In June of last year we said goodbye to Sherman Pruett. Sherman grew up in Prague, Oklahoma and was one of the full Czech members of the community. Though we were separated by many years in age I took an immediate liking to Sherman and I think he to me. In his last months he would tell me stories about growing up in this community, his service in WWII, and life as a farmer/rancher. After his funeral Eileen (one of his children who shares a common love of roses) gave me an envelope and told me to be sure to get a rose to plant at the parsonage in memory of her Dad.
I thought I was finished putting in new roses that Spring but I had a spot which was already prepared and I had always been interested in John Clements rose Braveheart so I ordered one up from Heirloom Roses. As you might know John and Louise Clements started Heirloom Roses with a very extensive catalogue of Old Garden Roses (OGR) and was the primary source of own-root English Roses in the United States. I think John was something of a haphazard breeder using what he liked, which often included miniature and English roses and not necessarily together. Having long been drawn to the red English Roses and having ordered roses from Heirloom since the early 1990's I had always been interested in Braveheart but had never ordered it. Set free from any plans and with this gift I decided to step out and try something new. 
Braveheart is a cross of the floribunda Tamango with the English Rose The Dark Lady. It produces a very full, true red rose in the English style on a plant that is very floribunda-like. Stems on Braveheart are stiffer than most English Roses and currently my plant is a little over two feet tall producing many blooms in rather large clusters. I planted this bush from a small band just one year ago later this month, and it has made a nice home for itself. It has been very healthy and regularly produces flowers. So far it has been very much like Sherman - small in stature but with a big, good, kind, and generous heart.
Here you see Braveheart planted near Rhapsody in Blue and an unknown daylilly. You might notice how much lighter the color of Rhapsody in Blue is in our 95+ degrees days.
Here is a picture of me, Sherman, and his bride of 60 years, Lena when I was honored to present a declaration from the Oklahoma State Legislature on their 60th anniversary.
With a full heart, Rev. Scott
What a wonderful thing to do. I use to drool over the Heirloom catalog list, but I have never ordered from them. But those were the days before HMF when photos were not available.
ReplyDeleteA nice tribute, Reverend. And to Grouchy; I've ordered from them for years; very dependable firm with good quality bands.
ReplyDeleteProf!...I prefer not to order "bands" at my age. I don't buy green bananas as well.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the hijack Scotty.
(Grouchy, you made me laugh!)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Scott, for the post. What a lovely tribute to your friend.
Losing dear old ones is so painful.
Braveheart seems a fitting memorial to your friend. Beautiful rose!
It is amazing how quickly those minuscule bands from Heirloom take off. If the plant likes the garden, there's no stopping it!
Sandra
No worries on hijacking and like Sandra get a kick from most of your comments. Their catalogues in those days were what made the company and were beautiful. I do like HMF and try to contribute lots of photos as "Wellrounded." In the early days of my orders from Heirloom (early 90's) I recieved a few mislabeled plants and many were very very small but they always replaced a mislabeled plant and I never had one die.
ReplyDelete