The heirloom rose bushes are on the outermost border of the rose garden, probably because they are the biggest. Yes there are many many modern hybrids but they do have more heirlooms than most public rose gardens, especially Florida, with room for them to be full size.

It's been a wonderful spring for roses in the Sarasota area. Great weather, not a lot of rain to spoil the show. I'm going to try to get to Ringling very soon before the heat arrives. I saw gorgeous Anne Olivier in that garden which is why I now own 2 (still small).

Denise

I've not been to Ringling since they renovated and opened the residence. I was last there about this time of the year abt 5 yrs ago, but FL had experienced a much colder than normal Jan & Feb that year. The rose gardens weren't very impressive during my visit -- I don't know if that was because of the weather, or because they were in need of some renovation too. I spent most of my visit just reading labels. I'm quite certain there were no Knockouts at that time. From one rose snob to another, I'm sorry to hear that there are now.

Carol, welcome to Florida! I've lived in Sarasota (couldn't believe DH was going to get paid to live in paradise when we moved from CT), but I didn't grow roses then so never went to the Ringling rose garden. Personally, I love the humidity and prefer it to the lower humidity winter. My hair curls better and my skin isn't crackly and wrinkled - without moisturizer.

Better go back to spreading my load of composted horse manure! It was raining for a little while but now it's stopped. I'm sure it's really, really humid now, but I guess it was before when it was only misting. I didn't really notice.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Hello Rose Snob,

One of my favorite places in Sarasota in the Dark Ages was Siesta Key. You might easily spend an afternoon and evening there. Beautiful white sand on a public beach. It doesn't cut your feet like the sand on Lido Beach. Vegetation galore surrounding many homes that are beautifully landscaped, and an excellent seafood restaurant with an expansive view of the Gulf. (The name escapes me, but at one time it was the only or main seafood restaurant on Siesta Key.)

I once stopped the car on Siesta Key and asked a home's gardening worker whether he knew the name of a smallish gorgeous blooming ornamental tree up next to the house and he replied something that sounded like "frangea pangea" to me but I've never seen or heard of such a thing since then. It likely won't grow here in NC anyway, but whatever it was, it was something special.

We've had enough of a mild winter on the east coast that it might not be too cold to slip into the Gulf water there now. You don't want to try that at Christmas there, but maybe soon, if not now.

Best wishes,
Mary

An afterthought...

"frangea pangea" is, of course, a misspelling--a wrong guess--or I'd have found it by now.

I put the letter "e" in there to soften the "g" sound, not to add another syllable. The name the gardener called out to me might have been one word or two words. At any rate, it had the sound of

fran-juh-pan-juh (4 syllables in all)

I don't know whether the gardener might have been a native Spanish speaker or not and if so, whether that would have influenced his pronunciation. I vaguely recall thinking that he might be from Cuba. The pronunciation seemed a bit slurred to my ears. I just assumed he could understand my question. (I don't think fran-juh-pan-juh is Spanish for "No speak English!")

If you have any notion as to what the proper spelling/name of this ornamental tree is, I'd appreciate knowing. I don't have a real need to know, of course--I'm just curious.

The flowers, as best I can recall, were on the small side but produced in large prolific bunches close together that you could easily notice and admire from the street. The ones I saw were a rosy dark pink. I think the foliage was thicker and shinier, different from a Mimosa and the flowers had more substance. The form of the plant as a whole was more like a Mimosa than a camellia. It didn't grow straight upwards an it had substantial limbs curving around the corner of the house. I only saw the tree from the car in the street, a good distance away from the actual plant, so I could be wrong on some of this.

Anyway, if this ornamental grows in your area, you might consider it. It's lovely, lovely.

Best wishes,
Mary

Just guessing, Mary, do you think it is 'frangipani' or plumeria? If it would live here, I'd want one too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Plumeria

I would too. It has one of the classic perfumer's scents.

Cath

I just SP'd 2 frangipani (plumeria) small trees after giving them almost 3 years to perform. Funny part is that my gardening neighbor down the street found them in the landscape trash bin on trash day and took them home.(He asked if I "meant to throw them away? lol)

They are very, very easy to start from cuttings that have a "Y" shape. My problem with plumeria is that for much of the year they are leafless stalky things which want much more water than I will provide.

Frangipani make wonderful blossoms that are the basis for Hawaiian leis and exotic perfumes. No place for non-performing divas in my small garden.

Denise

Lucky you to get to go someplace and smell the roses!

>Just guessing, Mary, do you think it is 'frangipani' or plumeria? If it would live here, I'd want one too!

Absolutely, that's it!!! Too bad it doesn't grow in NC, but I already knew that. I've only ever seen just the one. But it was a beauty.

Some winters it can get pretty cold in Sarasota but this one was right next to the house so I guess that's what attenuated the temps for this tropical plant over many years' time. It was fairly large and well-supplied with attractive substantial foliage. I saw it in the summertime so I don't really know how the foliage looked in winter.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Best wishes,
Mary