Welcoming Roses

I think miniature roses serve as a warm welcome to any home.  I might think this because my mother had and still has a nice row of miniature roses that greet you as you come in the front door.  Most of her roses were planted in the early 70's and were always there in my memories.  Ours do well despite being on the west side of the house and exposed to the greatest heat of the summer sun, but hey, that's where the front door is.  The minis are Autumn Splendor, Tattooed Lady, Sorcerer, and Vi's Violet.  The bed also includes three English Roses: Heritage, Mary Rose, and St. Swithun.

The entry was so sad when we moved here.  We moved in June of 2009 and I put the bed in and had it planted by July 4th that summer.  It didn't look too much better on that day of celebration but it was full of potential.  I over planted it and have since moved two roses out, Gertrude Jekyll moved to the back and Seattle Scentsation moved to the park.  Both are much happier in their new locations. 

This year's new bed pulls together what had been a grouping of day lillies, peonies, and what my Dad called Naked Ladies with a couple of Easter Lillies left over at the church with four new roses.  The two roses on the back side of the fence are Pam's Choice on the left and Cinderella on the right.  Cinderella is a start from one of my mother's miniature roses at her house.  It was planted there when my brother was born in 1970. 

From the front side are Queen Bee and Penelope.  This bed gets several hours of afternoon shade, ideal for our hot summer afternoons.  In the back yard you can see in the left corner of the picture what I think is Blaze Improved, one of three roses that were here when we moved. 

Jack joins me in looking across the backyard to see Blaze Improved, Gertrude Jekyll, and a group of blackberries growing on the back fence line.  The retaining wall around the back porch was added last year to keep water out of the storm cellar and what started as small fire pit has led to a growing expansion of the back porch.

Some of the men in the church built this new shed for the parsonage and Gertrude Jekyll, Unconditional Love, and Snow White decorate this side while The Fairy (not seen) is on the other side.

Since these are not the most beautiful pictures, let me share one close up bloom of Pam's Choice.  I'm really looking forward to watching this rose mature.

Paul Barden Roses I Grow

In recent years I have begun growing a number of roses created by the rose hybridizer, Paul Barden.  Paul studied horticulture in college and further studies in photography.  I think one gives him the science and understanding, the other the artistic eye for his work as a breeder.  Paul has drawn upon a wide range of influences and roses to produce the roses he has released to the public and even more so for the breeding stock he has been working with.  Undoubtedly, his relationship with Ralph Moore stands as one of his most significant influences and that is nothing but good in my book.  Paul has also made a significant contribution to rose growers and hybridizers through his website, http://paulbardenroses.com and his blog link above.  If you haven't before, do yourself a favor and visit his sight and click on some of the rose classes listed on the left.  You will be amazed by the photos and descriptions and don't be surprised if you look up to find that a couple of hours have passed by. 

Here are some of my observations about the roses Paul has produced and this is particularly true for the roses of his I grow.  First, their blooms tend toward the old fashion forms, being cupped or opening flat and quartered, much like the English Roses which stand a generation or two behind many of them.  Second, vivid color and fragrance are important and are almost always present.  Take for example a rose like Treasure Trail which, unusual for his roses, has little floral fragrance.  It certainly has the vivid color and while the typical fragrance is missing, it is made up for with the added balsam fragrance that the mossing on the outside of the sepals produces.  This fragrance is strongly released when the mossing is stroked.  Third, the bushes form and growth habit are that of a garden bush or shrub and not the stiff upright growth of a hybrid tea.  Fourth, the plants are healthy in my climate.  I have learned to be more conditional about this because different regions of the country have very different disease pressures on roses.  (An example would be that in the summer, I spray my roses down several times a week.  I believe this practice keeps my roses happy and healthy but in many areas people would be scandalized at the thought of intentionally wetting the leaves on their bushes.  That is because humidity can be a prime driver of black spot.)  These are my observations regarding some of the common themes that hold Paul's roses together.

So here are the Barden Roses I grow in the order I acquired them:

Unconditional Love 

Unconditional Love is a mini moss with cupped old fashion blooms scarlet to crimson in color.  The flowers have good fragrance from the petals along with scent of the mossing.  Unconditional Love is one of those roses that never disappoints because it is always in bloom and always healthy.   Mine is 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

Golden Buddha  

Golden Buddha is a Hybrid Bracteata which has intensely pumpkin colored blooms in the spring and fall and a lighter yellow in the summer. It is always in bloom, almost to a fault. In my garden the plant is only about a foot and a half tall and two feet wide. I wish it would get bigger and then produce the blooms it does. It may be because this past summer was the hottest on record in Oklahoma and that Golden Buddha had a hard time with the heat. Spring and Fall it shined in this its second year in my garden.

Jeri Jennings 

Jeri Jennings is a beautiful Hybrid Musk with buttery yellow blooms, wonderful tea fragrance and a nice spreading habit. Mine is grown in partial shade and has been very healthy.  This ability to perform well with partial shade is a trait that Jeri Jennings shares with other Hybrid Musk roses.  Some report dealing with black spot on this rose but this has been very minor for me. After two years it is four feet tall by six feet wide.

Treasure Trail 

Treasure Trail is also a moss rose that grows much like a floribunda. Its blooms are quite unique opening to shades of pink, yellow, and salmon with old fashion form and a button eye.  The flowers last a very long time either on the bush or in a vase.  Besides being the most heavily mossed rose I grow, Treasure Trail has the most leathery dark green shiny leaves and grows as healthy and clean as anything in my garden. In two seasons it has grown to about two feet tall and three feet wide.

Siren's Keep 

Siren's Keep is finishing its first year in our garden.  It has sent a couple of strong canes up to two and a half or three feet tall.  As I mentioned earlier, last summer was very hot and while the flowers held up well in the sun, I think the color was a bit washed out by it.  The color is described as fuchsia to magenta which is a couple of shades deeper than the attractive pink ruffled petals that I have seen this first year.  I have often noticed that bloom color will deepen after the first year or two.  I fully expect to see the deeper colors this coming year.  Its good sized flowers (four-five inches across) bloom in small clusters and have a strong old roses fragrance.  I expect to have many more photos and updates this coming year. 

Dragon's Blood   
I added Dragon's Blood last Fall and do not have any pictures other than when it came as a young band with Carlin's Rhythm.  Its flowers can be a smoldering fire orange/red but I have yet to see it bloom and will look forward to its growth this coming year along with the next two.

Pam's Choice

This may be the rose I am most looking forward to this year. I have always loved the flowers of Angel Face but it performs so poorly that I haven't grown it for years. In fact it is my wife, Angie's favorite and I am hoping the blossom of Pam's Choice might be used to get me out of the dog house some day. Here's hoping she will be a suitable replacement to Angel Face.

Mel Hulse 
I added Mel Hulse on an impulse to my order of Pam's Choice.  It is not that I hadn't thought about ordering Mel Hulse before, I just hadn't pulled the trigger.  Mel Hulse is a Moss rose which like Unconditional Love and Treasure Trail is the progeny of Ralph Moore's Scarlet Moss.  On the other side of its family tree is the English Rose The Prince. 

Here is to dreaming of spring's blossoms.