Sunday, July 14, 2019

Pretty old girl.


 Being generation number four at my place often comes with links to our past. Over a hundred years ago my great grandmother
 planted rose bushes. They are still blooming today, interesting enough since they are an old variety, they don't resemble anything like today's rose.


 We thought they had all died out until a few years back, we had cleared out some brush around the gardens and the sudden influx of light caused them to start blooming again. After that I started trying to restore them by cutting down any trees around them.

 The old world flowers have a new world problem, as soon as they bloom, hordes of Japanese beetles attack the petals. Some years there are also problems with bugs boring holes in the stems. Still they manage to spread around under the ground and a little rose tree pops up here and there in the area of the roots. It's amazing to think that I'm enjoying something a family member did long before even my parents were born, maybe even before my grandparents were born. They didn't have radio, telephones or even electricity and now her flowers are on the internet!

28 comments:

anne marie in philly said...

cool; but yeah, they don't look like today's roses.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Very cool!

Jimmy said...

It looks like a 'rosa rugosa' from the leafs. Single and semidouble petaled blooms were very much in vogue during the early 1900's. But the blooms can change with maturity of plant or recovery from neglect.

Michael said...

The pics are beautiful. They kind of look like wild roses that grow here in Virginia. We call them June roses.

Richard said...

Will you try to take on with you if you sell the property?

Old Lurker said...

Time to make some babies and produce generation number five.

I like the roses. Are they scented?

Sixpence Notthewiser said...

That’s such a cool story!
I love roses. You should talk you your local greenhouse/ vivarium/ conservatory and tell them your story and your problem and see if you can save the roses.

XoXo

Leanna said...

Old world flowers are still beautiful. Just think. She probably gazed at that rose bush often through her days in that house.

Deedles said...

I come back from camping to landline bashing, stormy weather and this! I am going to be good and say, I love roses in any shape or color, mostly. Carnations are my favorite flower, but roses are nice too. One hundred years ago, my grandmother was five. I'm going to put a dam in this stream of conscience stuff now.

Old Lurker said...

How was your camping trip? Did you see any bears? Otters? Silver foxes?

Deedles said...

Lurkster, does a flock of wild turkeys walking thru the campsite count? These things seem to follow me wherever I go! The only other wildlife I saw was Balder Half having to wear my emergency underwear for three days because I forgot to repack his after the last trip. Fruit of the Loom saved the day! Yes, it has been established that we are odd.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Anne Marie, non genetically modified roses I guess... lol.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Debra, why thank you... oh you meant the roses! ;P

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Jimmy, I have no idea what it is. I'm going to try again to get a picture, they were fuller yesterday but by the time I got my phone out, the beetles had destroyed them.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Michael, they could be a type of wild rose but they don't grow around here that I know of. There wasn't a lot of money around in the old days so sharing flowers or planting wild flowers was common. These will bloom all summer now.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Richard, I don't think I will be able to, I may see if my sister wants to try.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Old Lurker, I tried to get my ex pregnant many many times, I don't know what was wrong with him. ;p
They only have scent if you smell them but you don't really notice them when standing nearby.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Sixpence, I was thinking about doing something like that or contacting the heritage plants people.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Leanna, it was probably one of the few things she had to enjoy.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Deedles, my family seemed to have kids later in life so there is a wide gap between generations. Compared to some of my friends who have great grandparents still alive.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Old Lurker, stop speaking gaylick to Deedles, she's not going to understand. She was exposed to different kinds of animals while camping.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Deedles, a couple that shares undies together, stays together, ok I just made that up but it's touching. I work with a bunch of turkeys, am I in danger? ;P

Deedles said...

As the saying sort of goes, "It's hard to soar with the eagles when you're surrounded by turkeys." You are in no danger unless you become a yappy dog who thinks nothing of attacking a bird three times its size. As for the underwear, I must say, there was a whole different kind of camping going on in that trailer! Foxes and otters and bears(oh my!) couldn't hold a candle to Balder's buns prancing around in pink and turquoise panties! I think I discovered a new kink for me, women's undies worn by an oh so confident, virile oldish man :) Who knew?

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Deedles, there's probably a fetish group for that! No seriously there probably is! O.O
Wait... how did my heritage rose trees post get turned into Deedles's kinky sexcapades!!!

Deedles said...

Obviously, you've forgotten who you're dealing with here, Stevie my love. Besides, the color of that rose is the exact color of one of the pair......I'll stop! Lovely flower :)

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Deedles, oops silly me (smacks forehead), you would think I never met you before. :D

Jimmy said...

I used to grow 'old roses' and had about 150 plants. I'm just thinking about what could survive the winters where you live. There was a well known rose nursery in Canada named "Pickering Roses", but they went under about 2010. My hunch is still a rugosa. Take a photo of leaf and bloom, then send it via web to the Heritage Rose Foundation for classification. It's free.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Jimmy, ok will do. I have better pictures coming, one day the beetles didn't show up so the roses were able to fully bloom.