I visited Russian River Roses in Healdsburg, CA recently. It's a small family run nursery that grows roses. iris and some perennials and makes their own rosewater and perfume. Always enjoy visiting Jan who's the owner.

Since they're not a mailorder nursery they often have larger sized roses which I like because I'm impatient. I had planned on only getting one 2 gallon Felicia but you all know what happened. Felicia was so wonderfully fragrant and healthy I ended up with two and a 5 gallon Darlow's Enigma for a shady spot.

They don't carry very many of the old roses so I stopped in my tracks when I was walking along past one of the benches where they keep the roses and was almost at the end. I saw this 2 gallon pot with a thorny rose that had one big bloom left and it's form was so great, it had "antique" written all over it. It was labeled "Tom's Smelly Pink."Of course I grabbed it and brought it over to Jan so I could get the story behind it.

Jan said that a friend of hers named Tom lived in a Victorian in Healdsburg and this rose had been growing in the garden when he moved in many years ago. When he was moving out, he brought some cuttings to Jan so the rose could be propagated and he could take it with him. Jan now has one in her garden. It's about 5 feet tall, very columnar, and of course very fragrant. Even better for me, it's doing very well with only afternoon sun as it's on the west side of the house in a little indent so it gets little sun in the winter.

The flower form is so distinct, like Jacques Cartier/M. Boccella but a darker color. Jan and I are hoping someone can identify this beautiful rose.

{{gwi:298342}}

{{gwi:319404}}

{{gwi:319406}}

{{gwi:319408}}

Thanks,

Diane