I feel somewhat conflicted about the business of collecting roses. For a long time, we went out to old locations, and did NOT take cuttings. We just took photos. We didn't begin to collect things until we were having some success here at home, with propagating. I STILL hesitate to make cuttings if a rose is under great stress -- and many of them are, particularly in most recent years, out here, with increasing drought -- not to mention things like Roundup. But this rose is a good argument in favor of it -- as is your Summerduck Cemetery Polyantha. The mother plants are now gone, so the propagated plants are what separates it from extinction. Another good example is "Linsley Plot Quartered Pink." Mel Hulse made the decision to take cuttings, even tho the plant was in very sad straits. It was gone entirely, a year later, when a group of folks began restoration of that cemetery. And, because it had been collected and propagated, they were able to re-plant it, in the original site, from which it had been lost. Jeri

No Brent. But We Must Talk. I think its similarity to Archduke Charles makes it unlikely that anyone would place it in commerce. One day, in the Sacramento City Cemetery, we raced back and forth from this rose to several old plants of A.C. As far as we could see, in that informal "study," the difference between them was solely that this is a bloom with lower petal count. More study, of course, could reveal more. Some might think the lower petal count is a deficiency, but (and the petals MAY have more substance) in my climate, it is a virtue, as I have seen A.C. ball here -- something Orange Smith never does. Jeri

Kim -- I will -- it'll be later in the year, though. Right now, we're working like the devil to rehab the garden. The results are worth it, and I am BOUND to lose some weight, but still . . . Interesting thing ... One of the roses I tackled this morning was 'Kathrinerl' -- remember that? It was full of dead stuff, but when I cleaned it up, the plant looked great (it may be in too much shade). Whhile I was working on it, I almost stepped on what looked like some short canes, laying on the ground. Turns out that 'Kathrinerl' suckers! We potted it up. :-)

That's the cool thing about 'Archduke Charles' (and "Orange Smith"). As the sepals open, the bud opens to first display porcelain pink petals. Guard Petals -- which the sun hits -- soon turn deep blood red. The bloom opens porcelain pink with just the edges of the guard petals showing. As the bloom ages, the color darkens, until gradually, the whole bloom is deep blood red. Here's an 'Archduke Charles' bloom opening in an old cemetery: And here's that photo of an "Orange Smith" spray, from last week, with all of the Stages of Bloom.