Favorite Photo from Last Year




Buff Beauty, Hybrid Musk, bred 1939

  This is my favorite rose picture from last year.  While I am growing Buff Beauty at our current home (we moved in June of 2009), this is one I planted for my mother on Mother's Day 1994 and the photo was taken on Mother's Day 2010.  It was planted to grow over an arch which rotted out and was blown down in a wind storm in 2009.  You can make out where the arch was and see how Buff Beauty has held its shape even though it has shifted and dropped down some.  The bush lost about 1/3 of its size in the storm and the pillar was then added.  What is remarkable is the resilience of a rose bush to bounce back or to take a shape it might not by nature.  Without a pillar, arch or wall to grow against Buff Beauty tends to spread out over a larger area than it grows tall.  Yet with training and support it can grow to be a nice climber.  Maybe we can all learn something about resilience from Buff Beauty.