A most treasured rose…

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I’ve been downsizing considerably and have been trying to find homes for what’s left of our container roses. This is a a big deal, well, for lots of reasons, but mainly when I consider about how many I once had growing in containers, alone. I think the tally was somewhere around 65 roses in pots!

I was even referred to once, by a total stranger, as “that lady with all the plants in the driveway” and afterwards started to feel a bit self-conscious. Probably because of that, and the fact our seasons are so weird with late snows occurring in April, it just became unrealistic to keep so many in containers–all that moving back and forth into the garage for cold protection–and that’s when they started going in the ground.

But we ran out of room, and steam, for digging holes in the yard and I had about 8 container roses left that needed homes. I thought it would be a piece of cake giving these away but it was getting to the point where I literally felt like I was begging people to take them. What the heck? At any rate, 4 more have been claimed and that leaves me with 1 left–the one I just couldn’t bear to part with. Can you guess which?

If you guessed “Arcata Pink Globe”, you’re right! I treasure this rose for so many reasons. First, there is the sentimental value. Then, of course, there’s the fact this rose is hard to come by now that Vintage closed–it’s not like I can easily get another like the David Austin roses I gave away. And then there are the traits you want in a rose, or any plant for that matter. Totally disease free. Robust growth. (The size of mine is kept in check because it is still in a container but I could see this reaching gargantuan proportions if left in ground.) A lovely, arching habit with pretty foliage in autumn. Those things are all very well and good, but at the end of the day I grow roses for the flowers and Arcata Pink Globe does not disappoint!

I mean, really, look at this. How beautiful are these blossoms?

Seriously beautiful!

Last spring my Baltimore Belle bloomed for the first time, too, which gave me a chance to finally compare her blossoms with APG. In our garden, they are similar but BB’s flowers lean more towards white. They look pretty side-by-side, don’t they? Their habit seems very similar, too, but I’m still new to growing BB so time will tell. (I like her, though. Like Mme Plantier, she doesn’t seem to mind being in a shadier spot.)

I’m hoping that next year I can propagate several cuttings from this rose to share with others. (In point of fact, I thought I was able to root a cutting last summer but I think that I mislabeled it. That one shall remain a mystery until it blooms.) Sometimes I daydream about doing something more with plants besides just writing about them and taking pictures. Recently someone said to me some very wise words: “When a lot of people keep telling you the same thing you should be doing, that’s what you should be doing.” Well I suppose I’ll mull over that one and leave you with this last photo, and a question: Do you have a special rose in your garden you simply could never part with?