The wonderful foliage has been every bit as clean, and every bit as dark, as it was in the old cemetery where it was collected -- and the BLOOMS! I swear, they've been prettier HERE.

We weren't the first to collect this rose. Ed Wilkinson collected it for the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden -- and study named it "Legacy Of The Richardson Family."

ME, I would have called it "George Washington Richardson" for the closest headstone . . . I still think of it that way.

The good news is that it lives in my garden, and in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, and in Kim Rupert's garden.

The bad news is that -- I was told this spring that the mother plant is gone. :-(

We'll check on it on Sept. 27, when we're up there at the Heritage for their annual Open Garden and Rose Sale. :-)

Ingrid

She really is quite beautiful, but how sad that the mother plant is gone.

Virginia

Virginia, the blooms are quite large. I don't believe this is a Hybrid Musk -- I rather think it could be an early Hybrid Tea Rose.

It may have a climbing, or at least arching habit, but we have never seen one growing naturally. It can make 7-leaflet leaves, which I think is interesting. It was disease-free in the old cemetery where it grew, and it is disease-free in my garden.

When I stick my nose in it, I can smell musk -- and that's even present in hot weather on a less-than-fresh bloom. But then, I am somewhat fragrance-challenged.

It could be that there are other notes there, which I do not detect.

There are so many really good roses that we ought to know, but don't. Things go out of fashion, or don't get properly marketed, and they should be well-known garden workhorses, but are now unknown. But now I'm preaching to the choir, eh?

Do you think it will be possible to get some cuttings into general circulation, or will the CA quarantines make that an unrealistic goal? I have no idea how much it would cost to have plant material inspected for export to an interested nursery, assuming there were an interested nursery...

I've been wondering about leaves and leaflets, and what can be determined from leaves. Most of my "rescue roses" now have leaves on them (all but 2 of 10, and I haven't given up on them). Of those, most have leaves with 3 leaflets, but 2 of them have leaves with up-to-11 little leaflets. These were the 2 that stayed leafy when the others were either completely or mostly defoliated. You can imagine that I'm pretty curious to see what they'll turn out to be like.

Maybe I should post some photos of the leaves, prickles, etc. to see what can be ruled out (or in?) in terms of what types of roses they are. I'm pretty sure none are Rugosas!

I was quite surprised to see that one of the first 2 roses I brought home already has a flower bud. I am used to the slow-but-steady pace of camellia growth, so roses seem pretty speedy in comparison...

Oh, and I do have to agree with you about the name: GWR is kinda long, but LOTRF is really a mouthful...

Virginia

But the sad fact is that we now have very few nurseries interested in offering "orphan" roses.

Like many other very good roses, it may be a valued "Passalong".

As to names . . . Who could resist "George Washington Richardson"???

I have tried to find out more than names and dates, about that particular Richardson family. I think they were early California settlers, who moved to the Capay Valley after suffering an Indian attack.

There also seems to be a largely unexplained connection between The Father Of Our Country, and the surname, "Richardson."

I did a bit of Googling, and noticed that there was another George Washington Richardson in Chicago who was a bigwig in the slide rule business, and he was born around 1866...

I also noticed- and you may have seen this already- that there was a George W Richardson of Aromas, CA who was granted a Post Office pension in 1900. Possibly a relative? I love researching stuff like that...

Good luck,
Virginia

No, the curious thing I ran across was the fact that most, if not all, of the freed Washington Slaves (you know Washington's will specified that the slaves were to be freed upon MARTHA's death) took the surname "RICHARDSON."

No one seems to know WHY they took Richardson as a family name. But that fact made me wonder if this particular Richardson family might be African-American.

Again -- I can't find a descendant, so I am stalled.

I HAVE, however, tracked down living descendants of another family from the same cemetery. As soon as I get a Round Tuit, I'm going to contact them (their ancestors also have a rose) -- and if I can make a good contact, I can always ask them if they know anything about the Richardsons.

(JERI)