Roses of Memory

Cl. 'Old Blush' (background) and 'Zephirine Droughin' (foreground)

Jim from Buffalo pointed out in my fences and arbors post that I didn’t have any pictures of arbors. I then realized I’d only shown a closeup of the gated French arbor. I apologize. I’ve posted the arbors in winter before, but I’ve never shown them festooned in roses.

I don’t know about the picture quality. I had to go back to 2005 to find a spring photograph. This is from my oldest digital camera, an Olympus Camedia with 3.2 megapixels. I remember when 3.2 was a lot. For those who aren’t into digital cameras, my baby point and shoot Sony has six megapixels, and my new Nikon has ten.

The rose on the arbor in the foreground is ‘Zephirine Drouhin’, a bourbon, dating from 1868. Like many bourbons, it can be grown as either a large shrub or as a climber. I often see it listed in magazines as blackspot resistant. It is a beautiful, gloriously scented rose, but it is not blackspot resistant in central Oklahoma. In the spring, I start with picking off the affected leaves. By mid-summer, I am spraying. As many other bloggers say, I’m keeping it real, so I’m not going to tell you I never spray. I use different disease control sprays, from fully organic to chemical, which I can outline in a later post if you want. I do wear a mask and long sleeves for some protection, and I only spray if I must.

Another interesting fact about this rose is that Agatha Christie featured Z.D. as part of the plot in Sad Cypress. Does anyone know how? I’m not going to give it away.

'Jackmanii' Clematis

The rose on the arbor in the back is ‘Cl. Old Blush,’ a china. The climbing form is a sport of the old garden rose, ‘Old Blush.’ ‘Old Blush’ was a very popular rose in the south, and made its way across the country with the pioneers. Because of this, it is also known by other names including Common Monthly and Parson’s Pink China. Like all china roses, as the blooms fade, they become darker instead of lighter. The blossoms on ‘Old Blush’ look like crumpled up, light pink tissues. It doesn’t have the form of Z.D., but it does bloom more than any of my other climbing roses. This photo was probably taken in late April or early May because the arbors are completely covered. I have two bushes of ‘Old Blush,’ and it blooms so frequently that I hardly notice it after the first month or two. They are my first two roses to bloom in spring and the last to close out the season in fall. The arbor in the back was the entrance to my garden when it was a kitchen garden and the doorway to the original footprint. When we doubled the size of the garden by making a mirror image, we added the second arbor and another one in the center at the end. It is the one encased by ‘New Dawn‘.  The first two arbors were made by our welder friend. They were sprayed with black paint upon arrival. Maybe you can see the color in this photograph taken in May, 2006. It is a closeup of ‘Jackmanii’ clematis, which is very beautiful, but prone to verticillium and fusarium wilt. I spray it too. Good thing it clambers up into the Z.D. rose.