Lady Banks Rose

Lady Banks Rose

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Rosa

Cultivar: R. Banksiae

A pretty little thing, isn't it? This relatively new addition to my back garden was a gift of Gardening Daughter. It's been in the ground next to a side fence for a couple of years, but bore only one small cluster of blooms last year. It's not completely covered with blooms, as I hope it will be when mature (see Internet photo below -- Glorious! -- I should live so long!) However, I didn't have to search among the leaves for color this year. It's a right cheerful sight.

Photo from Internet

R. banksiae has likely been grown in the gardens of China for hundreds of years. The species was introduced to Europe by William Kerr, who had been sent on a plant-hunting expedition by Sir Joseph Banks. He bought the first Lady Banks' Rose, subsequently named the white Lady Banks (R. banksiae var. banksiae) from the famous Fa Tee nursery in 1807. A number of other forms were subsequently discovered growing in China, including R. banksiae var. normalis, and R. banksiae 'Lutea', the yellow Lady Banks' rose (brought to Europe in 1824 by J. D. Park). This cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit^[4] - 

Wikipedia article

Tomorrow is also a day.

Dainty Bess Comes Through, Again.

Family:Rosaceae(ro-ZAY-see-ee)

Genus:Rosa(RO-zuh)

Cultivar: Dainty Bess

Hybridized by Archer; Year of Registration or Introduction: 1925

I took the above photo yesterday afternoon with my cell phone camera. Not too bad, considering.  This rose, Dainty Bess, has been a faithful bloomer in my yard for 24 years.  Its leaves look a bit worse for wear and black spot; I haven't given it the attention it deserves. 

Dainty Bess is always the first of my few roses to bloom, and it will soldier on through the heat of the summer, putting out a bloom or two from time to time until hard frost. 

I do have a new yellow rose, courtesy of Gardening Daughter, about which (the rose) I shall post later.  

Tomorrow is also a day.

Dainty Bess Rose

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Rosa

Cultivar: Dainty Bess

Hybridized by Archer; Year of Registration or Introduction: 1925

Almost every year, the first rose to bloom in my garden is a Dainty Bess rose that is 20 years old.  I planted it in a bed along the south wall of my home in the spring of 1991, and it has been a reliable bloomer every year.  If it holds true to its performance in years past, it will bloom three or four times before frost.

I like it for its single layer of petals and its sweet true pink color.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Things Past, Things to Come

Reminders of Last Year's Blooms -  Autumn Clematis, Carolina Jessamine, Sedum

 New Growth - Magnolia, Daffodil, Lilac, "Oklahoma" Rose, "Knockout" Rose, Carolina Jessamine

The air was balmy and the sun shining brightly when I took my "lunch break" today, so outside to my back yard with the camera I did go.  A close look revealed evidence of last year's flowers and the promise of flowers to come.

My Carolina Jessamine vine, which covers about 20 feet of the fenceline on the east side of the yard had some dried seed pods on it.  These are pictured bottom-left on the first photo. I don't recall ever before seeing these; I think they're interesting.

The obstreperous squirrels have broken several of the stalks on my King Alfred daffodils as well as a still-supple limb on the Magnolia tree.  The latter, which had several buds on it, was connected to the tree only by a minute bit of bark and a gentle tug on my part severed its connection.  The squirrels can now munch on the emerging blossoms to their hearts' content without having to climb the tree.

I enjoyed another round of "Sweetie-Duty" this morning while Gardening Daughter worked a few hours at the florist.  Sweetie is very fond of using Google to look up things in which she has an interest. I'm teaching her to use the keyboard to enter her own searches. That activity helps teach her to spell, also. Today's searches included "One-Eyed Willie" the pirate, weasels, ferrets and prairie dogs.  She was aghast to learn that ferrets love to dine upon prairie dogs.

Lunch break is over.  Tomorrow is also a day.

Real Things of Beauty

Rose Bouquet

 

 

Gardening Daughter (GD), as you might imagine from my previous mentions of her, is a lover of flowers.  She has taken a part time job, which she enjoys very much, with a small local florist.  Her boss was invited to attend a seminar sponsored by the largest wholesale florist in our county, and she, in turn, invited GD to attend with her. 

My daughter enjoyed the seminar, which lasted almost a whole day, and was very interested in the presentation of one of the featured demonstrators, a commercial rose grower from Ecuador who is trying to create a market here in Arkansas.

GD was quite taken with the Ecuadorian roses, a generous quantity of which she was able to bring home.  She brought me the arrangement pictured above, which is no more than a bunch of roses in a vase; nothing more was needed, in my opinion.

The grower maintains 10 hectares (almost 25 acres) of greenhouses in which nothing is grown but roses.  What a heavenly place that must be.  I can only imagine what it must look like when the roses start to bloom.

One of the roses (a separate photo below) is the largest I have ever seen.  It does not have quite as much "rose" fragrance as the smaller ones (which are not "small" except compared to this one), but it is remarkable for its size.  I wonder how many of these beauties grown on one plant?  I placed my gnarly hand to the side of the blossom to show relative size.  A huge flower, is it not?

The red roses are particularly beautiful. There must be hundreds of petals in each bloom; I've never before seen a rose with so many. Photo below.  Observe how the petals swirl.

I've had the bouquet for an entire week and all the flowers save one are in excellent condition.  The huge rose has opened up even more, and while it's not as beautiful as it was the day it arrived, it is still lovely -- hasn't shed a single petal.

Amazingly, although the cats have been very interested in the flowers, they haven't taken any actions which would damage the flowers.  That's not always the case; I've had several bouquets in the past that have been picked apart in a few days, despite much scolding.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Today's Flowers

"Joseph's Coat" Rose

This beautiful rose was blooming in the garden of a friend I visited last week. The petals are multi-colored, thus the name "Joseph's Coat." I caught this one in fully opened form. The major down-side to this rose variety is that the stems, both main and small leaf-bearing, are thickly populated with very sharp thorns. I'd hate to be caught in a thicket of Joseph Coat roses. I understand that this variety is recommended for creating boundry line hedges.

For more information on this rose variety, you may click the link above.


Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.

Today's Flowers

Since there are no natural growing flowers around here during this season, I drew from my photo archives for today's post. This is a portion of a lovely bouquet I received for my birthday this past September. The flowers were arranged by my granddaughter, who works for a local florist.

Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.