraud de l'Ain (hybrid perpetual, Reverchon, 1897)


In its day it was a novelty rose, and even now remains very unusual, with the ruffly look of its blooms enhanced by the white edging on the petals.


I remember this rose growing as a typical stiffly upright hybrid perpetual at the San Jose Heritage. In my garden, it grew long spindly canes, completely naked but for two or three leaves on a few short laterals (picture below).  Rebloom, as with many hybrid perpetuals, was far short of spectacular. The only truly perpetual thing was the mildew. It's gone.






Basye's Purple Rose (hybrid rugosa, Basye, 1968)


Dr. Basye was a mathematics professor at Texas A&M University who also bred roses for disease resistance and smooth canes. He was apparently very displeased when his breeding efforts produced this not-so-thornless rose:


Despite taking the prize for the most prickles of any rose in my garden, it has much to recommend it. It blooms a lot even though individual flowers do not last, petals drop cleanly, it is healthy and strongly fragrant. Its most striking feature is a deep velvety red wine color of the blooms.


New canes are also very dark plum. In fact, the rose is so deeply pigmented that dark spots sometimes appear on the leaves too (picture below).


My rose is own-root and suckers enthusiastically. It becomes moderately chlorotic in my alkaline soil, but does well with annual sulphur applications. The foliage colors nicely in the fall, as you can see.





Beauté de l'Europe (climbing tea, Gonod, 1881)

This is one of the roses Vintage Gardens imported from France two years ago and that I finally received this fall.  It is a thornless climber, which was its biggest attraction for me. There is some debate as to what this rose really is. I have nothing to contribute because mine is still a ten-inch twig. It did set buds three times in the three months I have had it, so I will take it as a good sign. It has been clean so far.




'Benny Lopez' (found rose, damask perpetual, discovered in 2005)

'Benny Lopez' arrived at my house in January 2011 as a small sucker from a gracious online friend.
Since then it turned into a beautiful rose blooming generously and growing with good vigor. The blooms are full and fragrant and changeable in color, from pink to bluish purple to crimson.



It has an upright growth habit, with prickly canes, healthy foliage and generous clusters of blooms. It suckers modestly.






Bishop's Castle (English rose, Austin, 2007)

This was one of the first Austins I planted because of its beautiful blooms and lovely fragrance. It was also one of the first I got rid of. Can you see why from the pictures below?


If the blooms are so gorgeous it is not obvious, here is a hint: they  all hang upside down. Apparently this rose grows well for quite a number of people, but not for me. I waited for years for canes to become thicker and stronger. All I got were octopus arms. The more I pruned the longer they grew. They finally reached 10 feet in length, at which point I realized that I lost the fight and dug it out. There are too many other pretty pink roses.






Break o'Day (hybrid tea, Brownell, 1939)

A lovely old fashioned rose with double apricot blooms and clean foliage on a small bush (own-root). It stands up to heat very well too.








Buff Beauty (hybrid musk, Bentall, 1939)



Many hybrid musks are grown to great effect as stand-alone shrubs: they have long thick canes that arch creating a beautiful fountain shape with blooms all along the canes. Not this one. It has a prostrate ground hugging growth habit and will not stand up without support.









Other than that it is a wonderful rose. The fragrant blooms are produced in large clusters. They are also some of the fullest among hybrid musks. Rebloom is good and foliage clean. Also very heat tolerant.



44 comments:

  1. I am sure your rose alphabet will be very sucessful. Thanks for sharing this.

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    1. Thank you, Isabelle, and I am very happy to hear from you again!

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  2. Angel's face... I'm in love with it! Here, in Italy, winter is too hot, and it's rainning too much. If cold don't arrive, spring will be rainny... A tragedy for gardens.

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    1. Marta, I wish you could send some rain over here, we are desperate! I don't even care about a wet spring anymore, anything not to have to deal with water restrictions and watching my plants die...

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    2. Praying a black cloud to go to you... ;-)

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  3. Hello there Masha! I was wondering if you would tell me what type of camera you use for all your rose, perennials and critter pictures. I would love to know. All the rose portraits are gorgeous by the way and your blog is a pleasure to go through. I feel invigorated from looking at all the beauty in your gardens.

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    1. Karine, I use a Nikon D3000 mostly with a 105mm micro lens. I shoot RAW and always post-process. Thank you for your compliments and I am glad you like the pictures.

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    2. Thank you for your prompt reply!

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  4. My God !! Thank you Masha ! Here are of small sweetnesses to savour ! I am going to follow this series with a lot of pleasure!

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  5. This alphabetic list of your roses a very good idea!!!!
    Buff beauty is in my garden.Moschatas roses are my favorites!
    Baron giraid de l'ain is a delicate french rose: magnificient color!

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    1. Merci, Sophie. I know Baron does well somewhere, I am glad it is in your garden. I envy you because I also loved the blooms.

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  6. Gosh... you really shouldn't show me all those beauties... haven't got the space for all of them :o). I especially liked the Baseys Purple Rose... so lovely.
    Have a cozy Sunday
    Alex

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    1. Alex, I wish I could send you some suckers...

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  7. wonderful pictures, making curious to see the garden in real. Have a good time, Michael

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    1. Nice to meet you, Michael. I do have some posts on the garden as a whole too :).

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  8. Masha what a beauty you are showing. We are in winter overhere (without any cold). My hands can't wait to prune the roses but we have to wait overhere untill March because wintery weather can come in untill then.
    I can't wait to read your next post.
    Have a wonderful day.

