Audubon

The boss calls her a red Mutabilis. Audubon (2004) is one of the Pioneer roses created from Carefree Beauty, Bayse Blueberry and Altissimo.

There are hundreds of roses here at ARE and I will say it took one of our regular customers to make me look at her with a different eye. Not a lot of petals but a beautiful bloom. Give a single petal girl a try.

Marketing

From the Chrysler Imperial to the recent marketing of The Knock Out® Family of Roses, we respond to marketing.

"The interesting development in this year's (1953) ad campaign is the introduction of the Chrysler Imperial Rose in horticultural circles as a tie-in to the promotion of the car (presumably with the female portion of the automotive purchase decision making process). This was not the first time that women had been included in the marketing strategy, and they would continue to do so increasingly through the '50's and '60's in fashion and style tie-ins."

"Chrysler Imperial was the first rose used in the advertising and promotion of a major consumer product - the Chrysler Imperial automobile. It is a very refined Hybrid Tea bush with large (4" - 5") dark red and highly fragrant flowers. Chrysler Imperial was raised by Dr. Walter E. Lammerts and introduced by Germain's (United States) in 1952. The plant is an erect bush that will grow to heights between 5' and 9'."


Chrysler Imperial rose in the San Antonio display gardens today.

Information quoted from The Imperial Club web page.

A quick look around

Buff Beauty on the back of the sales office and also in the left corner of this photo. Belinda is in the pot on the right.
View of the main allé with red roses left to right - Little Buckaroo, Cadenza and Louis Philippe. Bright pink gladiolus are Byzantine Gladiolus.

Here she is for her Hollywood shot.

Bluebonnets still blooming. Red hedge is Cramoisi Superieur. Pink behind to the left is Natchitoches Noisette and to her extreme right is Rosette Delizy.

I think I am in love...

Imagine the dilemma of picking between a red rose or a pink rose or how to bridge the colors in your garden. How about Emmie Gray? A Bermuda Mystery rose with her single petal blooms that start light pink and complete their bloom cycle as a deep dark red. The bush is covered with both of these wonderful colors. (Our catalog photo does not do justice to this beauty.)

The details.... Emmie Gray was found in Bermuda, thought to be a China as far as class but reclassified to Bermuda Mystery.

"Emmie Gray taught at the Bermuda High School for Girls for over thirty years. It seems she managed to singlehandedly populate the island with this lovely rose by sharing it with everyone she met." (from our online catalog)

Bermuda's mystery*

Truly a mystery is how a rose that does well in Bermuda can remain an evergreen shrub through 20 degree temperatures in our Central Texas gardens. Smith's Parrish is considered by some a China-Tea class rose. The dense bush is happiest at 4 - 6 feet tall and wide.


Small blooms are commonly white with a pale blush or streak of pink to true red. As the boss says, "A solid red rose is an exception rather than the rule, but all the more exciting when it occurs!"
As I was doing a little research on the internet about this rose I found the "FlowerLady's Musings" had Smith's Parrish on her radar today also. As she is in South Florida you can enjoy her photos taken today. (My rose photo has been taken from our internet catalog.) See her post here.

*Read more about the mystery of Roses in Bermuda on the Roses in Bermuda website.

The Red Bed

Last year the rose sales area went through a fruit basket turnover. Originally the roses were in beds per their classification as in Chinas, Teas, Floribundas. We tend to not say "I need a new Tea Rose" but "I would like a red rose".

This is a view of one side of the "Red" bed. I could not capture the beauty of this bed as everything is in bloom right now. More color photos to come. Stay tuned or better yet come out and see for yourself.

Valentine in Containers

Valentine looks happy sitting in these containers as it is in solid color. It has been over a 100 degrees for days (weeks, actually) here and is making the rest of the garden look a "little" crisp.