Not yet, but I'm planning on getting pics of it tomorrow.....assuming weather cooperates. I'll be able to get a video as well.

Cool Jeffcat! I like seeing what the entire rose bush looks like! I don't even care if it has blooms or not as long as I can see what the bush itself grows like. lol

I can't wait for the ES pictures. I love this rose and will be purchasing her this fall..Thanks..QB

Wow Jeff great pics of Earth Song! I'm surprised they are so bushy. Tons of blooms! Thank You very much Jeff for posting these pics!

No Problem. The bushes were about 5' tall. They are in the Earth Kind Garden which has been certifiably abused by rust/blackspot since it has been miserably wet and humid all month in Ohio, but Earth Song was perfectly healthy as you can tell from the pics. I'd say the larger bush was 5'x6-7'. This is taking into consideration that it is never pruned being in the Earth Kind garden. The canes are somewhat rigid and upright, but the natural growth has it tend to sprawl out much like a Zephirine Drouhin will do. That Earth Song is probably 1-2 years old....no more as the Earth Kind garden used to be a Daffodil Garden 2 years ago. The video does a better job of explaining the growth habit. If you pruned it up well, you could probably get a 5'x4' upright bush out of it.

Thanks again Jeff for the detailed info on Earth Song!
What was the link again to your video site?

I posted it under the pics that I posted. Here is the link again. The video helps identify the bushes better.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earth Song video

OOOPs missed it. lol. Thanks Jeff!

Jeff, I just wanted to say that you are the Total Sweetheart!!!! All that effort to take full bush shots of Earthsong for Jim was an incredible and very beautiful effort from your part. You are the total and most awesome Rose Friend! Many hugs and blessings, and the video was so sharp and fantastic to behold, YouTube should be proud to have such a lovely and great viddy!

We really enjoyed this thread on Earthsong from you! This is FANTASTIC!

Jeff, did they have Country Dancer in that garden? I've heard it's just as good as ES. I don't personally grow Country Dancer though.
Great pictures too.

Carla

Wow!! That's spectacular. The blooms are luminous. The bush so healthy and vigorous!! I want it! I want it!!

Thanks!
Carol

Carla, they do have Country Dancer I believe. I don't believe I have photos of it yet so either it didn't bloom yet or I may have passed it. I am heading back tomorrow, so if it is there, I will get some photos and video of it.

Gorgeous photos, you are trully amazing photographer.

Haha Serena, it's no big deal. I am at the Park of Roses typically at least once a week anyways and I'm trying to get pics and videos of most all the 400 roses at the park, so it's only natural. The only real pain is how long it takes to enhance and edit the pictures to make them look more true to life which can be a lengthy process when I am snapping off 350 pics every time I stop there lol. I need to really get caught up on uploading all the pics and categorizing them.

Haha nevermind Carla, I did get pics of Country Dancer. I strolled across them while I was editing photos. I don't believe I have video though.
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Jeff it is a big deal to us! You are doing such a fabulous job in both the photography, the videos and the EFFORT. It is a very painstaking process! We love all this work that you've done! And I am crazy about the bumblebee video, I had done another thanks too on your other thread. It really brightened my day! I think the terrible rainstorms and endless rains have killed all the bumblebees, because they nest on the ground. The Lincolns always bring in the bumblebees and none can be found. Walking on my lawn is one disgusting mess when all you can feel is that wet mud sloshing and sliding around and not the light cushion of grass. Today, we had just ONE DAY OF SUN, so I got to check out my backyard and found out that I've got several deadlooking swashes of grass from the torrents of rain that keep draining out from my patio area too. So looking at this thread reminds me to just relax and enjoy this sight instead.

The colors are brilliant! and both videos (the bumblebee and Earthsong) make me feel like I'm in a reeeeal garden! Cheers to You!

your photos are gorgeous, thanks for the lovely pictures always. Country Dancer and Earths Song look very similar. do they have similar origin? Their color is so vibrant and the size of the blooms is amazing.

