Nice to meet you too Stasi. It was lovely and always so nice to see rose friends.

Yes, Stasi, it was nice to meet you. The roses looked so fresh and wonderful this year! We are blessed that people work hard to keep this event going on, despite the loss of its founder, Miriam Wilkins. I set out a lot of roses, handed out tickets at the door, talked to dozens of people, and examined each day. A lovely day, indeed.
Anita

Yes it was. For years one thing or another has stood in the way of me making it back up there. This year I had to pick Tom up at the airport shortly after it started. Of course the plane was delayed. But we did indeed meet up and headed north for El Cerrito. There we had almost two hours of good friends and wonderful roses. Sorry I didn't meet you, Staci.

Rosefolly

The tables groaned under the weight of the blooms. I don't think I've ever seen more cultivars at the Celebration. Carolyn Parker brought buckets of long blooming stems of large climbers. It was magical! We had contributors from as far away as Mendocino, Southern California and California's Gold Country. The San Francisco Rose Society had a table and loaned vases. The Celebration is a labor of love of many dedicated volunteers from the Heritage Roses Groups, The Heritage Rose Foundation and individual rosarians who organize the rental of the Community Center, who disseminate information about Old Rose organizations, who buy and serve food, who set-up and break-down, who operate silent auctions and raffles, and who supply blooms. I only managed to bring 66 different cultivars because Janelle, who drove from Sacramento, spent most of Saturday selecting and labeling blooms with me. Two armies of volunteers when to the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden with Jeri Jennings and to Vintage Gardens with Kristina Osborn and Carolyn Parker.

More visitors should have been there to enjoy the beauty of the day.

Each year I learn something while comparing blooms and observations with other rosarians. For example, the lovely but obviously mislabeled "Rosa nutkana" I received from Forest Farm that looks like a 6-foot tall Hybrid Spin and that has been blooming for a month now, seems to be Rosa webbiana.

My "Georgetown Tea" from Vintage does seems to be the right cultivar.

"Schmidt's Buff Giant," which was was light pink in my garden, matches the palest yellow Anna Olivier from the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden.

Two of us are convinced that "Fiddletown Pink Noisette" is the same as Laure Davoust. The blooms and foliage have similar shapes, but the habit of the two is different.

The "Paul Noel" Hybrid Wichurana I received from Ashdown appears to be François Juranville.

I received a small plant of a double form of Rosa californica that is clearly the true species, unlike the the rose in commerce as "Rosa californica plena," which is, at the least, a hybrid, and maybe not related to Californica at all.

It was quite a day. I went home sated, exhausted, starved.

The Celebration was indeed lovely! I would like to thank everyone who had anything to do with it. I brought a friend who loves roses, knows very little about them, but nonetheless has about 75 growing in her garden. I have been encouraging her away from HTs, and towards old roses, and it is working!

One comment re:

""Schmidt's Buff Giant," which was was light pink in my garden, matches the palest yellow Anna Olivier from the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden."

That rose came from my garden, and I can tell you that, depending on the weather and time of year, sometimes it produces a whole bush of pale pink roses, and sometimes a whole bush of pale yellow roses. Most of the time they are the usual buff with a darker red reverse on the outer petals. Aren't tea roses wonderful? You read in the literature that one of the goals when they were inventing HT roses was to get the color of the blooms to be "stable" - how boring!

Jackie

I am getting more into OGRs (obviously, I'm here!)and I just needed clarification and to see some in person. I got to do that. I am still trying to figure out how best to fit them in my yard so no 1. they fit. no 2. they thrive and look right. some of them grow huge! i tend more toward small climbers (or trying to train them upward if possible). at least then i can get a little vertical.

I'm chiming in a few hours late, but it took us longer to get home. Back in Southern California, we're getting a light rain, but the road home was made wonderful by a jar of blooms riding with us in the motorhome.

I have to agree with Cass, this was one of the best displays of roses I have ever seen, and I've gone to a few Celebrations, now. It was a wonderful, happy day spent with old friends and new friends and wonderful roses.

Just so you know how a pedestrian room transforms itself for a few precious hours into a garden of roses, I offer a little bit of video. I do NOT include the anteroom of wonderful crafts and things, and the inner courtyard of vendors offering plants and crafts (and my DH cooking hotdogs).
If you missed out this year, PLEASE, mark the Sunday after Mother's Day on your calendar, because plans are already in the works for next year.

Jeri
(Tired, but happy)

Here is a link that might be useful: The Opening Minutes of The Celebration Of Old Roses

It was so fantastic. I am thrilled that my first experience was one of the finest to date! I guess we can be grateful for the rains, huh?
stasi

Thanks, Jackie, for confirmation of what we observed on the rose in your garden.

Cass

Thanks for the video Jeri. It brought back fond memories of the Celebration I attended years ago which was absolutely unforgettable.

Ingrid