Thanks, Jeri - I just posted an inquiry about this before I saw your post.

I have 2 nieces who I am trying to lure into rosedom. One, with whom I am having more luck so far (mostly because both of her parents garden, and she grew up in a 1880s farm house surrounded by a garden with roses) has just agreed to come to the Celebration with me with her 3 and 6 year olds. She is the niece who owns the what-we-think-is-an-old pernotiana rose (pic below) which we are trying to identify. I told her about the Mystery Rose table, and she is all excited to bring cuttings of it to put on the table.

Jackie

That's GRRREAT!

And did you see the line about free rose plants for children?

Yes, I did - I will try to get her to bring them early. The kids would be SO excited if they got roses - they have a huge back yard which is just now being done over so that it will have lots of planting beds.

Jackie

To my regret, I will be missing it this year. I'll be at the HRF conference back east. It actually ends the evening before, and if we could teleport, I'd be back for this the next morning.

I will be there, of course.

Paula,

Please sign me up for the rose cutting day for The Celebration of Old Roses. Last year I helped Gregg tag them in the field which worked out great. Jeri will you be at El Cerrito this year?

Yes, we will most-certainly be there. We're taking a couple of extra days up and down, to make the trip more liesurely.

Jeri, I sent you a private message.

romogen -- I have not received your message . . . Do you want to email to me, directly?

I just re-sent the message to your gmail, did you get it?

Wish I could be there! I just received my newsletter today. I'm saving it for tea and decompression time after daughter's bedtime. :-) Carol

Romogen -- Got it.

Yay! Yes, been looking forward to it since last year! I'll be there with my rose posse. And Jackie, please tell your niece we'll make a beeline to the Mystery Rose table to see if her beautiful rose was kind enough to produce some specimens to share with us on the day! And if so, hope the gathered knowledge will come up with an I.D. Bring on the young'uns, eh? We so need to do that!

Thanks, Jeri, for the reminder!

Linda

I'm planning to go--first time! I hope to meet some of you. You've been SO inspiring to me and helpful this past year as I began growing more roses. I haven't posted here in a long while, but I will soon post some photos of my babies--so thrilled at my little successes, much of which I owe to you.

Regards,

Sheba

I'll be there! looking forward to it!

I wish I could go! I will be in a weekend class all day Saturday and Sunday and can't make it. Should be great weather in El Cerrito! Warm, but not too hot. I will look forward to photos! :-)

Phew, just spent all morning today at Gregg's house cutting & tagging roses. I'll be at the Celebration tomorrow bugging Jeri ;-) See y'all's there!

Soooo wish I were in California today! Have a great day!!

Wonderful, as always. And, huge surprise!, the Friends of Vintage Roses brought a boatload of gallon plants to sell, some of which quite rare. I got a found tea (HMF says "shrub", La Rosarie du Desert says "China", and Vintage said "Tea" -- looks like a tea to me, but stay tuned), "Merete Stenboch", one of the La Rosarie du Desert imports. Nice scent, charming flower of lovely color. For fun, I also got the polyantha/florist rose, 'Orange Rosette' (which seems to be a fourth-level sport -- sport of a sport of a sport of a sport -- is this something polyanthas do in particular, I wonder?). And a rose marked "North San Juan", and "T", which might be the China "Orange Smith" (per Jeri). Got to see Jeri and Nancy Lee and probably many others here on the forum without knowing it.

The rose bloom displays were looking pretty darn good -- the difference between a year with ample rain and drought is amazing.

Thanks for posting photos, Ann! I don't understand Tom Liggett's claim on his Barbara Worl/Grandmother's Hat sign that the variety "lacks vigor on its own roots" and does better grafted! Mine is on its own roots, in very indifferent conditions, and has never been anything but very vigorous -- I'm constantly whacking it back to keep it to about 6' or so, and it puts out very sturdy runners to boot. Are there wimpy clones of this rose out there, I wonder?

Catspa - I'm not sure about the sign or information. Maybe someone else knows?

Ann

Oh, I know, Ann -- just an interesting sign you captured and a general question I was throwing out there for opinion. I saw one of the "Barbara Worl" plants Liggett sold yesterday, being minded by the friend of the buyer, and it certainly was a nicely developed plant. I just can't imagine having to graft it to eventually get that, based on experience with my clone!

What a terrific event! I was simply in awe of these amazing roses. It was an overpowering, dare I say nearly religious, experience for me--truly moving, especially seeing the species roses and the gallicas and mosses for the first time. I was nearly in tears a few times. The variety in form and color and such perfume, just--wow!

I had the pleasure of meeting Jeri, who kindly gave me some rose-selection advice shortly before I left, and a few others from this group. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet more of you, but I just couldn't stop circling the tables and breathing in the roses.

Big highlight of the day for me was getting to meet Gregg and talk with him for awhile. I asked him to autograph my Vintage catalog, which he did, very kindly! Also, I asked for help choosing one of the Vintage roses for my (very difficult/cramped/foggy/sun-challenged) "garden," and I came home with Ceres, one of the Pemberton hybrid musks, which he highly recommended. I'm sure she will do well for me, along with her cousins Buff Beauty and Felicia. Do any of you have experience with Ceres? There are no member comments or ratings on HMF.

