Alba Madness! (Thursday, December 10, 1998)

I wrote something about a month ago about the anomalous blooms I've been getting on my Alba roses. The Albas usually faithfully bloom in the late spring and then rest until the next year. Their lovely foliage forms a graceful backdrop to the other roses and perennials in my garden. However, this year the Albas have acted very strangely. First, they missed their early flush of bloom. The remnants of our El Nino winter created a very overcast, wet, dank spring and many of the old roses bloomed poorly as a result. The Albas just waited. They made a few buds, which rotted, and then nothing. Finally, in July, they made a somewhat puny flush. I counted them out for the year. But -- amazingly! -- they began to bloom again in October. Not just a few straggly blossoms appeared, but a healthy flush of perfect, beautiful flowers. Some of them even bloomed again in November! I had fall blossoms on Mme. Lesgras de St. Germain, Jeanne d'Arc, R. alba 'Semi Plena', Felicite Parmentier, Maiden's Blush -- and most strange of all, a burst of blossoming activity in mid-December (!) from Celestial. What gives? None of my other old roses (gallicas, damasks, etc.) have acted in this way. I've been able to blame almost every phenomenon this year on El Nino. Could this be another example? El Nino has produced a plethora of fungi, a plenitude of rust, an uprising of botrytis -- could it also be contributing to the odd behavior of the Albas? Even if El Nino can be faulted for some of the peculiarity, there are probably some other reasons. R. alba itself is a somewhat-odd "species" rose. It is pretty much agreed upon that it isn't a true species but is an ancient species hybrid. Its hybrids are equally mysterious, many of them being made before good breeding records were kept, so we can only guess at the various genes that contributed to their unique beauty. The class is distinctive, so there is some genetic integrity there, but there are still many uncertainties about its origins. Could some of the cultivars I've been growing harbor some remontant genes? Who knows? Perhaps some day the money will be found to conduct genetic research on this most tangled genus -- the genus Rosa. Meanwhile rose growers continue to make observations, marvel at the versatility and diversity of the genus, and puzzle over the questions that arise when they delve a bit into this fascinating group of plants.

Previous Rose Wraps Many Changes (Monday, April 17, 2000) Where's Alice??? (Monday, August 16, 1999) Ah, the Celebration...... (Wednesday, May 19, 1999) Long Time, No Wrap.... (Tuesday, April 6, 1999) Is It Spring Yet??? (Wednesday, March 10, 1999) Mothers Day in Mendocino... (Friday, February 26, 1999) Old Blush (Tuesday, February 9, 1999) Plum Blossoms (Wednesday, January 27, 1999) The Dead of Winter (Friday, January 15, 1999) The Old Year Passeth.... (Monday, January 4, 1999) Alba Madness! (Thursday, December 10, 1998) The Weather Again (Thursday, November 19, 1998) El Nino/La Nina (Monday, November 9, 1998)

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White Rabbit Roses
P.O. Box 191, Elk, CA 95432
Proprietor: Alice Flores
Colophon