Old Blush (Tuesday, February 9, 1999)

.... is actually blooming now -- in February! What an amazing rose it is. The Monthly Rose is really an appropriate name for this very old cultivar. It has had a few blooms on it every month this year. Right now, of course, it isn't in full flush -- but there are several lovely little pink globes there, hanging on for dear life as the heavy winds lash at the bush and the hail pummels it. I'll pick the poor things and enjoy them inside my house. Considering that Old Blush is a China rose, it is extremely hardy and tough. It has naturalized throughout Mendocino County, from the inland valleys which are fiercely hot in summer and bone-chilling in winter to the milder coast where the winds give it no respite at any time of year. There is a tale locally that it was originally brought to the county in a covered wagon in the 1850s by a lady who settled in Boonville (one of those extreme little valleys) and who then passed out "slips" to her friends, eventually disseminating the rose county-wide. It's a good story, and very possibly true. There are a lot of roses around our county which were obviously passed from friend to friend via cuttings. In Mendocino itself there was a woman, a doyenne of Mendocino society, named Daisy MacCallum who was wealthy enough to order roses sent to her on the ships that plied the waters between San Francisco and the North Coast. Daisy, at one time, tended a garden that boasted 140 roses and she was a founding member of the American Rose Society. She is famous for passing roses around the town among her acquaintances and she also was generous in sharing her garden -- she welcomed people who just wandered through and delighted in showing off her creation. Of her original plants, now only 5 remain. Until last year there were six, but a zealous gardener removed one of them in a drive to "tidy" the place up. Alarmed, I contacted the current owners of the house (now an upscale inn and restaurant, as are most of the beautiful old homes in Mendocino) and pleaded with them to consider the remaining roses in their yard as their historic legacy, every bit as important and interesting as the house itself. Fortunately these folks had a broad view of history and took steps to improve the situation (i.e. removing branches from trees which were overwhelming the roses, feeding, pruning, etc.) for the old roses which were left. For anyone who is reading this and might find themselves in the Mendocino area next spring, do drop in and attend my guided Rose Tour of Mendocino. I have mapped the old plantings around the town (50 locations!) and lead a tour every Mothers Day when most of them are in bloom. It is a good way to see corners of Mendocino that are seldom discovered by the ordinary tourist. This year I will be doing the walk in conjunction with the Kelley House (the home of Daisy's mother and now a museum of local history) which is planning an exhibit and talks highlighting plants that were brought into the area by the early immigrants. Roses will be a feature of this event. For more information, email me from this page.

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