Friday, June 12, 2009

The Product of Excessive Rain.....

.....Has been that my old fashioned roses have produced like I've not seen in years. Yes, gentle readers, this is again a flower post. Apologies, but I love these flowers, and if my soil was better, and the yard more protected from the elements, I would probably own as many as I could afford to buy!
Normally we do not get the quantities of rain at the time of year necessary to produce roses like the ones pictured, or they bloom out, we have one storm and they are gone. So your authoress is revelling in their splendor, perhaps a bit too much........
The top rose is one I call my "Railroad Rose" as it was dug from the edge of an old railroad, but it was apparent that at some point, the property had been that of a home as there were other flowers too. I usually lose this one to some sort of bud bomb, so having pics is wonderful. The scent is very sweet but different from the others.

This is a delightful moss rose, and though it doesn't show much, there are little fuzzies all over the buds and stems. Rub your fingers across them and a rich, heady, cool-spicy scent is given off. I always remember the fiber piece I did "Attar of Roses" which was inspired by this particular rose. The flowers are so richly scented that it is easy to stand and smell them and forget about yard work........and the photo still does not quite represent the vibrant hot pink/magenta color.

I have carried this rose with me on every move, as it belonged to my grandmother and possibly came from great-grandmother's house. It is a typical cabbage rose and is virtually thorn less. If you cut the flowers, it needs to be in bud stage as once they open, the following day they will shatter completely. Touch the canes even lightly and showers of pink rose petals go everywhere. Again, the scent is completely different than the other old-fashioneds; this being lighter but more what one would associate with a typical rose.

I am not sure where this beauty came from; it could have been a cane from a friend or it could be a mutation of the Railroad Rose, as this is the first year it has looked like this! Ah, the wonder of flowers and what they do on their own! That beautiful golden center is rich with scent that is both sweet and woodsy at the same time. Not at all like the green spiciness of the Moss Rose, but there is a connecting undertone.
As an aside, the china pattern my great-grandmother chose for setting up housekeeping was "Moss Rose" of which there are numerous variations, depending on who produced it. I still have some of the dishes of the fine thin, delicate china, and each time I look at a moss rosebud coming open, I think of her.
Hope you have enjoyed this little trek through my antique babies; there are catalogs available FULL of older roses that have been rescued from extinction and it warms me heart that in a day of hybridization to the point of no scent what so ever, people have taken the time---actually made it their MISSION---to retain these magnificent specimens, and there are many. It boggles the mind.
I hope they have brightened your day a bit and I sure wish you could send scent through the computer! You would be sure you had arrived at the gates of heaven!
Have a marvelous, bright, creative day!
P.S. For anyone trying to contact me, my usual e-mail address is again not working. Use the Yahoo address, and use it all weekend. The normal process of losing e-mail on Friday thru Monday is once again in action........good old Omnicity! I might as well change over to the other one as my primary, except I just got 200 business cards printed with the northcc addy.........grrrrrrrrrr......

9 comments:

My Vagabond Heart said...

I hesitate to say roses are not my favorite flower. But the tour through your roses reminded me of my grandfather, who raised roses and that is good! I'm glad someone is happy about all this rain!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Well Vicki, the roses are the ONLY thing that have made the rain worthwhile! I have a bog of a yard, I need to mow, they're supposed to be here sometime today to haul out the roll off container and that ought to leave massive ruts in the yard......
But the roses look good! I'm just partial to the old-fashioneds. The hybrids are to prissy and too much trouble, plus no scent.

Leslie said...

As all ways, thanks for sharing them. Still sorry about your ISP woes.

Talking Horses Arts said...

Well at least you have roses ( none here this year, the hail storms toke care of that one). The email..well what can I say..seems we are back at that subject again..lol...
The pics are so pretty that I can smell the roses here....Sniiiffffff
Andrea.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I wish I was rich....I'd put up my own server and provide proper service to people.
The roses are LUSH! I love those things......but boy are they a bear to trim and keep healthy, especially that moss rose. The dead canes could be used as lethal weapons! Sorry you lost yours to hail.....it's always something.

Linda and Michelle said...

Good luck with the email! We're in good shape here, but we'll leave for a short vacation on Monday, so I'll be without computer - hard to adapt, as I am so used to checking! Thanks for the roses - miss the scent!

Tristan Robin said...

geesh. I love roses - and yours are really like photos of a turn-of-the-century cottage garden. One can almost smell them through the photo!

I don't have any roses - no place that they will grow. But my neighbors have them and I always have to steal a few blooms every year.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

In my dreams Tristan! I just am a creative photographer, in cropping and the angle that I shoot from. Sadly, this year, I have a weed garden with a few blooming flowers!
But, they really are the old varieties, and if you lived next door here, I probably wouldn't have any on the vine...... ;)
Nothing like a hot bubble bath with a bouquet of old fashioned roses in the room to scent it!

My Vagabond Heart said...

A roll off? We have one at the office that hasn't been picked up because the roofer didn't pay for it! The recycling guy called saying he needed it and couldn't get in touch with the roofer. Any chance my dumpster is your dumpster???

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