what a pretty thing. so dainty. Glad you avoided the ivy.

Connie that is so exciting--Here are a couple pictures of my Gardenia--Hope they help.
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Florence

Poison ivy -- shudder. You were wise to enjoy the rose from a distance. Just today I was on an extremely steep and slippery hillside spraying poison oak. I fell in it a couple of times. Of course. And yes, I do get it, quite easily. Thank heavens for Tecnu. Anyway, when I finally clear out all of my poison oak, I'm going to plant some apple trees there to stabilize the hill. Maybe add some natives once the apples are established. Maybe someday when the apples are big they will support a scrambler or two, if I can protect them from the deer long enough. Who knows?

Rosefolly

Connie, it looks very pretty. Be careful out there rustlin.

Carla

Very probably Gardenia.
I've often thought that Gardenia exists to outwit bushhogs. Because it is a scrambler, it roots almost wherever a leaf node touches ground. Way beyond just tip rooting. When the road crews bushhog where it lives, it comes back from the roots.
If anything, it's more exquisite in bud than in bloom, and there are blooms at every leaf node.
If you have a 'cedar' tree (what Virginians call cedars are really Juniperus virginiana), Gardenia can happily climb into that cedar and the colors of Gardenia's blooms and the cedar 'leaves' are a really good combo.
The one thing you can't do is keep Gardenia small; she just won't be small. Not gonna happen. (And she is super healthy in our part of the world.

Hi Connie,

I just got back from Europe and I heard there was an F2 tornado in Hartwood, did you have any damage at your place?

The rose is lovely. Did you find it locally?

I am very allergic to poison ivy and have great luck with the flower remedy Rhus Tox both for preventing break outs and curing them once they occur. The last time I bought a bottle, I picked it up at Ukrops.

Congratulations on your score.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Hyland's Rhus Tox

Beautiful! I would have gotten the PI for sure! Great to hear from you.

Sunni

Reminds me of my grandmother's rambler. I think on the Name That Rose forum we decided it is Mary Lovett...see what you think. The pictures actually show a little more toward pink tones than it shows to my eye. This was fall rebloom so not the best of its blooms. Your fragrance description is right on, this is a Van Fleet rose.

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What a beautiful rose! I wonder how these get in the ditch like that. I'm guessing seed. Maybe it is a unique hybrid. I've seen other threads where the person has found gorgeous roses in the ditch - and saved them.

Seriously, what other plausible reason would there be for a rose like that to be growing beside the road?

Good job!

It put me in mind of Penelope.

"This image was added by Paulwhwest on Aug 19, 2004 7:03 AM
"Photo a courtesy of David Austin Roses (http://www.davidaustinroses.com/)"
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/51595/";

Gardenia, it is.

Ann, your description of it scrambling around are completely dead-on. In fact, the first photo I posted is a cane that's gone up a small cedar tree, is hanging down, and has sent out that glorious cluster of flowers.

How do things get by the road like this? My guess on this one is that this is probably a very derelict old house site -- so far gone that there's no trace of the house. The rose is growing beside the service road, and there's cleome coming up in the sunnier areas. This rose had scrambled over and among the poison ivy and honeysuckle, and was heading for the road. The two little rooted pieces that I got were probably run over at one time, as someone pulled off onto the shoulder -- and they very happily healed that injury by growing roots and new little canes.

Florence, your Gardenia looks just like this rose. The thing that seals it for me is how the petsla on the open bloom sort of droop. like they're too delicate to stay upright. Your pictures are lovely. What is the pink rose you're growing with it?

Berrytea, from what I've seen of the photos of your rose, I'm not sure it's Mary Lovett. I just went down to check out the buds on my ML, and they're definitely white. This is a good time of year to do comparisons, since the once-bloomers will be blooming, and we can put our heads together and try again to come up with an ID for you. (I have just about every wichurana rambler I can get my hands on -- they're still small, but we can still use them for comparison.) Can you get more photos of your rose this year?

Kathy, we have no tornado damage right here. The one you see on the news was about 5 miles south of us, just beyond Geico on Rt. 17. I came across the scene the other day, as I was hitting a back road route to avoid the awful traffic. It's surreal to see the walls of a house missing, yet clothes still hanging in the family's walk-in closet. There was a second tornado just south of downtown Fredericksburg that took down a farmer's barn and part of a warehouse, tore off a couple of warehouse roofs, and leveled hundreds of trees. That one missed my other house by about 3 miles. It's been a very stormy week around here.

eibren, those photos do look a lot like my rose. I have Penelope, though she's still a baby. Aren't her flowers much smaller? The ones on my rose are 3" or so.

I'm gonna have to check out all these poison ivy remedies you all recommend. Five years of warfare here on the farm has rid the place of most of it, but I still come across it from time to time (like when I'm rustling). It's good to know that there are things we can do besides scratch and whine.

Connie

There used to be programs to plant roses along the roads and railroads of North America. There also were ads to encourage folks to plant in cemeteries.
Not only bush hogs, but road widening and trees are the enemies of these plantings.
When you have Gardenia, you have lots of plants to share and putting them along a road is something to do with the new roses.
Some of these easily propagated roses were sold in bundles of ten, just to encourage folks to mass plant them, and fencelines were the place. If your home didn't have the ornate columns and outdoor living spaces, well, you probably had a fenceline and it could be made better.

Connie--the rose next to Gardenia is Carefree Delight---
Here are two pictures from a couple of years ago---Now Gardenia has totally engulfed the bench and will have to be cut back drastically after blooming---One of my many mistakes----this was a small cutting that was supposed to grow around a post----LOL
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Hope you don't have any more storms like that---

Florence

Connie - I am hoping that you will be able to come to our Washington Antique Rose Forum get together on Sunday 5/25 (will send directions for the festivities soon). If so, my gardenia(s) will hopefully be in bloom. Yes, I think that there may be some pups in the grass where it sprawls. Best, Nick

Connie,
Yes, I can take more pictures this year. Its early here with just new growth a few inches long starting. I gave it a good hard pruning this year as I'm renovating my landscape and it has been in a neglected area for a while. with all the deadwood and competing grass out, plus a sprinkler system installed it should put on a good show this year.

While pruning it I found some hips with mature seed so am trying to germinate them.

After we found Mary Lovett on HMF I remembered that is what my grandmother told me it was when I took the cutting about 15 yrs ago. She is 102 and as of last week in nursing home with failing mental capacity so can't ask her again. She went in for mild pneumonia but tried to get out of bed by herself and fell. Ended up bruising her hip and cracking a vertabrae in her neck so now we doubt she will come home. She was quite a gardener in her day. Hybridized iris a little and loved large flowered chrysanthemums.

Here is a great poison ivy remedy, works for me every time. Put a few green walnuts in the shell in a jar of rubbing alcohol, let it soak until liquid is black. I call it Swamp Water.....take cotton and dab it on the poison ivy every chance you get. Clears it right up. You can refridgerate it and the cooling liquid feels great. Stains a bit, but it comes off quickly. This works much better/faster than anything you can buy in a drugstore. I think it forms tanic acid......whatever, it works!
Judith