Sentimental Attachments

It is no surprise that one of the reasons we love particular roses, is because of the sentimental attachments they hold.  It may be for such attachments that I keep growing Gertrude Jekyll.  I had to go back and scan these pictures from 1996 of our kids, Anna and Thomas, beside Gertrude.  Gertrude was the first rose I tried pegging, in order to get more blooms along the laterally bent canes.  As you can see it worked, and even if I say so myself, it worked pretty well.

I always find it interesting (when viewing family photos) to see roses in the background.  They are a part of the mood and memory of our lives.  Remembering Anna in kindergarten and Thomas in preschool are the foreground to which I grew my first English Roses.  Angie took these pictures, and it must have been Mother's Day, because I notice the pinned red roses each of them are wearing.  That is a tradition I don't see many people following these days, wearing a rose to honor your mother on Mother's Day.  You wear a red one if they are living and a white one if they are deceased.

In recent years I have been letting Gertrude grow more naturally.  Philosophically, I like to let roses grow as they do by nature.  Left to her own devices, Gertrude Jekyll grows tall, 8 & 1/2 feet tall in the picture below.  This plant is three years old and had been pruned very little.  If Gertrude blooms at the end of her canes, at 8 & 1/2 feet, I won't be able to smell them and I am 6' 2".  So this year I am thinking about pulling those long canes down and pegging them so that I can enjoy her blooms all along the laterally trained canes.  This will take a little courage for two reasons.  First, these canes are strong and while a bit stiff they are just flexible enough to be bent down (think bend not break).

The second reason is that Gertrude Jekyll knows how to defend herself with some of the most vicious thorns of any rose I have grown.  Looking down into the plant, it looks like I could thin down the canes some too, but I really do like to let roses determine how they grow and what they can support so don't expect me to thin it down much. 

So 15 years later, on Mother's Day weekend of 2011, here are those wonderful kids all grown up with their mother and me.  This family we have grown together is what I am most proud of in my life.  With Anna studying in Switzerland this semester, Thomas in his first year of college, and Angie teaching at Rose State; it feels like one important phase of our lives as parents is closing even as other roles and ways of being together are emerging.  Although you wouldn't tell it from the gray in my beard, it feels like spring in my life.

This Mother's Day I am going to try to get a picture of them with Gertrude just for old time's sake.   Wish me luck.  It may take a bit of work to get them together but I'm hopeful even if a bit sentimental.

Layering - An Easy Way to Start a New Plant

Before the advent of modern roses (rose with stiff plant structure typical of the hybrid tea) tall canes would sometimes be bent over and held to the ground with a peg.  Pegging as it is called, is a way of causing a rose bush to bloom all along the length of the cane rather than just at its end.  A rose usually blooms at the end of its growth but when it is pegged so that the cane runs laterally it sends out shoots of growth just above each leaflet which will produce flowers.  Pegging is a technique I have used on some of David Austin's English Roses as well as some Hybrid Pertetuals.  I use a chain link tie (which looks like a tent stake) to peg my roses, but any stiff hooked wire will do. 
           Gertrude Jekyll is an especially good candidate for pegging as it will send out very tall canes which are stiff but not so stiff that they can not be pulled over.

While Gertrude Jekyll has fallen out of favor with many growers because of her growth habit (she is sometimes referred to as a Jolly Green Giant because she often grows straight up rather than out) and the fact that she falls prey to blackspot very easily.  I enjoy her vigorous growth and see her as something of a small climber and I forgive her trouble with blackspot because her flowers are very beautiful and some of the most fragrant you will ever come across.  Additionally, her Spring/early Summer flush of flowers is one of the most dazzling displays you will ever see.  I will share pictures of her Spring blooms once the time comes.

           Another way of pegging a rose is to bury the end of the cane in a technique that is called layering. 

Layering produces the same affect as pegging with the added benefit of producing a new plant.  Notice in the picture above how the cane on the right arches as it is bent rather than creased to bend it (think bend not break).  To layer a rose you dig a shallow hole about 2 inches deep and 6 inches long.  You pull the cane down and lay it across the length of the hole with a couple of inches extending out the other side.  You use the peg to hold the cane down and then bury the part that is in the hole.  The example pictured above was buried about a week ago and will remain exactly as is until the Fall.  One way you can usually tell that it has begun to grow roots is when it sends up new growth from the part that is buried.  In the Fall, when it has likely started to produce roots, I will sever the new plant from the mother.  I then leave the young plant in place all winter to let its new roots develop. 

Yesterday I dug up two new plants of Gertrude Jekyll and transplanted them in the park rose garden.  Those who do not like Gertrude will think that I am trying to punish someone, but my hope is in coming years they will be in full bloom at the Kolache Festival (the first weekend in May) and add to the beauty of the day.  The small plant to the left is one that is now making its home in the Prague Rose Garden.  This way of starting new roses is a great way to share the joy of roses with others.  Such a new plant when potted up also makes a great gift.  Remember though that for 20 years after introduction in commerce most roses are protected from asexual reproduction (which layering or rooted cuttings are examples of).