Open gardens today

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

today was a great day for open gardens. Most of the roses were in bloom especially the teas. The numbered ticket method seemed to dampen the rush of people and made things a bit smoother. After hearing the descriptions of some of the roses, I ended up getting more than I had planned. I ended up with moser house hybrid perpetual, general Washington, old town Novato, telegraph ave hyrbid China, dr rouges, Florence bowers , lady roberts and comtess de leuss. For those that went what do you get?

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catspa_zone9sunset14

7 years ago

Garden nut, nice roses! As for "Florence Bowers", a good rule of thumb is going to be (channeling "Jaws"): "You're going to need a bigger arbor". My experience is that she will take everything you've got and then some.

It was a lovely day. Unfortunately, no more room for big teas here, at the moment at least (otherwise I would have gone for 'Comtesse de Leusse', too), so I came home with 'Mlle Blanche Lafitte' (a bourbon that seems to have a lot of noisette character, so hopefully more happy here than many bourbons have been, though 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' does extremely well here, despite being a bourbon), 'Lady Reading', and 'Petite Perle-d'Or'. I hadn't been to the cemetery for at least 6 or 7 years and was amazed at how improved the gardens were compared to my last visit -- kudos to Anita Clevenger and that wonderful band of volunteers!

A good number of earlier roses in bloom, though not everything (a late-running year here in Livermore, anyway). It was especially good to see and smell a good-sized "Jesse Hildreth" in bloom with a "Westside Road Cream Tea" not far away for comparison. I am ever more convinced they are the same variety, or so closely related that there is not a nickel's worth of difference between them.

Some photos, thanks to DH:

Rose sale line-up -- it was quite orderly:

'Indica major' up a tree:

Me among roses and tombstones -- the stories they tell are sometimes heartbreaking:

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Comments (6)

Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
7 years ago
Oh, do I love these photos, garden nut. I love your rose choices.
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Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
7 years ago
Just beautiful catspat. Thank you.
jacqueline9CA
7 years ago
It was a perfect day. Sunny, not too hot. The late bloom because of the cold/wet weather meant that many early bloomers, such as the two huge banksias which are each climbing up (or taking over) a very tall tree were in full bloom - usually by the time of the Open Garden they are done. Spectacular. Most of the teas and chinas were in full bloom, others were just coming out. Even the roses which had not started to bloom yet were healthy, and covered with buds. It is truly a place to see teas and chinas at their very best - perfect climate for them, and they are so well taken care of too. I saw many roses which are doing fine in my mostly partial sun garden looking WAY better In Sacramento. They really do like full sun.

Jackie
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
7 years ago
Beautiful pictures, lovely roses - never as good as being able to see it all in person, but so much better than nothing.
catspa_zone9sunset14
7 years ago
Below is a photo of the yellow Lady Banks at Open Garden. The cemetery's Vina Banksia was about a week ahead of mine, which is definitely running well behind its usual schedule -- a cool year though, paradoxically, relatively little frost, with only a night or two at 31 degrees F the entire winter.