poor ol lavender lassie
Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years ago
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Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Irresponsible Nursery Practices - A Rant
Comments (30)I haven't been here on GW forever ... saw this and thought that my perspective may be of interest, since I ran my own boutique rose/OGR nursery for five years. I started growing roses years ago, when introduced to OGRs by a friend. Quickly found that the ones I were most attracted to were ones that were not available on site anywhere in our area except at one small nursery, Sherando Roses, about 2 hours from here ... shopped there at least twice a year and my love of roses was fueled by my conversations with Randy, the owner. He was generous with his experience and I valued his opinions, which helped shape my gardens in those early years. When Randy retired and Sherando closed, friends and I were lamenting the loss of the one place where we could gather to enjoy, discuss, and buy our roses. (We were ordering online from the nurseries we all know, but nothing compared to the experience of getting our roses in person.) It was then that I decided to turn my garden and my love of OGRs into a nursery, to try to pass along and nurture the fire that Randy lit in me and in so many others. The reality of the rose business hit me pretty hard shortly after I opened. To put it bluntly, the average gardener does not want an old garden rose, especially one that gets big (and many people think that 'big' is anything over 4' tall), blooms only once per season (see ya, all those beautiful Gallicas, Ramblers, Albas, and so many others that are gorgeous in my hot, humid central Virginia garden) When the roses in the garden were in bloom, it was easier to introduce customers to ones that they were unfamiliar and convince them to try something that they had never heard of before. I fondly remember the year that I sold out of 'The Bishop', a wonderful Hybrid China, in one day because it was blooming and the color and fragrance and form are superb. All of the people who bought it that day left here with a new appreciation for a once-blooming rose. This is not what usually happens. For the most part, I had lots of people coming to look for New Dawn, Buff Beauty, various exhibition-style Hybrid Tea roses that I don't grow, anything by David Austin (because they knew that he produced the English roses), and anything orange, red, or yellow. When I opened my 'doors' that first year, I had what most of us here would consider a balanced assortment of a variety of good roses from most of the OGR classes. The popular ones that people had heard of sold quickly, the unfamiliar ones languished. (By popular, I mean roses with familiar names ... not necessarily roses that people knew in person.) During the years that followed, I propagated fewer roses that I knew would be challenging to sell that season, in favor of having more stock of the popular ones on hand. I convinced myself that I could do this (in conflict with my original mission to preserve and to distribute rare and worthy roses), because the meager $$ from the sale of the popular ones allowed me to buy more rare roses to add to my own gardens. This small positive aspect of the way my business was growing wasn't enough in the long run to keep me going. In 2012, I closed the retail portion of my nursery, and donated the remaining 80 roses in inventory to Stephen Scanniello's projects in NY. Stephen's Subaru that day was full of wonderful roses that most of us here know and love. I was happy to see them go to such a worthy project, but sad that I had failed to convince the public that old roses were something that they should get to know better. A general retail nursery, whether it is a brick-and-mortar store in your examples or a mail-order business, has to cater to its customers in order to survive. The average nursery customer does not go there to buy roses, and the average nursery owner/employee does not know how to choose or care for roses. (Speaking of care, there are many different levels of care that gardeners are willing to subscribe to in their rose gardens. Me? I have no problem spraying fungicide on my rare blackspot-prone roses that need it. That's what it takes to grow these here, and I know this and accept it. Other roses, like my ramblers, teas, most of the Chinas and Polyanthas, don't need fungicide and they don't get it. No type of Insecticide is used in my gardens.) This is a long-winded way to say that it is best to put ourselves in someone else's place before we criticize. Roses are a tough item to sell in the best of times at most nurseries ... even nurseries that specialize in them have a difficult time developing their customer base and logging enough sales to keep afloat. I hope I haven't offended anyone. Connie...See Moremade some lavender bags this weekend
