Jeri

I'm thinking this is definitely a Polyantha. I've been looking on the net and in my Encyclopedia of Roses, and the closest that this even resembles (so far, in my limited search) is Dick Koster.

I DO wish we could see inside the blooms. Does it look like they ever open all the way? Or do they remain cupped?

Do you have material you can root?

Jeri

It's not a rose I know AT ALL.

Jeri

Since this rose is close to my work, I'll stop by today and check out some of the dates on the headstones surrounding it.

Around here, it is VERY common to find La Marne in cemeteries. (I have been told that it's been known at the Mother's Day rose, so it makes sense that grieving relatives would plant this rose on Mama's grave. In my experience, the color of the flowers of La Marne vary GREATLY at different times and under various conditions. La Marne's flowers don't open flat, remaining a bit cupped, and they dry like paper before the petals eventually fall off.

Good thing you took cuttings. The mother plant of that polyantha I collected has been gone for a couple of years. I'm fairly certain that it was a victim of herbicide, since the hosta it was growing through is also completely gone. All that's left is a weeds patch of Bermuda grass. Sad for the cemetery, but fortunate that it lives on in my garden and the garden of others I shared it with.

I'm gonna run out to the garden and compare sepals and receptacles on La Marne and my Sumerduck Cemetery rose to see if either is a match for you.

There was a real beauty in San Juan Bautista -- hefty, maybe 5 ft. tall -- but it was on private property, and the next time we went back, it was gone. Many of the old ones are going, now.

Those sepals are pretty interesting. You'd think they would facilitate identification, and maybe they will -- but there are a whole bunch of wonderful Found Roses which are never identified, including some that may never have had a documented historical identity.

And that's OK.

"That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Jeri

(I loved that rose, but it died for me.)

Jeri

Fred Boutin told me that, when he found a beautiful pink rose in Altadena, CA he didn't worry about giving it a "fancy" Study Name. He felt that a rose that good would be quickly identified, so he just called it "Altadena Drive Pink HP."

That was in 1979.

Many subsequent discoveries and study names later -- many identification suggestions later -- we still don't know for sure what Historic Identity that rose had.

We're still calling it "Grandmother's Hat" -- its second and best-known Study Name.

Jeri

Now, fingers crossed that my cuttings take. I think I'll drive over and trim off the dead word and give some Rosetone to the mother plant tomorrow for some extra Karma.

Regardless of name, everyone seems to agree that this rose is a real beauty.

It'all be a fine thing if you find out what it is, Jewelie -- but just in case you don't, think of a good STUDY Name. I like using Family Plot Names, or names from headstones, but this one's all yours. :-)

Jeri