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melissaaipapa

Gallica love! (plus spacing for Houzz)

4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago

It's Gallica season now, and, much as I love other roses, right now Gallicas are square in the center of my heart. I was just down in the shade garden. There's a suckering thicket of 'Gloire de France' down there, a sea of foliage starred with fragrant, double, soft pink flowers, bordered on one side by a narrow path, on the other by a little clearing, lower than the rose bed. Off at one end of the same bed is 'De la Maitre-Ecole', planted some years after GdF arrived, and just now coming into its own. It's taller than its neighbor and has larger blooms, loose and shading between cool pink and lavender to purple. They're both good tough varieties: I'll let them fight it out. Every once in a while I wade in and cut out dead and old growth and pull stems of struggling grass; otherwise I perform no maintenance.

Down in the big garden some anonymous Gallicas are in bloom at the top of the newer Serbian Bed. These are from plants in another part of the garden, but I don't know which ones: they're beautiful, double, pink, and much like a hundred other Gallicas, all of them deeply satisfactory.

Gallicals have nice foliage, generally rather rough, some smaller and spoon-shaped, others larger and pointed. They smell good, and I'm not sure it's just the flowers; I have a notion the whole plant is fragrant. They don't get disease. They sucker out, which may or may not be a virtue according to the situation, but this renders them practically immortal. They make thickets, not shrubs. They don't deteriorate if you don't prune them. I've seen very few Gallicas I wouldn't be happy to have in the garden. They grow valiantly through nettles and bindweed and grass, and look beautiful while doing so.

P.S. My love for truth reminds me that 'De la Maitre-Ecole' does get mildew, not that it or I care.

Comments (168)

  • 4 years ago

    A bloom of Tuscany Superb that is proliferating like Tricolore de Flandre. I’ve never seen my TS proliferate before this year.





  • 4 years ago

    More Rosa Mundi.



    And a sun starved Rosa Mundi facing away from the garden into the warmth of the western sky!



  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    More Tuscany Superb…because it’s Tuscany Superb! 😊







    Her buds got drenched and beaten, but Marianne is still opening.


  • 4 years ago

    Carol, I hope she has a thriving adolescence: it can happen. The writing and art are great. My DD comes from a family that includes a lot of drawers and scribblers as well as numerous engineers; I put a pen in her hand as soon as she could hold one and set a piece of blank paper in front of her, and she was off. I'm guessing you did something similar. Art is such a joy. I finally found my own creative expression in my garden and am so thankful for it, but I've loved DD's drawing and writing from the start: First Critic (by invitation) and First Fan. DD was also lucky that in the Italian school system she got thirteen years of art, split between drawing and art history.

    I think it's a trifle comical that DD in her early twenties should be working in the same genres as your almost-teen daughter, though I believe manga and cartoon can be serious genres. DD's manga has deep roots, but a lot of her output is, as she herself admits, silly, a break from her demanding studies. She's serious about the technical aspects, but I hope one day to see her pulling from more deeply in her psyche. However, she's the artist, not me, and it's up to her.

    I know prolonged rain can be tiresome, but it certainly sounds attractive to a gardener in drought-plagued Italy. Your photos have been wonderful. My 'Tuscany Superb' isn't a tenth as fine as yours; I hope your rose season continues for a while longer. We're getting flowers here in the form of a modest second flush of some of the Teas and Noisettes. But oh! it's getting hot.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Here I have a not TS from RVRs that is not bad overall but Paul Barden sent me a Barden's TS West which is glorious. They are both babies.


    TS West



    Not TS


    TS West

    TS West

    Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 thanked Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    @Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR

    Paul Barden’s TS West is a beautiful thing! Thank you for sharing the photos!! What would we do without our purple and garnet roses? It’s fun that Chris grows TS West, too. I have a plant in my baby nursery that’s labeled TS West, but I am not sure the tag didn’t get discombobulated during our heavy ice and snow storm a while back. A few got swapped around. I tried to put everything back in the right order, but time will tell.

