Annie Laurie McDowell as a gracious, vivacious (and terribly funny!) lady who came to Los Angeles in the mid to late 1940s from Colorado to "become an actress". She studied and performed at The Pasadena Playhouse, was "discovered" and became the nightly personality on KTLA Channel 5, our oldest, earliest television station. It was her job to introduce the nightly guests and present the commercials. The station felt her name was too 'stilted', so they changed it to Candy McDowell. She and her producer fell in love and eventually married, with Candy 'retiring' to raise their family. She had quite a few fun, interesting stories about her years at Channel 5, with Dean filling in from his forty years at NBC. After retiring, they moved to Chatsworth, buying a condo adjacent to Chatsworth Park South and discovered The Homestead Acre there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Hill_Palmer_House She, and her wonderful husband, Dean, joined the Historical Society and took on the restoration of the gardens at "The Acre", as their retirement project. It was there, I met them in 1983 at one of their open gardens, which were held monthly. Rather quickly, they had me joining them, volunteering at The Huntington Library in their rose gardens. My earliest 'funny colored roses' came through Candy, primarily from Peter Schneider (American Rose Rambler editor) who imported many and dedicated his rose, Eden Ellen, in remembrance of their daughter who was killed by a drunk driver. John MacGregor, Clair Martin's predecessor at The Huntington, donated a number of old and rare roses to help jump start the garden restoration. Several were already growing in the garden when Candy and Dean began their efforts. The Acre hosted an annual Rose Festival, featuring old, rare and unusual roses Annie Laurie propagated. It wasn't long until their festivals also included roses which had passed through my Newhall garden which were decent roses, but not exactly what I had thought, or hoped they would be, with cutting grown and seedling roses added to the mix. They spent "winter" here in the San Fernando Valley, escaping the summer heat at her grandfather's "cabin" in Beulah, Colorado. Each return brought something new and exciting for the garden from their summer exploits. The rose, 'Pike's Peak' was one find. The Pike's Peak seedling, 'Beulah Belle' was my 'thank you' to the member of The Belles who supplied the cuttings. The Beulah Belles was their ladies civic organization, though the self proclaimed purpose was to "get together monthly to celebrate birthdays and get sloshed". R. Arkansana "Peppermint", the stippled Arkansana, was another. Many came from Denver Botanical and most still grace my garden. There were many shared dinners, garden tours and visits and much local exploration over the years. Roses and a lot of laughter were the main themes. I'll let the entry in Comments section I posted to Help Me Find pick it up here. A number of years ago, Mel Hulse, of the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, along with others from that garden, visited my garden in Southern California to obtain cuttings of my collection for their garden. One rose Mel was particularly struck by was Annie Laurie McDowell. At that time, it was simply referred to as Renae Seedling. Mel and others in San Jose began referring to it as "Super Renae" and Mel continued singing its praises. Along the way, I lost the original seedling to flat head apple borers. Mel maintained Annie Laurie McDowell and two or three other Renae seedlings he had collected from my garden. I wanted to name a rose for a very dear friend who was responsible for introducing me to The Huntington Gardens and Library and encouraging me to become a volunteer there. Super Renae was the obvious choice. I emailed Mel and asked if he could bring me as many cuttings and bloom spires as possible as we were to meet in Visalia at Sequoia Nursery to film a documentary about Ralph Moore. Being the kind gentleman he was and the loyal friend I'd grown to love, he not only brought me cuttings, but a large, foam ice chest FULL of blooming material! All were carefully wrapped and placed in ice to maintain them for the four days it would require before they could be taken to their potential namesake. We spent the time at Sequoia and accomplished our mission. I brought the ice chest home and called my dear friend, who invited me to join her for breakfast the following morning. I brought the ice chest and spent well over an hour cleaning and recutting the stems under water while she prepared our breakfast. When all stems were finished, I'd filled a large antique water pitcher with many dozens of bloom clusters in prime condition. The pitcher was her grandfather's, and we placed it on her grandfather's secretary desk. He was a doctor and the case was full of his instruments and medical books. We enjoyed our breakfast while admiring the pitcher full of Annie Laurie McDowell sitting on her grandfather's desk. At that time, Annie Laurie was about 71, so you have an idea of the age of the desk, equipment, books and pitcher and water bowl. Annie Laurie had sought the old Hybrid Tea, Annie Laurie, for years. It was an early Twentieth Century sport of Ophelia. The rose is extinct. Had it not been for the keen eye, dedication and kindness of this fine gentleman and loyal friend, Annie Laurie McDowell would have become extinct years before finally accepting the name of my dear friend. And, Annie Laurie wouldn't have had a rose she loved bear her name in her last years of life. I sincerely miss them both.

