This rose is listed in HMF as a Centifolia/Damask. I have no knowledge about those sorts of roses - hoping some of you can clue me in.

When we moved into our house over 20 years ago, my father-in-law pointed out a very double, dark pink rose and told me it was Marie Louise, and that his parents had planted it because that was his sister's name.

The area where it was growing was very shady, and it hardly bloomed at all. My Dh and I decided to move it, but this was early in my rose life, and we had no idea what we were doing - it died.

15 years later, we cut down a very huge tree in the front of our property, and the area where ML had originally been growing suddenly got a lot of light. All of the roses that were nearby have perked up and started growing and blooming much more.

Last week I was looking at those roses, and realized that, in the exact spot where ML had grown, there are about 10 tiny spindly thin rose canes coming up - they are about 12-18 inches high at this point. They are not growing out of one base, but are emerging from the soil several inches away from each other, over an area about 1 foot square. Two of them have produced blooms that look like the HMF pictures of ML - just sitting there, on the top of the spindly canes, which to my amazement are able to support them without falling over. The flowers are very very fragrant.

My question is - could this be ML coming back from ancient roots? My garden is messy, and it is possible that there has been some green growth there in the past, and I might not have noticed it, although I am sure there have not been any flowers since we dug up the original plant 15 years ago. Do Damask roses put out little canes over an area like that? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Jackie