    I wonder what rose your Not TS is. I was just reading a garden blog by someone who is growing a (maybe similar) Not TS. I’ll see if I can dig up the article. It may have been a Gallica page on Hedgerow Rose’s site.

    If you ever try a TS (real deal instead of Not TS), I’d love to hear your thoughts on the two. And if I ever try my hand at growing some (likely openly pollinated) rose seeds, you know they’ll be from my beloved TS. :-) Carol

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Pergolese was a name brought up as an ID for my not TS, Carol. Someone else on this forum has the rose too.

    I would agree it would be fun to compare Paul's TS West with TS. I'll look up Pergolese again too. I think it is the 1860 one I have, not 1840. I looked it up again and both choices look like it could be the one I have and the other houzz member. They might be the same one on HMF.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Well, Henri Fouqier finally began to unfurl its first bloom last night, but this morning it looked a little droopy... Touched it and it shattered immediately. What the heck! SIGH. This is it before I touched it, you can see it's already falling apart without any help.


  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    @Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) Oh, I hate when that happens. I’m glad you got a photo, at least! I can already see how lovely HF is going to be. He looks like one of those with fluffy pink blooms that fade to lavender and mauve. I love it when OGRs do that! Like your Sidonie. Baby rose blooms can be such trials. Any bit of inclement weather or sudden changes in temps and they just fall apart. Gallicas get much tougher as the plants mature. Someday your HF will be COVERED in lovely, romantic blooms!

  • 4 years ago

    So, here’s a total mystery! I have never grown Rosa Mundi in this location. My Camaieux went straight from a large pot into this bed. Nothing near Camaieux has ever grown with Rosa Mundi. But look! Suddenly, out of the blue and after several years of growing Camaieux in this spot, there’s a Rosa Mundi smack in the middle of Cam and Cam Reversion!! How???






  • 4 years ago

    Oh, @Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b), days like that just SUCK! Call it done for now. Have some tea. Take heart. What I love about old roses is, once they mature, they are magnificent surviviors! They will take a few years, but then even my insane spring didn’t take them down The ones you are growing bloom for a looong stretch. The buds just keep coming. My Maiden’s Blush has been in full flowers and still boasts so many buds that I can’t count them all! Sometimes I have needed to move a rose to give it a hair more protection. (Yes, Felicite Parmentier, I mean you and your chicken blossoms hiding under my eaves!) Kids…. My daughter has a lot of days like that. Lots Lots. And lots. They are exhausting! Then she bounces back and we enjoy a good session of sketching characters together. Enjoy good ol’ reliable M Plantier! She is sending you renewed faith in OGRs and lots of fluffy fragrant love. SH is the best! She is one of the most dependable and gorgeous HM roses out there. Bless her floriferous heart! And, lastly, squirrels. If you search back a few years, you can read my saga of the squirrels that attacked Botzaris. Twice. To the nubbins. And now look at Botzaris! Carol

  • 4 years ago

    Belle sans Flatterie’s first bloom!




  • 4 years ago

    Carol you and I had the same thought, I made a tea and took a hot shower while it cooled a bit. Thank you for the empathy, it definitely helped. Your Belle sans Flatterie, besides the fact that I love the name, is beautiful. I'm starting to learn that I'm really attracted to roses that show that little bit of green in the middle, I think it's such a charming attribute. And I love how that bloom unfurled with 5 distinct ruffles. It's like someone took a pink, single-petalled rose and held down the copy/paste button. Lol. I'd better go to bed 😅 Thank you again. I appreciate you.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    (Maybe) Amaible Amie in full bloom. It's the best it's been in the 3 years I've had it in the ground. My only other blooming gallica is Complicata. The purples are taking a while, but maybe in a week they will bloom: my lovely Charles de Mills and Tuscany Superb. Charles is getting moved to a bed where it can be kept in check - I realised that it IS a thug like you all said!





  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Here is my Belle SF from Claire.


    It will be even better next year. It suffered a vole attack.

