Thanks, Jeri. I am so lucky to have been able to root new bushes from the many ancient roses which were surviving in our garden when we moved in in 1989 - teas Anna Olivier, Le Vesuve, Lamarque, & Duchess de Brabant - all of which we think were originally planted in 1905 - 1920 period. Then, equally old, a standard bush CB, and another type of CB which was HUGE -- I don't know if the "bush" or the "spray" version, but it was enormous (but not climbing), and luckily for me as it was dying, it tip rooted itself without any help (or permission) from me whatever, and we have a happy scion of it! Cl American Beauty (hybrid wichurana 1909) was growing in three different places in our garden when we moved in, and we think they were just as old as the old teas. The Bourbon/china Eugenie de Beauharnais was growing in two places, and accd to my FIL was planted by his parents in 1915 when his sister was born. We currently have rooted clones or even the original bushes of all of these roses in our garden.

Peace is the only original mid century HT which we still have, as the others (which were planted by my DH's grandfather in the 1940s & 50s) were all very unhappy and very virused and died off.

Then, we have still thriving bushes of Safrano, Cramoisi Superior, Dawson's Apple Blossom, de la Griffaerie, Madame Joseph Schwartz, and Awakening, which were all planted in the 1970s by my FIL.

I must say that the older the roses were, the more likely they were to survive for decades or even longer, period.

Jackie

It took a long time to identify all of these roses, which was so fun. They inspired us, of course, to plant a lot of other old roses, including three which we got from old old bushes in our neighborhood.

Lovely! Consider me "cheered up!"

Oh Jacqueline!! Your garden is heavenly!! I can only wish and admire. :)

Just gorgeous, Jacqueline!

The world needs more gardens like that, Jackie. And more families like that, too.

Such history! Such beauty!

Just love it!

I've never been a fan of the Peace rose, mostly because I never saw healthy one. But yours is really special. I can't believe how pretty it is when it's healthy! That does cheer me up.

Thank you for the uplifting post and photo.

That is funny - I have never heard of the term "Kick-A-Boo", but I looked it up and there is a farm in one state, a road in another, and some other uses for place names. Amazon says it may originally be African, and has roots here in the black community.

I also found a recipe for "Kick-A-Poo Joy Juice for the Garden", which is a fertilizer, the base of which seems to be chicken manure and urine. Sounds more similar to what you were talking about.

Right now our garden is very HOT - it was 108F a couple of days ago. Some plants are still blooming (mostly the china roses), but the rest are dormant, waiting it out. That is why I enjoy looking at the photos from April!

Jackie