News about Roses in Bermuda the Bermuda Rose Society and general Rosey News
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Gregg Lowery of Vintage Gardens Antique & Extraordinary Roses. California. http://www.vintagegardens.com/
Gregg's blogg on his recent visit to the Bermuda Rose Society February 2010
Now before you summon up a picture of me sifting sand through my toes on the beach, let me paint a picture rather chilly temperatures—not much different than Northern California at the moment. Roses were leafless, yet blooming. My hosts, Peter and Felicity Holmes took such good care of me that I really wasn't ready to return home today... They kept me stocked with coffee and sandwiches, cold beer and 'Dark and Stormys'—dark Bermuda rum and ginger beer—and all manner of lovely feasts. And the whole community of old rose lovers in the Bermuda Rose Society saw to it that I visited dozens of gardens, nurseries, and the wonderful propagation facility at Tulla Valley. Dinner parties are a splendid respite from pruning!
The roses of Bermuda are a very special thing; and while we often think in America that we invented the idea of collecting old roses and passing them around, the Bermudians have been at it a good deal longer than we have, starting in the early 1950s. They take special pride in having preserved all of the roses that have been found on the islands there, and passing them around so that Bermuda is full of roses, peaking out from every hedgerow of hibiscus, and spilling over the old limestone walls, and climbing up to the glistening white roofs that make Bermuda such a beautiful place.
Over these years the Bermudians have taught us a lot about preservation, and I tried to share with them just how important their efforts have been to the old rose community. Such a dedicated group of people, and they haven't let up in more than half a century.
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One of our favourites for cutting, this has been moved back from the ‘Tea’ classification (though it is obviously a Tea) to Mysteries, because its colouration is at variance with the descriptions of ‘Anna Olivier’ (Ducher 1872) grown elsewhere.. This is a vigorous bush with good form, growing to a height of 5-6 ft. (1.5-1.8 m). The foliage is light to medium green. Buds are pointed, showing faint pink colour and open to buff or pale creamy-yellow high-centred blooms sometimes tinged with pink. Turning a deeper yellow with maturity, the blooms can be as much as 3 ½ in.(9 cm) across. When fully open, the centres are quite muddled. Both peduncle and receptacle are finely bristled. Balls in wet weather and can be prone to blackspot. Blooms all year, prolifically. When the Australian ladies and authors of the book, Tea Roses, Old Roses for Warm Gardens, visited Bermuda in 2010, they were most positive that our Anna Olivier is the rose ‘Etoile de Lyon’. Gregg Lowery of Vintage Gardens agrees with this identification. They also said that in Australia it has been sold under the name ‘Lady Roberts’.