Rose Season- Fragrant Blessings

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Salutations and Happy June to all my budding and seasoned rosarian friends! This month belongs to the rose and all her glory in many parts of our great rose nation. Here in Connecticut, our roses are very ready to explode into bloom. All we need is a little sunshine to make them burst forth, and sunshine has been sparse all this spring. Rainfall is finally at normal levels, but we’ve had many weeks of overcast, cooler than normal weather. I don’t remember ever seeing so many oversized buds in my gardens ready to pop all at once. CT Rose Society’s annual rose show usually falls on Father’s Day and most years, I am finished with my first flush by then. But, this year, I think I am going to have beautiful roses to bring to the show! Let’s go, sunny days!

I love all roses and I grow as many as I can. There are all different shapes and sizes of rose blooms, and each variety has its own season. This early bloom in my gardens belongs to our Old Garden Roses, or OGR’s. The miniature roses are also beginning their show in my Neighborhood Garden out by the sidewalk and street. Many of my OGRs reside in my Rose Forest Garden under the trees out back. These are the ones that bloom only once and do not need full sun because they will not reset buds until next spring, before the trees leaf out. They are all blooming right now and their fragrance is heavenly! A few blossoms floating in an antique cut glass bowl bring the heady rose fragrance into the house, and every time I venture by, I breathe in pure rose. Mmmmmm…

Mm. Pierre Oger

The rose pictured above is ‘Mme. Pierre Oger,’ a bourbon rose from 1878. She is a sport of ‘La Reine Victoria,’ and I love her globular two-tone blossoms: the softest blush bordered by darker pink. As a bourbon, Mme Pierre is a remontant, or reblooming rose. She showers me with beauty and fragrance all summer long! Mme Pierre has heavily fragrant blossoms and perfumes our whole back yard while she’s in bloom. She smells fruity and rosey…almost like rosey apples! It is a fresh, clean scent.

OGRs

I got permission from my neighbor two years ago to take cuttings from an old rose in her yard that someone planted well over a hundred years ago. I rooted two cuttings and gave one to my friend, Chris, for her garden. I’ve been doing the calligraphy on the awards cards at our annual rose show for many years now, and I fell in love with one of the winning OGRs a long time ago. Her name is ‘Celciana,’ and she is a semi-double light pink rose which is 4″ across. To me, my neighbor’s rose looked just like her. Last year, my friend Dave gave me a chunk of his, and the first blossom opened yesterday. I nipped it off the plant and brought it over to the first bloom ever on the plant I started two years ago, and sure enough!! It IS ‘Celciana.’ I am thrilled! She is so beautiful, so fragrant: such a treat for all the senses! She is a one-time bloomer, and will begin the rose season in my garden forever.

Growing OGRs

If you haven’t tried OGRs in your garden, you really should make some space for a few. Most of them will get pretty large, but the one-timers will grow on happily in the shade as they set their buds before the trees leaf out. When winter arrives, their hips (or seed pods) ripen a beautiful red and that gives winter color to our snowy rose beds. Also, the birds will eat the seeds in that cold season. Bourbons, some Gallicas, and Portland roses rebloom all summer and have the old-fashioned form that people love the David Austin roses for. Most of these have heavy fragrance that lingers on the senses and make me swoon!

Plus, most of them are the first to bloom, many by the middle of May, when I just can’t wait for my roses to start performing! Be a little patient with the old ladies as they need two-year wood to bloom on. Modern roses bloom on new and old wood. It is worth the wait for these special roses and I am so happy I have them in my gardens.

Pay lots of attention to the roses in your gardens. Enjoy the colors and fragrances, and be sure to visit all your beauties every day! They will love you for it, and their performance will thrill you. Happy Rose Month to our Queens of the Garden with love from your Windsor rosarian!

Meet Marci Martin

Marci Martin has loved roses for as long as she can remember. From the time she was a little girl, she was fascinated with how…

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