BG, Buck tends to go for a similar bloom style in many of his pinks and also tends to go for a pretty similar shade of pink in most scenarios. You will occasionally see some yellow blends. Much like Austins, Buck made a lot of pinks and based on what I've seen from his numerous roses at the Earth Kind garden, you really strived to improve disease resistance, cold hardiness, and lastly make a well shaped shrub rose while providing a variety of sizes to choose from at the same time. This may seem a little redundant to some, but when left alone Earth Song has an upright sprawing growth manner that is relatively large for a shrub, Carefree Beauty has a strong upright growth that also becomes rather large, while Country Dancer and Barn Dance(for now at least) are rather smaller shrubs. He seemed to have a lot of trust in his own previously bred plants, as he crossed them with each other or with other roses outside of his program in an order to slightly change the growth manner or improve disease resistance. Of course, that's just my speculation as he used a lot of roses from his "prairie" line in his breeding and many of his pinks and many of his roses in pink and most colors have a similar bloom form, although each has subtle differences as well.

jeffcat,

Thanks for your insights.

I saw Carefree Beauty identified in an arboretum and believed that is what we had, and marked it a such, but ours was a sprawling plant with pink flowers identical to Carefree Beauty but that attained height of only 3 feet whereas the plant at the arboretum identified as Carefree Beauty was 7 feet tall. I think it was a case of mistaken identity.

Earth Song, on the other hand is best described as an upright grandiflora. In my opinion it is superior to Queen Elizabeth, is equally winter hardy, equally upright, grows modestly taller, grows more vigorously in diameter, the flowers have a more neon pink color, the flowers are very high centered -- almost exhibition form in their early stage, and beautifully scented.

I have a very high opinion of Earth Song. It is a must have easy care rose bush. It is almost constantly in bloom from spring to fall. Wish I had a photo to share.

What a wonderful effort on your part, Jeff, truly beautiful and very informative. I imagine these roses were bred more for cooler climates and wonder if they would do well here. After seeing your pictures it would be tempting to try.

Thanks so much.

Ingrid

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Here is a link that might be useful: Carefree Beauty Video

Jeffcoat,

Do yo have role in the garden? Is it a municipal garden, or associated w/ the university?

No, I have no role in the Earth Kind Garden. As far as I know, Texas A&M coordinates all the Earth Kind gardens and keeps track of the progress of all the roses they plant in each garden in an obvious attempt to discern regional hardiness and disease resistance.....coupled with growth habit and overall performance. The Park of Roses does little to nothing when it comes to that individual garden as it is outside of the main Park of Roses. I've seen the City of Columbus workers drop off mulch, but after that, very little is done with it. The Columbus Park of Roses is a public park/garden owned by the City of Columbus....anybody can visit just like you visit your local park down the street. The City of Columbus takes care of mowing, mulching, maintenance, and then a group of Park of Roses volunteers does all the pruning and fertilization/watering duties...plus bird feeding and all that stuff. I would presume The Ohio State University works cooperatively with A&M on some of the horticultural and plant biological information with the garden, although I'd imagine it's a small part. I don't do anything at the park as of now. I wouldn't mind volunteering down the road provided I have time to volunteer at the garden.....which I doubt I will haha. I typically deadhead the spent blooms I see in the park. It's a "bad" habit as every now and then I do it in the Earth Kind garden and think "dang it....I can't do that in here" since they strictly don't prune or deadhead the roses.
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That's interesting Jeff! And LOL on you dead-heading. lol

Jeff--these pictures are wonderful----I have three Carefree Beauty roses and they are quite tall----I bought the first one at ARE and it was called Katy Rd. Pink---when I posted in on GW a couple of years ago G. Bucks daughter was nice enough to get in touch with me to tell me the true identity

It is a very healthy hardy rose--

Florence

Great story, Jeff. I found color pictures of the blooms of Earth Song from our local municipal garden on an Iowa photography calendar a few years ago. It made me feel very good about my volunteer work -- a type of compliment with no need of anybody to say a thing to me. The calendar identified where the picture of the rose was taken and when I saw that I was wowed!

So what you are doing is quite a compliment to the people who take care of the garden.

For years I believed two modern roses stood out among all roses by reason of tradition and beauty when grown in ideal conditions, Queen Elizabeth and Peace. Well for those not familiar w/ Earth Song, it stands out even more than these two roses. On top of it all it is winter hardy, mildly fruity scent, and disease resistant. You will not be disappointed if you get it.