Yes, I very much like the slightly feral wildness of this rose. It is also somewhat forgiving of my dryish climate and hopelessly lean soil. A great rose to have in a gently wild and informal garden (ie. some of my customers).

I love your beautiful full bush photos too, Jeri. This complements the closeups so well.

Rosa primula -- Yeah, poor quality soil and water is what we have. "Ragged Robin" just doesn't care. This is one we collected, and one of the best clones of it I've seen.

When we collected it, it was blooming PINK. It does so, from time to time . . . which tickles me pink. :-)

Sheila -- You know, this bush grew to 8-ft -- then was attacked by gophers, which ate all of its roots. Re-rooted, and has grown back to a good 10-ft. You just can't beat it.

That is wonderful the rose made a comeback, Jeri. I am rerooting any roses now that get roots eaten and am planting in gopher baskets going forward.

Yeah . . . You're just not going to eliminate gophers, so you have to provide protection. Every time we've tried to avoid that, we've come a cropper.

yes, Jeri, great pics!

If only Gloire des Rosomanes' had become the main understock used by the industry instead of Dr. Phooey - we'd have thousands of plants of it all over the west coast, blooming for months with a delicious scent and mannerly growth habit. But no - we got Dr. Phooey.

You're right Paul, but at older homes and cemeteries along the CA coast, and down through SoCal, you do find wonderful plants of it.

This particular one is SO good, I have speculated that it was planted AS Gloire des Rosomanes, rather than as rootstock. I've had it here for a long time now, and never found a single sign of virus . . . And it's more double than many. So . . . Frankly, every garden in So Cal NEEDS it.

Nice work getting that red in a photograph! I find it so hard to capture red roses in pictures. This one has such a great informal look to it. Lovely!

Dark reds really ARE a challenge sometimes. This one is a little warmer, so I can get it easier than I can the poiple-toned ones.