Michael, you are wonderful!

May I use this in an upcoming HRG Newsletter?

Jeri

Jeri, I'd be delighted.

Michael

Michael, email me pvtly, please?
I really do love this!

Jeri

I love it too. If roses could speak, they'd sound exactly like that!

Ingrid

Michael, your writing is so clever. Thank you, I enjoyed that. Gean

Darn it, Jeri, you beat me to it. Michael, that was a terrific piece of writing. You obviously know Marie more than passing well! I, too, would love to print this in the Heritage Roses Northwest newsletter if you'd grant permission, but if Jeri wants an exclusive, I'll stand down. Really nice piece.

Sue

Michael, what I want to know is how you got my Marie's cell phone number - or how she got yours! She's been beating me over the head with this stuff for months. I had a couple of weeks of peace in June after I got rough with her and her sister. I decided to chop them hard, but they cried and I only cut to the new growth. I couldn't believe she actually shut up for that long, but she's whining again. And before that I gave them Ironite. I thought surely that would mellow her out, but, no, she never stops with the accusations. And when she's not harping at me, she plays the withholding game...a flower now and a flower later while there are a dozen of buds hanging on the stem. Oh, she riles me!

And now to go behind my back, telling tales that are baseless to an acquaintance of mine. She didn't tell you how many inches of compost I gave her, did she? Or how I slaved in the heat to spread newspapers and pine straw over her feet. Well, that does it! She's just flattering herself if she thinks I have to go all the way to Argentina to replace her. RU is having a sale, and by golly, I'm going! And Mr. Shovel is driving.

Sherry

Michael, I really enjoyed this too. And yes, I think you "know" Marie Pavie very well.
I give mine too much water, too much attention, etc.
There is a specimen of Marie Pavie at a nearly neglected local garden and that plant is the heathliest, happiest rose I've ever seen. All the roses around her look like crap, yet there she is, neglected and beautiful, every leaf dark green and clean.
Unlike you, until I read your comments, I am so ignorant that I keep pampering my Marie and wondering why she isn't as happy as the one in that unkept garden.

Randy

Terrific, Michael! So tell us ... do you love her truly?

Andrea

Jeri, my email is down until sometime Monday.

Sometimes people write that roses like Marie "bloom uncomplainingly." Well, bloom she does, but as Sherry says, she's the biggest whiner in the garden. Her foliage is always showing some disorder or other. Usually it's a mixture of oversized dark green leaves, small or normal(?) slightly yellowish-green leaves, and iron-deficient chlorotic leaves. The normally brownish new growth comes in a bright peach color when she wants iron. She was the first rose to show waterlogging symptoms during that episode, and she does get fertilizer burn when nobody else does. I do think the triazole fungicides (Banner and Bayer) stunt her growth. (I proved that to my satisfaction by spraying only one-half of the bush.) In short, she is a hypochondriac who overreacts to eaverything.

However, I did intend the point Randy took away, that I've caused some of the problems by fussing over her too much. I need to get the pH down, then leave her alone and let her eat mulch. But then she will be spotty.

I do love the plant habit and the wafting fragrance. But her complaining and her perverse reactions irritate me no end. I am so glad to hear that it isn't just me.

Michael -- No rush.

Sue -- Yes, we can share. "Rose Letter" doesn't come out until Aug. -- When do you print next?

Quite a few roses in my garden suffer from the same complaint that Marie whines about.
I suppose it's hard-hearted of me, to insist that they grow here, with this soil and water . . .

Jeri

Jeri, we'll publish late July/early August, too.

Marie grows beautifully here without the concerns you raise, but whether that's to her credit I don't know. It may be the three-foot-deep top soil and compost mix that we used to build the elevated beds, creating a decent pH and fabulous drainage. She gets manure and alfalfa in the spring and early summer and performs in dappled shade throughout the season with no foliage issues.

Michael, maybe she's angry because HER NAME IS SPELLED WRONG. Maybe her real name was Marie Madeleine Valentine Pavy born March 18, 1870 in Lyon, France. She would have been 18 when Allegatiere bred the rose.
Seems there were some Pavys living in Lyon, France. Check it out at www.familysearch.com.
Good a guess as any. How long have I been desperately searching for Marie Pavie, 8-10 years? What a lovely name, Marie Madeline Valentine Pavy.

I love your stories, Michael. They make me laugh!

Carol

Hi Deb, I remember when you were searching for Marie, the person. Did you find French Paviés with the accent? Without it? How about Pavics? Couldn't Pavie w/o the accent be a phonetic equivalent of Pavy?

I shyly post this bowing to your greater talent.
I loved the bit about that other rose, like jealousy towards another woman, I can imagine the rose from Argentina replying
"So, I have seen you in the garden with that Marie.
She is a pale blushing thing, and is nothing compared to me. I throw the gauntlet down and will pierce you with my thorns if you come close to me again."