Sadly, Annie Laurie McD wasn't a success this year at Bierkreek (I know; I'm ordering from them and asked). I'll try the Polish company ,maybe next year; for this year, I've already got "too many" new roses!!! (that is, I'd feel way too guilty spending more money...) Still, Melissa, I'd urge you to make inquiries, so they will know that Annie IS in demand and will keep on trying to cultivate it so they can offer it for sale. As for Kim's roses in general, well, I only have Carlin's Rhythm and Little Butterfly, but both seem very hardy and carefree (they are both very young plants). My impression of Annie is just that it might be one of those roses that has a longer "juvenile period" or something ,kind of like Blush Noisette,and therefore might be a bit more vulnerable in it's first few years than some of it's fellows. I don't mind grafted roses at all!; in fact, in my rough conditions, they can be easier to get started than some of the own-root ones. I find that many(most?) of my roses,if they are happy, "go own-root" on their own anyway in a few years,as long as the graft is buried a bit,so I wind up getting the best of both worlds...bart

Hello Eileen, thanks, nice to meet you! Whenever possible, I try to be as thorough as I can, probably too much so, but you can't make informed choices if you don't have the information. The times I've been able to mine high levels of information about a rose (or anything else) before making my choice, I've enjoyed it much more. Grandmother's Hat shares so many very similar textures and colors with Annie Laurie McDowell, I think your idea would be beautiful. It is obvious they are two different roses, but when you get up close and personal with them, you can see so many similarities in new growth texture and color, flower color, petal texture, occasionally similar flower shape, scent type, that one "completes" the other. I am certain they share similar basic parents, but who knows what those might be? Grandmother's Hat is a "found" rose which defies identification, which is why I provided Bierkreek with material to be grown and studied in Europe. It's been impossible here to put a name to her. Perhaps, someone there can compare her to your wonderful rose collections and finally make the identification? Hans also has all of her permutations we have found, Larry Daniels, Tina Marie, Striped Grandmother's Hat, as it is quite possible Grandmother is a sport and one of her "sports" is actually the reversion. The nurseryman who promoted her the most and discovered Tina Marie and Larry Daniels stated his crop traditionally mutated from Grandmother to Larry roughly 30% of the time which should mean the shift to Larry should be a reversion to or toward the original form. Hans also has several other found roses from here in California I included, hoping someone over there might identify them. Thanks belong to Jeri Jennings for allowing me to collect the material from her lovely garden. There has long been an article about the similarities between Grandmother and Annie mulling over in my head which hasn't fully worked itself out yet. If you grow these two and Gloire des Rosomanes, you will find all three possess strong nearly familial resemblances. It makes perfect sense with Annie and Gloire if you believe the originally stated parentage behind Renae instead of the much later "correction", Mr. Moore suggested nearly five decades after Renae was introduced. Initially, it was stated that the pollen parent was a rose he created called Sierra Snowstorm, which resulted from Gloire des Rosomanes crossed with Dorothy Perkins. Closely studying Annie and Gloire des Rosomanes will show you many shared plant characteristics, which I feel demonstrate either that Annie is a descendant, or they share very close common ancestors. Grandmother's Hat resembles Gloire des Rosomanes in many plant characteristics such as texture of new growth, petal substance, fragrance, plant colors and scent of its growth parts. Both have very nicely scented sepals, peduncles and new growth tips and both can easily be supported to create climbing effects. If you would enjoy a very interesting, enjoyable study, plant all three close to each other so you may study them and delight in their wonderful similarities. Not that they are interchangeable in any way, but they are obviously related. I just haven't figured out the connection other than the one between Gloire des Rosomanes and Annie Laurie McDowell. My Grandmother's Hat grows next to a six foot vinyl fence and is partially supported by a huge, very happy Kona hibiscus which helps keep her more upright as she grows tall, sharing the flowers with the neighbor over the fence. It doesn't really shade her, so her height isn't elongated as she reaches for light. She'll flower on three