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    1. Marijke, thank you. There are so many roses I am not sure I will ever get to Z, but I will do my best :)

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  9. What a wonderful idea to document your Roses, A to Z! And it's a great treat to those of us in the cold climates. I would like to view this post several times--it's so beautiful. I couldn't possibly pick a favorite. But I must say, I do like April in Paris--at least how it looks here on your blog. Lovely!

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    1. Beth, I am glad you like it although it probably looks worse in reality :(.

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  10. What an amazing garden. Even those that didn't make the cut are wonderful. In SoCal I get rust, rust, rust. Thanks for sharing .

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    1. Zooperson, thank you. There are quite a few roses that are rust-resistant, maybe try a few more?

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  11. I love and appreciate all these beautiful pictures, thank you very much for sharing with us.
    Can I add your blog to my list of favorite Blogs to share with all visitors?
    Thank you very much and good evening

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    1. Thank you, Emmanuel. Feel free to add my blog to your list, I appreciate your asking.

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  12. Zawsze podziwiałam Cie za znajomość róż . Umiesz się nimi opiekować i masz efekty, są piekne. Pozdrawiam.
    I always admired you for knowing roses. Can you take care of them and you have the results, they are beautiful. Yours.

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  13. Hi Masha, I posted a comment yesterday already, but I accidentally may have pushed another button than the enter key :-(. I really like that you are doing a rose alphabet series of posts. I always was curious to know, which roses you are growing in your beautiful garden :-)! Since I live in a similar climate your descriptions about how they do for you are especially valuable for me and I will take some clues from that. I was toying with the idea to get 'Bishop's Castle' but I certainly don't need another monster rose that can't hold up its blooms. Your 'Angle Face' is very pretty, blackspot or not, and I love the combination with the lavender penstemon. Looking already forward to your next installment! Warm regards,
    Christina

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    1. Thank you for persevering, Christina, sometimes comments just disappear... I think if you really like a rose, you still need to try it for yourself, maybe it would do better for you...

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  14. I love your honest assessment of these roses! Very useful. Angel Face is an absolute disaster here in the humid Southeast without a strict spraying regimen. It looks wonderful with your penstemon and Crepuscule.

    Your roses are gorgeous and I am looking forward to your next installment.

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    1. Sweetbay, thank you.A blackspotted rose is quite an unusual sight around here so I can only imagine how AF does in your area :(

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  15. Your garden is truly incredible if you have so many gorgeous roses, and we haven't even got to C yet! I was trying to pick out my favorite. I think it is a tie between Pat Austin and Break o'Day.

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  16. Deborah, thank you. It was quite a bit of work writing this post, so I fear I might run out of steam before I reach the end of the alphabet. I can't believe I have a rose under Z....

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  17. Such a long post, and only two letters down! You certainly have your work cut out for you.

    Questions, questions, I have questions: what kind of supports do you use for your roses? I am just about to plant Buff Beauty, and after your comment about it needing support, I'm curious. Also, do you use any type of rain catchment system? I have been considering it...

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    1. Lady of LaMancha, my BB is espaliered against a fence. Its canes are thick and not very trainable, so e.g. pillaring would not work. As for rain barrels, they were illegal here until recently (something that had to do with farmers having first claim to ground water I think but I am not sure). While they can be installed now they are not at all efficient in this climate: the rains come in winter and spring (in theory) and then not at all for the rest of the year. In other words, the rain barrels would get filled once, emptied once and then not get refilled until next winter...

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  18. De bien jolies photos pour une fleur qui le mérite bien...

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  19. Baron Girod de l' Ain is certainly an unusual and pretty rose. Wish I had more room in my garden. But course there is the drought in my part of the state too. So I probably should not even be considering planting anything new! I do enjoy seeing the photos of your roses, though!

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  20. Dr. Basye had better just stick to math, just saying. Beside that I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your candidness and honesty Masha. You haven't tried to "sell" the rose myth (I just made that term up). So many gardeners put forth ONLY the positive aspect of their roses, leaving the rest of us wondering so much goes wrong with ours. Thank you Masha for ALL your helpful insight. Notably I have to stick with the roses who WILL grow well in my area. Not all the roses are great for all the gardens. I have a lot of success stories with my roses but I also have a lot of bad experiences. Thanks for being REAL!!!

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  21. I am hoping my roses are as glorious as yours this summer. After the black spot plague that ripped through my garden last year, I spent quite a while last fall creating an organic proactive approach to solve the problem. Blackspot is endemic here, unfortunately. I love the combination of penstemon and roses. Only the native cultivars with the white flowers thrive here. Love all your stunning photos. They keep me motivated to conquer blackspot!

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  22. I planted Bayse's Purple last spring on my Rose Bank and I am really looking forward to its first full season. Here in the upper elevations of Massachusetts roses have to be really hardy.

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  23. I have been gone too long from these glorious roses....and they are as beautiful since the last time I saw them. I just love lingering over each one as they appear real enough to pick!

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  24. Thank you for this lovely rose fotos! My heart is beating fast, they are so wonderful. The first orange rose is one of the most beautiful I think. I'm waiting more:)

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  25. Dear Masha, I've seen many Buff Beauty as a self standing rose bush and mine is completely self standing too.

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    1. Thank you for letting me know. I remember asking around when I just bought it and other people also seemed to think it has a prostrate growth habit. You must be doing something special to yours :)

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  26. It is prostrate but self standing, it has a mushroom/umbrella form. Nothing special, it has just grown like that.

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I am so glad you have stopped by!