Lux.

Hey, Mike, I've been checking everywhere for the one true Marie for a long time. I never found any Pavics. I located almost 30 Marie Pavies. They were in Canada, France, England, and Louisiana. One problem was that it was common to name your child Marie, even if it was male. A Pavie family was famous in France. There was Chateau Pavie, Pavie Street, a famous explorer. Some of them met the guillotine. I found them with an accent, without, and spelled Pavy.
A lot of the problem is the French never collected their records in a central location. And the French never turned up at www.familysearch.com, until the last couple years, except for the nobility.
I've had no luck finding Alphonse Allegatiere, though I found Allegatieres in Lyon.
Marie Madeleine Valentine Pavy is the best I've done, right time frame, town and age. If somebody could figure out this website, maybe we'd know. The Alphonse Allegatiere I did find was from 1792.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lyon records

Awwww, don't pull a Sanford on poor Marie Pavie!

I just got her younger sister Marie Daly today.

There is some amazing and delightful writing talent on this forum!. I was laughing so hard, my sister called out from the other room to ask if I was all right.

Well, then I started messing where I shouldn't be messing again. I KNOW DARN WELL THERE'S NOTHING TO DO BUT BUY A PLANE TICKET TO LYON, FRANCE.
DECIPHERING THE FRENCH ON THAT WEBSITE, IT SUDDENLY HIT ME....... I'd been spelling Alegatiere with 2 Ls. I found him marrying Jeanne Francoise Fontaine Nov. 22, 1851. Then Marie Madeleine Valentine Pavy married Pierre Jules Buffaud Oct. 17, 1891.
Out here in Montana, they did not record anything but deaths until the 1930's, so the missing children and deaths don't surprise me.
I grew Marie Pavie one beautiful summer and then she died, as everything called a polyantha has around here. You're a lucky man, Michael.

that was BIG FUN michaelg, thank-you.

Hi Michael,

I'm planting Marie Pavie this weekend so wanted to pick your brain about her. BTW, you are a CLEVER writer  enjoyed your Marie Pavie speaks post very much!!!

Michael and anyone else who have Marie, do you have any recommendations or warnings for me prior to planting her?

Appreciate your responses,

Audrey

This rose does just terrible for me. I was just thinking yesterday that I really should just sp her and put her out of her misery! I get a nice spring flush and then the bs takes over and looks so ratty and ugly the rest of the year. This will be her 3rd summer so it she doesn't shape up this year that's it. Maybe it's our humid summers? Does anyone else in the humid south have this same problem with her?
~Meghan

I have to say that she was disappointing in my garden, as she mildewed here.
But my friend Jim Delahanty grows her to advantage a few miles inland, where the air is hotter and drier.

Jeri

What a fun thing to read - thanks for sharing!

Vuwu, in Texas you may want to adjust the soil pH downward to 5.5-6.5.

I finally got around to treating Marie's spot with sulfur last year, and she has not shown iron deficiency this year.

Momof2, Marie is disease resistant in Texas, but she spots here in Asheville. I spray occasionally with Bayer.

:D :D That was great fun, Michael :D

Marie is going to the Hot Hot garden near the road if my plans don't change. Uh-oh. Think she can take it? The air is drier there, anyway. Hmmmm.

Water will be provided, of course, but I'd hoped she'd learned to be a tough Southern gal by now ;)

Michael, what a lovely piece.

My MP is such a beautiful bush until late summer. Then she gets BS, drops her leaves, refoliates, and blooms again. This all became apparent when I stopped spraying about 3 years ago. I know I should sp her, but I just cannot. She only looks ugly two to three weeks out of the summer. And her scent is heavenly.

I would like to hear what some of your other roses have to say.

Barbara

This is still one of my all time favorite posts on Gardenweb. And Marie Pavie is one of my very favorite roses. She is such a buxom, billowy beauty in my garden. I keep waiting for her to get temperamental like Michael suggests here. (Actually I have three Marie's and one is sulking so she must not be as happy as the others...) LOVE IT MICHAEL!!!
{{gwi:293313}}

Michael...

What a perfect post. We whine and cry when our roses don't perform to our expectations. However, we never stop to think what our roses would say to us about how we treat them.

Thanks for the reminder.

Smiles,
Lyn

Michael

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying! You DO write gardening articles and books, don't you? You are the David Sedaris of the gardening world.

Carol

P.S. My husband plays harmonica, too. You harp guys are something special. :-)

I got to laugh at this all over again. You and sherry could be the George and Gracie of the gardening world.

Yes. This is STILL one of the best things ever posted here!

Jeri