Mystery Rose

[pameladean]

The white rose of York bloomed copiously this year, providing great pleasure and an artless sprinkling of shed white petals in the unmown grass. Until a March snowstorm took out the bulk of the neighbors' ancient lilac, the white rose of York had been a leggy plant, with most of its leaves and bloom on top. Since the lilac went down, it's been making up for lost time with leaves all the way down the canes and many more canes. I had wondered early this spring about two of the new canes, which were exceptionally long but leafed out much later than the others. Those canes are blooming now. The roses are not white, but a deep velvety red. They are not stray canes from the nearby Henry Kelsey; the Henry Kelsey has flatter blossoms and its red has more yellow. These flowers look, in fact, just like the white rose of York, only, unaccountably, they're red.

I am not a rosarian. Does anybody know what's going on here? I'm perfectly happy with it, but I'm curious. I can't recall if this rose is own-root or grafted, but I'm fairly certain that it's the latter.

In less good news from the yard, I had to collect three dead baby rabbits and send them to their eternal rest this morning, and I was lucky not to have mown them up. Poor little guys.

In other news, the book continues to surprise me, but not as quickly as I want it to. I'm rereading all the Sue Grafton mysteries. I suggested to David and Lydy that maybe this was because my specific goal in writing this book is to have love and rhetoric without the blood, so maybe I need a bit of blood in my reading. David, however, said that Sue Grafton was so peaceful, and indeed, compared to many mystery writers (we discussed Rex Stout specifically), she is.

P.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The simplest explanation as I understand it is that your rose bush is very fond of John of Gaunt.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

I'd bet that your guess is correct: the root graft is throwing up the shoots.

Poor bunnies :(

[slb44.livejournal.com]

I do believe that the White Rose of York has Gallica in it's parentage so that might explain the red.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Ha! I have exactly the same issue with my white rose. I think all roses are grafted anymore, unless MAYBE you pay big $$$ at some heirloom rose place. I've had this white rose about 5 years, and this is the first time I've had red blooms on it.

I don't think of Sue Grafton OR Rex Stout as being particularly bloody. Sue Grafton is physical, as is Marcia Muller and Sara Paretsky, but I don't remember a lot of blood. Rex Stout is, of course, mental.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

"Mysterious red roses" often turn out to be Dr. Huey, which is the standard American rootstock and frequently survives its graft. http://www.ph-rose-gardens.com/00704.htm

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

If it is Dr. Huey (see below) you want to prune it out; otherwise it will thrive better than the rose of York and eventually replace it.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Mrissa wins . . . .

[kightp.livejournal.com]

IANA rose expert, but having cared for roses that had been let go to hell for a few years, I've experienced the same phenomenon; I was told by a master gardener that the blood-red blooms were from the hardy root stock sending up shoots of its own.

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

They're not always big bucks for the own-root roses ... I LOVED this place: http://uncommonrose.biz/r/index.html ... and am so sad that they've gone out of business. There'd been roses I'd had on my 'to get next time I order' kinds of lists, and now I may never get them. :(

spectre

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

The White Rose of York does have at least one sport according to a quick Google, The Jacobite Rose? Or is a sport itself. The references are muddled.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=6547
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=1.6788

But this does sound like it might be the rootstock?

In coincidoinkery, I just discovered what I think is a sport on my Canadien Explorer rose at the park. Just one branch and coming off the main plant. The flowers are doubled and more strongly scented than the parent.

[lcohen]

ah, rex stout. rex, you made me love you even though your writing is sexist, stout. *sigh*

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Just so. I reread them to this day, wincing slightly at the sexism (and racism) and reading on for comfort.

I think of them as fairly peaceful, myself. From what Sue Grafton I've read, I'd say she was less peaceful. Mileage clearly varies.

[tunxeh.livejournal.com]

my specific goal in writing this book is to have love and rhetoric without the blood

The R+G reference is making me wish for your book to be done and available for purchase even more than I already was. And anyway there was plenty of blood in The Dubious Hills, I think.

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

...perhaps your white rose of York married Henry Tudor when you weren't looking? It's unfortunate, but these things happen...

love

Catherine, who couldn't resist

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Aww, what a lovely post to see on my flist -- like someone popping a rose through the inbox.

I hadn't thought of it, but Grafton is rather bloodless -- altho I think that's part of why I like her, altho I think her formula got really tired. The last few books have picked up some for me, tho.

[darcydodo]

Presumably because the Queen of Hearts had them painted.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

For peaceful comfort mysteries, I like Josephine Tey, Sayers, John Dickson Carr. The Pam and Jerry North series was peaceful too.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

And was so comforting to me when I moved to Westchester County. The local area was familiar!

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

The rose question having been thoroughly thrashed out (I was going to mention the Queen of Hearts, myself, and am glad someone beat me to it), I don't feel too bad about changing the subject.

Turns out I don't have your address and can't find it in any of my usual resources, which means that I can't send you HENSLOWE'S DIARY, which is all packed up and waiting to come to you. Could you please email me at cordsher at gmail dot com?

New York is wonderful, by the way, but I do miss my garden. We lost all the climbing roses three years ago, to a particularly horrendous winter, but the lilacs would be blooming now, and the double-flowering cherry outside the bedroom window. Here, we have Riverside Park (which is not to be sneezed at) and a back alley strangely full of sun and possibility, once the crumbling back wall is repaired enough to put up a trellis. At the moment, however, I am bereft of dirt to play in and a little (just a little, though) wistful.

[pameladean]

It's a pity that I can't give you a corner of my dirt. I'm sure it would be the better for your ministrations.

Email with address should arrive momentarily.

P.

Re: spectre

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Ooh, take cuttings! Any rose with more scent is good.

Re: spectre

[pameladean]

Yep, my mystery roses look just like Dr. Huey (who knew a rootstock rose would be so pretty). It's going to be hard to prune them out, UNLESS -- somebody would like to advise me about taking cuttings.

P

[pameladean]

I don't mind the sexism so much until it runs right up against the Women's Liberation movement. Then it's absolutely idiotic. Archie's IQ drops about fifty points. He thinks that if a woman doesn't want to be a sex object, she shouldn't wear nice clothing or have clean hair. *gag*

P.

Re: spectre

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

I've retained mine too.. I think mine is coming up off one of the might have been Austins. ;-)

Re: spectre, and cuttings.. and yeah

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

.. that's sort of the question. I am traditonally horrible with cuttings. The scent piece is my main focus in the small level hybridzing things I am doing.

It does definitely deserve a try. :-)

roses

[(Anonymous)]

If you want to keep both roses, try to encourage the white-rosed stems to put out their own roots. You can do this by bending them down and burying a loop of stem in the earth. Once it does establish roots, you can cut it off from the original grafted plant-- and you now have an own-root white rose of York. An alternative is rooting a cutting from the white rose stems; this might be quicker but tends to be less sure and takes a little more assiduous care. I lean towards gentle encouragement and benign neglect with gardening in general. On another note, I see from ancient posts that you once wanted reminiscences of teen years in the eighties; if any would still be useful at this late date, please say. I look forward to your book, sincerely,
H.C. Grant

[themagdalen.livejournal.com]

<3.