i just visited there last weekend on a trek for my 13 yo's history project. there are some small rose gardens on the side of the house. not sure about how old they are. they were beautiful nonetheless blooming or not. the curator, charles, confirms that it was named for william gist's wife and her love of her rose gardens. im sure that charles would know about the roses. he maintains the site and even the heirloom garden there. it was worth the visit.

I have a clip from a much older publication written by C.H. Robinson and detailing the Origin of the rose. Not quite the same as HMF, but close. And with a different picture. Email me and I'll send you a copy. This is a hoot, because the book in which the clipping was pasted arrived here last week, and this rose has been on my mind ever since. I hope it's not lost (as R. obtusiuscula, the Appalachian Rose, may be). Could you send me the reference for your book? I wonder how many American roses are lost? Or at least misplaced. Below is a link to something I've put together on The Appalachian Rose and I'd like to do something similar for Capt. Robinson, with your help. Ann Peck Greater metro Blaine TN Here is a link that might be useful: Is R. obtusiuscula extinct?

Today I was off again -- my work-week now is Thursday through Sunday, but I still hit overtime -- but I was also out of cardboard. Typically, I gather it from my job when I'm there, and use it all on Monday when I'm off. Then, before I go home, I head to the center of town and gather more cardboard from outside the stores -- every Monday night it's put out for recycling pick-up the next morning. That gets me through mulching on Tuesday, but then I'm out again. So since I'm off three days beginning this month, I'll use Wednesdays to scout the next areas to be planted and cut the borders. Today I did the next two family plot beds with railing borders on my "do these first" list Eleanor wrote for me. The first was the Lippincott bed, which gets early morning sun, dappled shade from about 11am until about 2pm, then mostly sun until sunset. The next bed -- the Staat family plot -- was one I was really looking forward to, since it's basically full-sun all day. Here, I'm going to try some of the more tender old roses -- Chinas, Teas, Noisettes. I've experimented with them in my own garden, and I've found that they need at least one of two things to keep going here. One thing would be a protected spot, such as against a house. Here, Winter damage is minimized. My tender roses along the house have about as much damage as do typical Hybrid Teas planted out in the open. The other thing would be a spot in full sun all day. Here, even if Winter takes its toll, the growing season here is hot enough to push them to regrow a lot. My "Bermuda Spice" is in a totally unprotected spot, and sometimes Winter really does a number on it. But even if cut back all the way to the mulch line, this rose will rebound to five feet tall by the end of the growing season, and blooming all the while. So, here's the Staat bed, outlined -- well, the first two pics, anyway. Because I took more than ten of Staat but less than ten of Lippincott, I'd rather divide it here and make two posts than have to do it in three. To be continued......... :-) ~Christopher

Yes, your location makes a huge difference when considering advice from an author. Quite the opposite of those in zone 9, I first started growing roses while living in zone 4; so I started growing OGRs because they are mostly hardy and robust. I devoured the three Graham Stuart Thomas books, but I didn't take into account that the climate in England is very different from upstate NY. It is not only warmer, but wetter. Moving to the Eastern US coastline in zone 6 was a very different matter. I no longer needed the extremely cold hardy roses, but the amount of rain was now diminished compared to PA, NY, Western MA and the Boston area. All that said, I now understand my climactic conditions and will happily read any rose book for the pleasure of learning about different roses while being aware of my own climatic requirements. If I were to start with those most close to hand, I would recommend the two astonishingly complete masterpieces by Brent Dickerson: 'The Old Rose Adventurer' and 'The Old Rose Advisor.' 'The Old Rose Adventurer' is a 600 page compendium of every once blooming OGR that was every mentioned in any print publication along with that description and image if there was one. The 'Old Rose Advisor' covers all the re-blooming, mostly European, OGRs with 274 images included with the contemporary description. I see that he now has several other books published about roses, but I haven't seen them. These are true reference quality books for the serious rose enthusiast. OK, I can't press "submit" without mentioning GST again and his three books, 'The Old Shrub Roses', ' Shrub Roses of Today ' and 'Climbing Roses Old and New.' All three books were combined into 'The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book' that includes a little new information. No other author has so profoundly affected my enthusiasm for OGRs and modern shrub roses. I have read his books over and over and even though I know most of them by heart, I still enjoy reading them. I suppose there is something appealing about his enthusiasm and knowledge. Again, I can't take all his recommendations literally as my climatic conditions are different, but for the most part his observations have been trenchant and his recommendations accurate.