When we came to live at Rosehaven Cottage (before it became Rosehaven Cottage) things were pretty barren around the non-existent gardens. There were a few rosebushes around the property that had been hacked off (some to the ground) along with a pomegranate that had also received the same treatment.
One rose that grows along our fence line was chopped to the ground. I didn't even know it was there until it started sending its canes forth as if to say it still wanted to live. Now, gardening wisdom always tells us gardeners that roses which grow from root stock won't be very spectacular in looks or aroma. Something inside told me to ignore that old gardeners' wisdom. I let this one grow from the canes it was sending up.
I'm glad I did.
This lovely pink rose (of unknown variety) rewards me every year with unseasonal blooms. So when the rest of the garden is bleak looking, there will be these amazing, large, pink, blooms beckoning to me from the back of the garden. The bloom pictured above was offered to me on Christmas Day 2007. Talk about a wonderful Christmas gift from the garden!
This rose is an old rose. At its base, I unearthed a dedicatory plaque that the former owners had put in to celebrate the construction of a covered lanai that we've since had to take down. The plaque reads 1961. I imagine that the rose was planted with the plaque and is over 40 years old now. It's seen a lot, I'm sure.
Our neighbor (that has been here since 1961) told us that the back of our garden used to have a Hawaiian theme with a small rock waterfall and the lanai. That must have been what the pink rose was planted into. But all the Hawaiian beauty was in ruins when we arrived and completely unrecognizable. However, now that part of the garden has become MY "Hawaii garden". The pink rose must find this very interesting that things have come round full circle.
As I was creating the above image I thought it deserved a vintage look.
A big thank you for the old paper texture from playingwithbrushes.
A second texture is from PhotoshopRoadmap.
A big thank you for the old paper texture from playingwithbrushes.
A second texture is from PhotoshopRoadmap.
What a wonderful find! My grandmother had a rose garden in Ohio and I loved to walk along the rows and look at, touch, and smell all of the different varieties. I miss old rose plantings...they smell so good in comparison to all of the hybrids one finds today.
ReplyDeleteThat pink rose is beautiful. I am glad you could help it come back to life again!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pic with a lovely story. I am so glad you gave it a chance. It has reminded me to ask you about whether there is an available print to buy of the lilac rose with this background/texture that you had in a previous post.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing better than a plant, or whole garden, with a story behind it! Wow, roses for Christmas - that's incredibly special.
ReplyDeleteI love the story of the pink rose! You've made the photo beautiful too. Whenever I have moved from a house, I've left a map of the property with plants identified on it. I wish everyone would do that!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo of the Rose, and a very Lovely story about the Rose.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving
Hugs;
Alaura
Cindy, lovely rose.
ReplyDeleteBTW I love winter here in Canada because of the pomegranates, lol. I have almost one a day, hope it is okay to have that many, lol. Anna :)
I guess there is no way to know for sure but could it be a Queen Elizabeth?
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! It was planted in my birth year. How nice. :o)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how determined some of those old roses can be. I tried to kill a 'Blaze' climbing rose many years ago and just couldn't do it. When we made Max's Garden, I once and for all decided if that rose was going to grow, then I'd just put it back there and I dug it up. O.M.G. I wish you could have seen the roots on that thing! They were tree-like in their thickness! I'd never seen branches or roots on a rose quite like that. There ended up being seven starts and each one of them lived and are now climbing over the split-rail fence on the south side of the garden.
ReplyDeleteI love what you did to the photo.
Ever since we were little, me and Beth were shown that not everything should be done by the book...i.e. baking, cooking, gardening, cross-stitching, knitting etc.
ReplyDeleteA good example of this is how Mum has always done her cakes; a few eggs, a bag of flour, some sugar, a splash of milk and they always turn out perfect. It's amazing! She hardly ever measures anything but it turns out fine and has regularly sold out of her cakes at school fairs, galas etc. She does a similar thing with gardening. I don't know how she does it! She doesn't look at the instructions of seed packets and just guesses at when things can be harvested.
I love all roses but pink ones have a special place in my heart. We used to have one over our back gate at the old house with the field behind and each time I went out with Tia or the dogs, I would smell the beautiful scent it gave each summer. I miss it but once we move I am hoping to find the same kind of rose again...difficult though because I don't know what kind of rose it was! LOL
Happy Thanksgiving! Hugs from Meg and cats xxx
The gardens are our canvas; the flowers our artwork.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Such a beautiful picture of such a lovely rose. How wonderful that you kept that one cane, and that the rose returns every year, a piece of house history. Some things are just meant to be.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!
BTW, I'm hosting a Giveaway over at my place, if you want to swing by and enter.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Carolynn