Comments (13)sunnyca, It if funny sometimes you can go to Wal Mart and find some awesome fabric for a good price.. when that Happens with me.. I always hope I have enough money in my account to go ahead and buy several yards of the fabric.. I have to remember tho on some of the fabric I buy, to mark it somewhere that it is either 100% cotton, or otherwise.. so that when I make potato bags I can use 100% cotton fabric.. I have plastic tubs of fabric.. some just enough to make the group of three sachet pillows with the big bows.. When I went looking this last time in my stash.. Oh my I found some really pretty stuff that I forgot I had.. I always used some of this fabric for the Little Time out dolls dresses.. so I have all kinds.. and styles. a little of this and a little of that.. but enough to make something..LOL Okay, you found me out.. I am a string saver.. but just never know when you might need that little swatch of fabric.. NO! now I am not a pack rat. well !!!!!!! okay .. maybe I am.. Son seems to think so..lOL We have this local on-Line auction in our area and I do find some awesome deals.. but not sure what to do with them after I bid and win..LOL I even won three Fur stoles.. for just about nothing.. the kind that look like a small mink and you hang around your shoulders.. well, the ladies use to do that, don't do it anymore.. I think I will use them to scare my son's friends when they are back on the property with their big bomb fire, I will sneak up and throw it at one of them and they will think it is a wild animal.. gosh I am so bad.. but I love it.. Have a great day and thanks for all you alls help. Huggy...See MoreOur Story Using TV Shows....The Entire Story Line
Comments (2)Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-...See MoreSpringtime bullnose on blooms
Comments (23)Every rose that has started blooming in my garden has bull-nosing. I didn't realize that's what it was until I read this thread. I have done almost no fertilizing yet this year. Because we can have such a dramatic warm/freeze cycle in the spring I've been hesitant to fertilize before the last frost and push growth that might get damaged. Our last frost was the last weekend of April (nine days ago) which was more than 2 weeks after our "one in ten years" date! All of the flowers blooming now would have been young buds during that last couple freezes. What's the typical time frame from first bud to bloom? Roses that so far are affected: Quietness, Maryanne (which is really sad since she's a once bloomer) Buff Beauty, Clotilde Soupert cl (3rd year in a row blooms are ugly since they usually ball) the Unknown Striped Tea, and Flamenco. All these pictures are of brand new blooms, not some on the end of their life span. Quietness: Unknown Striped Tea: Buff Beauty: ...and Clotilde Soupert Cl which always wins every year for the most promising but biggest disappointment who this year has managed to bull nose AND ball AND get and attack of saw fly larva:...See More
bluegirl_gw
10 years ago
altorama Ray
10 years agomichaelg
10 years agoshellfleur
10 years ago
nippstress - zone 5 Nebraska
10 years agocemeteryrose
10 years agoOurs in the cemetery has a nice spring flush and has occasionally looks fabulous. Here's a photo of it on a rebar arch - Cornelia is to the right and Cl American Beauty is on the arch behind. Our plant has Rose Mosaic Virus and even in our dry climate gets blackspot and defoliates a bit. Gets some powdery mildew, too. Very little repeat bloom if any. Not my favorite rose by far. In fact, now that I think more about it, I don't know why it's still in the cemetery... not a found rose, not an old rose, diseased and once-blooming. Phooey.
Anita
Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years ago
thonotorose
10 years agocatsrose
10 years agofogrose
10 years agozjw727
10 years agozjw727
10 years agomichaelg
10 years agokittymoonbeam
10 years agoPoorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years agoerasmus_gw
10 years agoMine is a big plant, very pretty in spring, very fragrant, but with all our rain this year mine has mostly defoliated too. I think it defoliated last year, but it remains very vigorous. I don't know how to post more than one picture per post. That cemetery LL is gorgeous.
erasmus_gw
10 years agoI haven't been able to get a very good whole plant picture but you can see it has a lot of blooms in spring:
mendocino_rose
10 years agoPoorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years agoerasmus_gw
10 years agomichaelg
10 years ago
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