  • 4 years ago

    Sheila those pictures are seriously amazing-your property is so special

  • 4 years ago

    @MetteBee_Copenhagen8b What a gorgeous pink Gallica! I love pink roses that have darker centers—your Maybe Aimiable Aimee, Belle sans Flatterie, Konigen von Danemark,… I have never grown Amiable Aimee, and whatever your rose it, it is breathtakingly beautiful and is inspring me to research Aimee. I wonder if she is available in the US.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Oooo, @Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR! Your BsF from Claire is so mature and so lovely! I just removed mine from her 5 gallon pot this spring and boldly set her loose in the garden. So hopefully she will become splendorous like yours. That whole planting composition with BsF is jaw dropping!

  • 4 years ago

    Thank you, Portland Carol :) I think Scandinavian rose books equal Belle Sans Flatterie and Amaible Amie, as they have been confused for ages. So if you can't find AA then BSF is a close match.

    I forgot to say that I look forward to the Gallica thread each year, it is always full of lovelies (roses and people).

  • 4 years ago

    Well my first Gallica of the season is this little soggy Orpheline de Juillet



  • 4 years ago

    Oh and where should I put a picture of a Geschwind?

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I'll throw in Blairii #2. I love Peter Schneider saying it is better than Blairii #1 which no one has ever seen I don't think.



  • 4 years ago

    @oursteelers 8B PNW A Geschwind thread would be fun! I have 4 this year and they are some of my most special and beloved roses.

  • 4 years ago

    Just wanted to put in a word that I'm still following this thread and greatly admiring everybody's roses, as well as desperately envious that yours are currently in bloom. Our season was way too short this year, June so hot and dry.

    The warm climate roses put on more of a show. They bloom, not at a specific time, but rather when circumstances favor flowering, so got going early and had plenty of time, while the Gallicas and Co. waited until mid-May to begin, when it was already summer-warm and droughty. We're also getting a moderate second flowering from some of the Teas and Noisettes.

    WE NEED MORE SHADE. I want to be able to have shade to walk in everywhere I go in the garden. The infant trees we plant may not achieve enough size in my lifetime, but at least I can dream about the comfort in which my successors will be able to walk about and look at things.

  • 4 years ago

    L'Eveque can be classified as a Gallica, which means it I can share it in this thread :)

    This is the second to last gallica of the year - a newly planted Jenny Duval has buds on the way.

    The colour is true to life, very dark purple!



  • 4 years ago

    MetteBee-there is just something special about a dark purple rose

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    @oursteelers 8B PNW I hope you are getting some less soggy OdJ blooms now that we have sunshine! I am loving my PNW OdJ. Fragrant, beautiful purple, floriferous, healthy. I see why she is one of Alana’s favorites!

    @Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR ”Blairii #1…no one has ever seen, I don’t think.” Well, something is always better than nothing! Ha ha. Your B#2 is beautiful!

    @MetteBee_Copenhagen8b

    I had to look up L’Eveque. Translation lightbulb: The Bishop! This is one of a few purple Gallicas that I wish I had acquired. My garden is so full up now! Vintage Gardens in California used to offer different ”Bishops” with different provenances and at least somewhat different features. I should have ordered them all. A Reverance for Roses in FL still lists The Bishop in its stock. Your photos is very seductive and almost nudges me into ordering another Gallica….

    Carol

  • 4 years ago

    When I got home from work yesterday I was greeted by Belle de Crecy. She was a band last year so this tiny flush is my first.





  • 4 years ago

    @librarian_gardner_8b_pnw

    I am going all oooo squealy over your baby Belle de Crecy! She is one of the best Gallicas! I don’t think mine is going to bloom well this year, darn it. It got attacked by something and the rain got the buds. Maybe I’ll get a couple blooms. We shall see. Yours, on the other hand: the rich violet color, the full swirly ruffled classic blooms, the fragrance,… Congratulations!

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Here’s another shot of Tricolore de Flandre which is making lots of buds. The stripes on the bloom are much darker violet-purple than those on Rosa Mundi and Camaieux. TdF reminds me of Purple Tiger. I love this Gallica!


