Thank you everyone. I do enjoy visiting the cemetery at least once a year. Krista, those blue flowers are not irises but rather spidorwort. Spiderwort is pretty but reeeaaall invasive. Anita, I don't think any of the roses are over about 20 years old, maybe even younger. I think all but a few were donated by Mike Shoup (ARE) and were planted by the Master Gardeners and other rose enthusiasts of the area. I helped plant the last 100 or so about 4-5 years ago. I don't know who made the statement on the web site, "the largest collection of everblooming "own root" roses in a cemetery in the country", but they obviously didn't know what they were talking about. This might not even be the largest collection and certainly not the oldest in a cemetery even in Mississippi. The Natchez cemetery has lots of old roses with some estimated at being over 100 years old. I have not been there yet but plan to visit later this spring. The Greenwood Cemetery is in a, let's say, not the best neighborhood in Jackson. Normally the only upkeep to the cemetery is grass cutting and fallen limb removal.

Celeste, that sounds like a wonderful idea (an exchange). I didn't do a good job keeping mine organized so I'm waiting to see some of them bloom to know for sure which rooted. I went hog wild and propagated myself silly (just set up a simple mist system)last summer. I'm SURE i'll have extra everything to share with you. I know they'd be in the good hands of a fellow rose lover. The rose in pic 12 and 13 are the same rose. It turned more purple as it aged. The scent was very strong and it was definitely a cemetery rose. I went back later in the fall and no blooms so I'm assuming it's a one timer. I'll definitely post more as I get set to rustle in 2009. We'll make plans to swap in the fall if you'd like. Jeri, the white one is growing at a house that is a rental...the prior owners apparently loved flowers so I asked the renters for cuttings. The vase of white flowers came off one stem about 6' long. It didn't have a scent and as I recall it didn't rebloom. I have gone back to check on all but the Chattanooga cemetery rose and I'm pretty sure I know which ones are remontant. I have met up with Ann Peck online and she's pretty far out in East TN and I am near the AL border in Middle Tn. I plan to document better, take pictures of headstones the roses are growing near, etc. I was just so excited to be finding these last year that I lost my head! Thanks for the interest y'all and the good information. Jen

Reality Check Time There are areas of the country where roses did not tend to be planted in cemetaries. Iris, yes, peonies, yes, daffodils, yes, arborvitae in vast quantities, but not roses. In one week in Arizona, not even particularly looking for either cemetaries or roses, we saw more cemetary roses than I've ever seen in this part of the country. The closest anybody seems to be to an explanation is that roses in cemetaries are connected to a Catholic cultural heritage, which doesn't really arrive in the northeast until the late 19th, early 20th century. My mother's family cemetary plot in western Pennsylvania looks like something from an Edward Gorey drawing (as did my grandparent's house) Which brings up something else to keep in mind. The major enemy of neglected roses in the eastern part of the country isn't drought but trees. Many older cemetaries here are heavily shaded. In the really old cemetaries - the 17th century ones - it's not uncommon to have 200 year old trees growing in the middle of the headstones. So you have the conumdrum that roses can only exist around people, but people can decide to get rid of them.

Thank you, Brandon. I really think these roses are an expression of love and caring that we sorely need to see these days.