In article ,
says...
I'm glad you like it. A lot of people think they never want to grow a
once bloomer, but I think they're missing some of the most beautiful
roses:
The first couple years I was thinking, forget about once blooming roses,
why would someone want once blooming roses? Took me a couple years and
now I think about 70% otherwise. I actually buy something less than that,
was a big zero in the once blooming category this year--I felt the need
for some fresh color out front-- Sunsprite is already lighting it up. Amalia,
which was a burly unit, I'm wanting to see that one.
Fortune's Double Yellow, Chevy Chase, Thor, Flora, Long John
Silver. I planted Gem of the Prairies this spring, and I'm fighting off
the urge to buy May Queen (I saw the prickles and go scared). Vintage
sells Thor every one in a while.
I've never grown any of these but I assure you, it makes my heart soar like
a hawk to hear that Thor lives up to its name--I had wondered.
http://www.rosefog.us/Roseoftheday/ThorOct02.jpg I'm enlightened.
I did see it in the Vintage Catalog back when they used to send it to me. I
did the Vintage thing a couple times, I'm too cheap though. 's like Hawaiian
coffee, which I can't imagine being better than starbuck's french roast but
that's just the hick in me.
I have a lot of fun with old roses, and it's got nothing to do with BIG--
I've got so many little trips going on, hither, thither, and yon. Watching
this one rose--a buddy of mine dug it up in Polvadera, north of here, along
one of the Rio G irrigation ditches, it's still very small, inches its way up
every year, it's up to maybe a foot now, with a few shy canes. Not showing
any signs at all of quitting, but not really going places. Still don't know
what it is. Still don't know what my other Rio G rose is either, btw.
It's a real buster, though. Immense, some kind of Damask hybrid.
Here's one of my faves, actually, been watching this one for three years, it's
Lady Banks. You can't miss it in this pic.
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~mstephen/ladyb03.jpg
Finally. It looks healthy and is evergreen, I swear. The apple trees nearby
took 10 years to hit their stride, perhaps this is the apple in Lady Banks.
I once went looking for R. stellata mirifica near my aunt's house in High
Rolls, NM, and in 10 minutes found R. arkansana, it was a Thanksgiving and I
really didn't think I had a prayer of finding any roses going down Fresnal
Creek, much less mirifica. (Arkansana is trying to take over the plantation
now.) If anyone interested does a websearch on Fresnal Creek, they will
instantly find--and to my GREAT astonishment just the other day, ThankYou,
Alice for the snail--that Fresnal Creek is preCISEly where you find mirifica
growing wild. This is less than 5 minutes by highway from where I found
arkansana.
Mirifica, meaning 'wonderful', joins the Gincko, Dawn Redwood, and cycads in
that rare group of plants called 'living fossils'. They evolved on
island-like mountains in a sea of desert when the lush Oligocene lowlands dried
up and became deserts. They look like cosmos and are the showiest flowers of
any American wild rose. Smell like hyacinth. Leaves like columbine. July
4 is just around the corner, and I'm all jazzed about the thrill of the hunt.
I was once sent a small root of Mirifica--as well as R. minutifolia, which
has the tiniest leaves of any rose--but this was like October/November and
sadly neither survived.
But I'll be finding Mirifica soon, its seeds are as good as in my pocket.
wink
So yes, I agree-- the world of roses extends WAY beyond those big fat hybrids
which we are all too prone to be satisfied with. As with all things, when
you expand you horizons, that's a good thing, Martha.
Unique Too wrote:
That's the color I'm looking for! Not only the color, but I love the
form. No wonder people wanted it. HMF doesn't have any photos of
this one, you should submit yours. Any rose this beautiful should be
shared. Maybe then others would fall in love and it would be offered
somewhere besides ARE. Since I'm out of sunny space anyway I'll have
to try a dark red in a semi-shady location. Since both you and Mack
agree, full sun must lighten dark roses. I should have bought that
Black Jade I saw the other day. 
Bill Hillman used to defend this rose to the nth degree--would always mention
that it still regularly wins queen at shows, or at least makes the table.
I grew it for a couple months a dozen years ago. Was in the first group
of minis I ever planted, learned plenty from it. Like what was going to
be necessary to grow these critters around here. That one didn't live very
long. The sometimes concrete that most big guy roses go way beneath is
right where most minis live, they'll just fry away in a day if you're not
careful.
Cass writes:
My blackest rose is Thor. It is a rich red in summer, but when the
days get short (and the bloom gets really sparce, like in October) it
is really dark and 5 inches across:
http://www.rosefog.us/Roseoftheday/ThorOct02.jpg
People are wild for a really dark rose. I took it to Miriam Wilkin's
Celebration of Old Roses, and three people wanted it bad. One took one
of the two blooms to try to root. Now, with the long days, it is the
darkest cherry red.
What kinda cherry?
hahaha. that's still another subject. You did say 'darkest' though, most
times this descriptor is left out.
m
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