Not only all of that--but I actually won a rose from Miriam's Garden--how great is that?! I never win things, and what could be better than winning a rose??! I took away (with approval from Jeri and Gregg) Joasine Hanet/Portland from Glendora, which I'd loved when I met months ago at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. I'm a bit afraid of her thorns in my cramped space, but will take the risk. And there's more! I was tempted by and succumbed to the last plant of Lady Ann Kidwell, from Tom Liggett's table. (He saw me walking with Joasine Hanet, which he identified from 10 feet away, and he also told me what a great rose she is.) LAK may well not love my situation--but I'm eager to give her a try--I'm one of those people who think she's just lovely, and I love that particular unusual shade of red, which I also think of as cerise. My mother had a beautiful dress that color when I was very young. Anyway, Mlle. Cecile Brunner is doing great for me, so maybe LAK will emulate her relative?

Thank you to everyone who did all the work to make this happen. I can't wait until next year and have told friends about it as well.

Sheba

Re Grandmother's Hat - I have two, one I purchased from Annie's Annuals. I was not paying attention to whether it was on its own roots or not. Well, this Spring after 5ft+ of rain, the rootstock (Dr. Huey) got so encouraged it sprouted a cane! The other one is from a pruning cutting which I literally stuck into the dirt near the first plant. About 6 years later, the own root plant is twice the size of the grafted one, in height and in diameter! Both of them are extremely vigorous, and probably could be kept at any size between 4 ft tall and 8 ft tall, depending on pruning or lack thereof.

Jackie

Jacqueline,

Interesting. I bought my Grandmother's Hat from Annie's not long ago. She went into the ground quite recently. Somehow I had assumed that Annie's roses were all own-root. How long ago did you buy your Grandma? Do you think I need to take any extra steps to keep my Grandma happy, if it is a grafted rose? My soil is basically sand . . . but I did amend the planting hole and will keep adding compost.

(And, note, I'd made an error in my post earlier--now corrected-when I said that Joasine Hanet is Grandma's Hat; I meant to say she's Portland from Glendora.) So now I have them both. : )

Sheba

Hello all! Can anyone tell me what is involved in becoming a member of the heritage roses group?

My chapter would be the Bay Area.

Who else here is in the Bay Area chapter? Are there chapter meetings? I didn’t see info on the Bay Area site about meetings. If there are, are they run parliamentary style? Are there roles and responsibilities for each member?

I would like to join, but also am fully aware that I probably wouldn’t be able to take on any roles for the next few years due to my schedule. I’m contemplating if I should support the group by simply coming to the Celebration (and probably shopping), or if I should also join.

Thank you!

Hey Cori Ann

you probably should join the national organization, then you will get the newsletter with much good info. (google Heritage Roses Group), and get in touch with Kristina Osborne via e-mail re the Bay Area Chapter (contact info. On the chapter website)., i don’t think they have regular meetings anymore, apart from committee meetings for Celebration planning, but they always need helping hands, always! If you can squeeze out the time, volunteering at the celebration is a joy, and super educational as well. Some of the nicest people I know are ones I met during the 14 years I assisted with the display committee!

rosily

Claire

Thanks Claire! Please pet your CEO, COO and management intern for me. ;-)

Hey Cori Ann --

There's a difference between the national organization (Heritage Roses Group) and any of the local groups. And each local group differs from the others. Some meet. Some don't. Some have dues and a Newsletter. Others don't. You can find a whole list of local chapters (as well as membership info for HRG) at the website:
http://www.theheritagerosesgroup.org/ 

There, you can also sample past issues of the quarterly Newsletter, and there are a ton of articles to read.

Can you private message me? I can send you a copy of membership info. (I am, for my sins, National Convener for the Heritage Roses Group national.)

HRG -- as well as my own local group, Gold Coast HRG:

http://www.goldcoast-roses.org/  
both also have active Facebook pages.

Thanks Jeri! I just messaged you. Here’s the Castro Breen Red Climber (Blooomfield Courage) you recommended to me last year. :-) I have it climbing along with Florentina, they’re intermingling and growing together. It’s in the middle, with the lovely foliage changing to yellow this fall. Can’t wait for the spring show of these two together!

WOW! That's GREAT!!! I am so impressed!

The message hasn't come, so far. But you can leave a message on the HRG website, and it will come directly to me.

Here's a question I didn't see answered, last May:

catspat(aka "Catspa", NoCal, z9 Sunset 14) Thanks for posting photos, Ann! I don't understand Tom Liggett's claim on his Barbara Worl/Grandmother's Hat sign that the variety "lacks vigor on its own roots" and does better grafted! Mine is on its own roots, in very indifferent conditions, and has never been anything but very vigorous -- I'm constantly whacking it back to keep it to about 6' or so, and it puts out very sturdy runners to boot. Are there wimpy clones of this rose out there, I wonder?

Catspa -- Liggett is probably the only person who thinks Grandmother's Hat needs grafting to be vigorous. (Because he sells grafted roses?) He says things like that with such conviction that people believe it.

ALL of our 10 or so GramHats are on their own roots. Do they appear to lack vigor?

I have two on their own roots, and both are very vigorous. Also, one of them came directly from a cutting which I just stuck in the ground during rainy season - no other care, not covered with anything, nothing. By the Spring, I had a new plant!

Jackie

Nice Grandmother's Hat photos! I have GH in a 3 gallon pot right now. I just wanted to post that it did really well sitting in brackish water for several days when we flooded during the hurricane. In fact, many of the antique roses actually grew/ had growth spurts during that time. I lost several Austins but the OGRs did well which shows how tough they are.

The only HTs that did well were several Kordes varieties which surprised me. So that HT must be somewhat salt resistant for some reason.