  • 4 years ago

    Okay, I know I’m cheating a bit, but Tuscany is somewhere in the heritage of Austin’s The Prince, likely my favorite Austin rose. My two The Princes are just starting to open this year.




  • 4 years ago

    Oh, Carol, Im sorry about your BdC this year. Beautiful TdF and The Prince!

  • 4 years ago

    Omgosh Carol! I have wanted that beautiful rose for so long! Just beautiful 😍 Tricolore de Flandre is definitely one of my unicorn roses!

  • 4 years ago

    I have a newly planted band of Blair 2. Yours is so beautiful Shelia!

  • 4 years ago

    @Alana8aSC Mine is a baby, but as soon as it puts out a viable sucker, you are welcome to it. Carol

  • 4 years ago

    Rosa Mundi is still offering lots of bloom!



  • 4 years ago

    Buds on Gloire de France.


    Belle sans Flatterie.




  • 4 years ago

    A small carpenter bee on my still-covered-in-blooms Tuscany Superb. Another thing to love about TS—bee friendly!


  • 4 years ago

    The exquisite Gloire de France finally opening! She rivals La Ville de Bruxelles for perfect pink bloom.


    More from Belle sans Flatterie.


  • 4 years ago

    I love everything about Duchess de Montebello…including saying her name!





  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Here is the namesake Duchesse, perhaps idealized, but adorable like her rose. She and her husband, Maréchal Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, were ennobled by Napoleon on account of merit rather than birth, an innovation of his. The Maréchal, as good looking himself as his wife was lovely, was mortally wounded in battle at a very young age. Everyone was younger then, it seems, or at least they made their mark earlier, often. These are all from May 29, 2022, exactly one month ago.




    And here is Cardinal Richelieu:



  • 4 years ago

    She was quite pretty wasn’t she? And your Cardinal is sumptuous-love that dark winey purple in the garden!

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    @oursteelers 8B PNW Your DdM is beautiful! She is, in my opinion, the perfect blush rose. I have what I hope is a baby Allegra from RVR. 🤞 I saw a fully mature Allegra, DdM’s offspring, in full bloom, and it was equally exquisite. Thank you for posting your DdM photos! I missed getting any of mine this year.

    @monarda_gw Thank you for serving as our forum historian! I love gathering all the facts and background…with an illustration no less! History, my second love after old roses. Your CdR is exactly why I grow and adore Gallicas! And I am also an heirloom iris fan. 😊

    Carol

  • 4 years ago

    My Gallicas are finishing their flush, but here’s one more Gloire de France.



  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I just have to post these photos because I’d never guess the ID if I saw these rose images…even though this is likely my favorite rose of all! These are Tuscany Superb‘s blooms after Portland hit 100s last weekend and early this week. Nothing could be a clearer demonstration of the effects of climate/weather on coloring, size and form.

    100+ degree TS.











  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    For comparison, TS in high 80s-90 degree weather.





  • 4 years ago

    TS in cool weather.





  • 4 years ago

    Each one prettier than the other!


  • 4 years ago

    Oh, that Tuscany! I love the look of it so much.

    I might give in and plant a Gallica hedge in my front yard after all. I was leaning towards a Portland-hedge (Comte de Chambord and Rose de Roi) but I actually love the open flowers of Tuscany Superb and Apothecary Rose a lot more...


    Suggestions/recommendations from the forum? It's a 8 metre stretch, facing east.


    Complicata closing for the night

    Jenny Duval in my garden - a bit "messier" bloom than I like...



  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Carol, good photos illustrating color changes due to temperature variations. Chinas change, too, but in the opposite direction: my 'Sanguinea' bloomed off and on through the winter, a good clear pink, then turned blood red when summer arrived. I've seen the same for 'Général Gallieni' and 'Mme. Antoine Mari', both paler in cool weather and more intensely colored in warm.

    P.S. Your Gallica photos and those of other posters have been wonderful this year. I've been green and curdled with envy, our own season having been so early and so brief because of the ongoing drought, but, envy and all, I've been glad you and others have had such a wonderful season. Marvelous roses! We're holding on through the summer, but it has a long time to run.