Tuesday, May. 17, 2005 – 5:57 a.m.
2005-05-17 5:57
Week before last was the Eastern NC Rose Society rose show down in New Bern. Because of the cool spring we have had, not much in the garden had bloomed yet. In addition, we had a pretty heavy cold front move through on Thursday and Friday, with the associated heavy rain and wind. So, Saturday morning dawned and I went out to the garden to pick my roses for the show. Only 4 bushes were in bloom: Austrian Copper (species… R. foetida bicolor), General Jacqueminot (Hybrid Perpetual), Francesca (Hybrid Musk), and Cardinal Richelieu (Gallica)… lots of buds on other stuff but nothing even near opening. The Austrian Copper really didn’t have any blooms worth picking because of the storm so I got 4 blooms TOTAL from the other three (2 General Jacqueminot). So… I had 4 entries: General Jacqueminot in the Dowager Queen and Most Fragrant Rose categories, Cardinal Richelieu also in the Dowager Queen category, and Francesca in the modern Shrub category. In Dowager Queen, I got beaten out by a very good Sombreuil with a first class for General Jacqueminot and a second class for Cardinal Richelieu. The Francesca only got an Honorable Mention which was not really surprising given what else I saw on the table in that category. Turns out there were very few Hybrid Teas this year. The cold weather and such seem to be to blame. As a result, the OGR sections had unusually large numbers of entries (at least that’s the way it seemed to me). In the most fragrant rose category, the scent of the rose is 75% of the score and only 25% is appearance. Well, the General did it! I made head table, winning the most fragrant rose prize. It was a $20 gift certificate from David Austin Roses (basically a free bush) Cool!! Too late to order for this year but I might be able to get something in the fall. Here is a photo of me with the winning rose:
Fast forward 10 days.. (I will get to what I have been up to all spring later)… I went out into the garden this morning and made a list of all the bushes in bloom:
- peace
- orange garnet
- QE
- Madame Berkley
- Mr. Lincoln
- fragrant cloud
- iceberg
- artistry
- king of hearts
- centergold
- europeana
- French Lace
- glowing peace
- Rembrandt
- Sov.. de la Malmaison
- rose de Rescht
- scentimental
- sunny dew
- Voodoo
- francls dubreuil
- kitty hawk
- liz
- reilly (this and the previous one are the roses I rescued from Liz and Reillys house several years ago)
- double delight
- austrian copper
- General. Jacqueminot
- r. alba semiplena
- chaucer
- cardinal Richelieu
- francesca
- belle de crecy
- NOT Nur Mal (Nur Mal is red and this is definitely white and small blossoms )
Holy Toledo! what a difference! I am currently sitting in the Raleigh Rose Garden and it is pretty spectacular. The other day, I walked out of the office by the back door and I swear I could smell the roses here from two blocks away!
Well, lunch is about over and I need to get back to the office. [sigh] It is lovely out and I have to back to the basement.
More Later!