to four foot canes, then produce new growth just below the flowers, shooting up another two to four feet before breaking into another cluster of blooms. With support, this is repeated several times, permitting her to be trained as a climber. If her canes are taken off the vertical, equalizing the sap pressure along the cane, she will begin breaking into laterals and producing flowers along the cane like a traditional climber is expected to. With decent soil and climate, Grandmother doesn't need budding, she will grow perfectly own root and roots quite easily. In my climate, Grandmother's Hat very seldom forms hips, the flowers and peduncles drying and shriveling instead. This fall I have found six hips on her and collected a few seeds to plant to see what germinates, so dead heading is not necessary for her to continue flowering. The small, dried, spent flowers will require removal if that bothers you, but it isn't really that noticeable with her luxurious foliage mass. I'd think if you can make sure many of both Annie's and Grandmother's canes were grown low enough for you to be able to bury your face in to enjoy their scents, you'd enjoy them much more. It would definitely be a shame to only have them above your head where you can't easily see and smell them. Please be sure to fondle Grandmother frequently so she will scent your hands with her sweet, peppery cedar scent. On warm, moist days, both the flower and plant fragrances are very noticeable in the air close to the plant. She has few prickles, Annie has never had any in my experience, so personal contact with her doesn't usually result in injury, but it does enhance her "experience". Annie will definitely provide more shade with her greater growth and foliage mass than Grandmother will and both can easily be expected to flower year round in my climate. One of these days, I will have a situation where I can plant all of the various Grandmother's Hat permutations, Gloire des Rosomanes and Annie Laurie McDowell close to each other to make their study and enjoyment much easier. That would be a wonderfully pleasing grouping! I hope that helps. If you have room for a largish, probably once flowering, intensely fragrant rose, try Nessie. She's only available commercially there in Italy from Le Rose di Piedimonte and is shown on their site as currently available. Ironic that I had to search for her here after moving my garden, yet she's readily commercially available to you. Also, that even after contacting them requesting they correct the spelling of my name, it remains misspelled. I raised her from seed of Montecito, which has been disputed as possibly being Brunonii, and I am fairly certain the pollen was from Mlle. Cecile Brunner as that is what I used most heavily on it and the plant highly resembles what I would expect from the cross. Translated from their site, this is their description. "Slightly hazy pale pink semi-double flowers of apricot of medium size and long yellow stamens in evidence. Intense and spicy, elegant dark green foliage, semi-gloss. So called from his breeder in memory of the "monster" in Loch Ness, because of exuberantly throwing its branches arching out of the plots of cultivation, growing rapidly up to 3 meters. It has a good re-flowering. Numerous and large orange berries." She never repeated for me in the mid desert, but seems to have the ability in a milder one. Now she's returned home to me, I might experience that here, I hope. She's also been rudely healthy in my experience and her fragrance impresses itself on your memory as Annie's and Grandmother's do. I hope you can find room for her in your garden and will report back with lots of "baby pictures" and your impressions. Thank you! Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Nessie

I'm thinking about where to put my Annie,and have a couple of questions. First,@jasminerose, just how much of a nodder is this rose? In the photo where it's trained on a tripod, it looks pretty "normal"; that is some nodding, but not so much that you can't see the "faces" of the blooms,whereas in the picture of the cut spray in a vase, it looks to be VERY nodding (makes me think of a type of lily,actually...) If it's an uber-nodder, I think it might be best to plant it up on a slope,so looking up at it will be easy. But if it's kind of an average nodder there are a lot of other options. The photos on HMF are not of much help,though some of the pictures give me the impression that it's basically normal, and wouldn't HAVE to be up on the slope, necessarily. Secondly, a question for fig_insanity: "Wouldn't Lauren look really good tucked at the feet of an ALM?" I bet it would, and I am hopefully getting "Lauren" from Bierkreek! How would you regulate the spacing if you were to put Lauren at Annie's feet?