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rosyjennifer

Old red HT

rosyjennifer
18 years ago

Hi. I have a neighbor who has an old, dark red rose planted before 1950. It was his wife's favorite and he puts the first bloom on her grave every year. He's not taken care of it for years, and the lawn care people have mowed it to the ground, but it is still hanging in there. HMF won't let me limit my search to before 1950, which would help ID it.

My camera is on the fritz, so perhaps you experts can give me a few leads if I give you a description...

The rose is dark red, but not as dark as Papa Meilland or Oklahoma, perhaps more like Chrysler Imperial

It blooms singly and in clusters

The petals are velvety

It has 14/16 petals

The fragrance is light, but the flowers were almost spent. The owner says the fragrance is usually very strong.

There were no new flowers to check the petal tip color, but they were white on the old flowers on the bush.

He also has 3 one cane wonders that he said were planted at the house before 1940. I know one is darkish pink and globular, perhaps Radiance? He said I could have the 3 roses because his yard people are going to clean out that bed. I'm afraid to move them in their stressed state, but they surely won't survive otherwise. Any suggestions regarding transplanting other than deep watering beforehand?

Thanks so much!

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