Rosa mutabilis is best known for the way each flower changes colours, often over a single day. Continue reading “Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’ (Butterfly Rose)”
Gallery of Roses in Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, MS
Greenwood Cemetery has one of the best collections of cemetery roses in America. While the roses are pruned, they are never watered other than by rain. I’m offering this celebration of Greenwood Cemetery’s roses largely without commentary so you can enjoy them in peace. Continue reading “Gallery of Roses in Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, MS”
Droopy Roses: The Ones That Nod
Most articles online about drooping roses are geared towards fixing a problem. Cures suggested for a drooping rose include:
- Watering it more (assuming the rose is wilting)
- Watering it less (assuming its roots are staying wet and rotting)
- Feeding it (assuming the plant is lacking some elements)
- Feeding it less (assuming persistent elements have built up too much in the soil, or that the canes are outgrowing their strength)
- Staking, growing against an obelisk or training as a climber in the case of vigorous roses
- Hard pruning
- Diagnosing it with one of several rose diseases, then treating the problem
- Leaving it be (assuming that the canes will strengthen enough to support heavier flowers from the third year on).
It’s not hard to see how gardeners might get confused. Continue reading “Droopy Roses: The Ones That Nod”
Rosa ‘Tranquillity’ After Dusk
“You live a normal life and it’s quite difficult to realise that this normal life is coming to an end.”
–Â Man in Ukraine, BBC interview, 24th February 2022
From Bud to Bloom to Hip: How a Wild Rose Sets Seed
Continue reading “From Bud to Bloom to Hip: How a Wild Rose Sets Seed”
Rose Bedeguar Gall (Robin’s Pin Cushion)
Some rose diseases are so easily spread and devastating that I have a horror of them (rose rosette disease or crown gall of roses, for example). On seeing these mossy galls, despite the overactive alarm message, ‘Do not touch!’ flashing at the forefront of my mind, I did get close enough to take pictures. I vaguely remembered what these fuzzy growths were but needed to look them up to be sure.
I need not have been so alarmed: Rose bedeguar gall, known as Robin’s pin cushion or mossy rose gall, is neither a disease nor as harmful to the rose as might appear. Continue reading “Rose Bedeguar Gall (Robin’s Pin Cushion)”
Susan Rushton 