Episode 3420

- [Presenter] Old garden roses are treasured for their rich fragrance, full romantic blooms, and disease resistance. Annette Shrader is at Petals From The Past, a nursery specializing in heirloom roses, to showcase a dozen beautiful varieties. Then we head to the farm where Jeff Poppen walks us through the paths of colorful flowers, both annuals and perennials, that draw in butterflies that make an even more breathtaking display. Come along! From climbers to shrub roses, these heirloom varieties are both beautiful and exceptionally hearty.

- Roses, the flower of love, and we happen to find ourself at the right place at the right time. Roses are beginning to bloom, and we are in Jemison, Alabama, at Petals From The Past. This is one to dream on.

- [Jason] Yes, it is. This is Rev d'Or. This is one of the old Tea-Noisettes. So this is in late 1800s being introduced, right, when they began to cross the old garden Teas with the smaller Noisettes.

- [Annette] Okay, that's what I was gonna ask you. Explain what a Noisette is.

- [Jason] Well, it's the class that these belong to, was named for Philippe Noisette from France, but his brother-in-law, John Champneys, was the one that originally used it. And we're gonna look at that rose today, the first rose introduced to the United States.

- Well, I was correct. Jason Powell here at Petals from the Past is gonna fill us in with some information that's in that role. All right, where was this found?

- [Jason] This rose is called Katy Road Pink when I first learned about it. And it was a sturdy rose that the Antique Rose Emporium found in outside of Houston, Texas, on the way to Katy, Texas. So the rose wrestlers, you know, go out, we root those headings ,and then we try to identify it. Well, nobody knew what it was, it was circulated, and eventually they just gave it a study name and then it began to get into circulation. Well, later on, they found out this had been introduced as Carefree Beauty many years earlier by Dr. Griffith Buck from Iowa State. So it's in the trade now as Katy Road Pink that I knew it as, or Carefree Beauty. But look at this thing.

- [Annette] Yes, it's, I don't know. There are no words.

- I agree.

- [Annette] But interestingly you said rose wrestlers.

- Yeah.

- So were these roses that primarily were in Texas and in that area, or other locations

- All over the US. And in fact, there was a movement that began in the northeast, there was a movement in California, and then there was also a movement in Texas. When you start looking at the history of these roses enjoying a renaissance, they were forgotten about. You know, 1867, the first modern hybrid Tea rose was introduced and then everybody forgot about these other guys. Well, they survived at old home places, at cemeteries, you know?

- They thrived.

- And thankfully, they survived until we rediscovered them, and that's where those three movements were coming from. And so Katy Road Pink thankfully stood out because it could bloom outside of Houston, Texas spring, summer, fall.

- [Annette] That was my next question. So this does have periodic times for blooming.

- [Jason] It does. And these blooms are followed by hip. You remember the rose hip was the original reason roses were grown because of the vitamin C content. So great, great medicinal herb. Well, Katy Road Pink not only has great fragrance, it's got disease resistance. It blooms spring, summer, fall, but it also makes a hip.

- And I was looking to see if it was starting a hip already. See, there they are.

- Exactly. So when we pop that guy off of there, it's just small, but that will end up being about the size of a nickel.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Annette] All right, I'm ready.

- [Jason] Me too.

- Next one?

- All right. This is Old Blush. This is one of the oldest roses that we grow or in cultivation here at the nursery. This rose was introduced in 1752, and it's a member of the China class. And you remember there are single petal Chinas that were introduced a thousand years before the birth of Christ.

- [Annette] Wow.

- [Jason] One of the unique things that you and I were talking about, I like about this, is that it's the first rose to bloom in the garden every year and it's also the last to finish. So this rose will still be in bloom at Christmas. But it's flushes, like you were talking about earlier. It's not that it blooms and stays in bloom, but they come in flushes and then they'll take a breather, then they flush again, and then they'll take a breather but mm.

- You can always find one to cut and take in the house.

- [Jason] Amen.

- [Annette] And these roses grow on their own root, so you don't have to worry about anything that's been grafted. And even this own root has come over here and made a new bush, has it?

- Exactly. And that's the beauty of it. And when you look at the base of that rose, this rose was planted here 29 years ago. So it has been in that one spot and you can see all those old trunks. And, you know, after about nine or 10 years, it was becoming less, you know, foliferous. So we cut it hard and all these new canes come right back out from the base. You don't have to worry about replacing these old garden roses. Just prune and feed, prune and feed.

- [Annette] That's the beauty of doing a hard cutback. Amen.

- Makes think, I gotta catch up and grow.

- Rejuvenate some, doesn't it?

- Yeah. All right. Now, I think that if we progress down this way, here's another one.

- It is, and this is a sister to Old Blush. This is Napoleon, and Napoleon has that same characteristic, they come out lighter and actually age darker. And that's another unique thing about the China roses, we get a fruity fragrance with this class. We get workhorses in the landscape. I mean, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, but you have shrubs like Napoleon that'll only be about four feet tall by about that wide.

- So this is pretty much...

- [Jason] Yeah, that's it. That's it. Absolutely.

- You know, that's really something good, because we plant things and if we don't have it, if we don't know for sure what its maximum growth expansion might be, then that this is great and this is Napoleon.

- Napoleon. And the characteristics that I think make antique roses so worth growing are the fragrance, the great shape, but the disease resistance. So even if these roses get a little bit of black spot, they'll y'all leaf drop it and keep on going, but they also don't mind growing in a garden.

- Well if I look back in here, I can see the results of pruning. You cut right here and look at all of this new growth that has come out.

- Absolutely.

- And just look at this, beautiful. And it's so tight. Oh wow.

- It is. It is.

- [Annette] Okay, we're spending too much time. And even, let's go find one more.

- [Jason] All right.

- [Annette] Of all the places I've been, I think I'm falling in love with this.

- Me too.

- This is maximum beauty.

- I agree. I agree. Look at the solid covering there. Your timing is so good, Annette, to pick these guys up. This is one of the ramblers that we love to grow called Leontine Gervais. And it is a heavy spring bloomer. You know, we've talked about some of the repeat versus the spring. This puts every bit of energy it has into one bloom, six to eight weeks, and I don't have a repeat flowering rose that can compete with that.

- [Annette] Okay, so it won't bloom some later on.

- [Jason] That's right. That's right. All the show is right here in the spring, six to eight weeks. If we don't get too hot too quickly, we're gonna go a full eight or nine weeks. The fragrance is nice. And look at that glossy foliage.

- [Annette] Oh, I see it. I always look for a rose, whether what kind of rose it is, the leaf surface and the texture is just, to me, is as important as the bloom.

- I agree. Think about this. The bloom's great. But if it's by itself-

- It does.

- We have not an attractive foliage, it's not so good, but against this dark green, healthy foliage. And this is one great rambler. One rose, 30 feet, no problem.

- [Annette] Wow. And it's pretty much disease resistant.

- That's the beauty of it. You know, one of the things that we are committed to, once the rose goes in the garden, we do not spray. So you have in this rose excellent disease resistance. We don't have, you know, a concern. Certainly it could get black spotter, it get powdered mildew if the weather conditions are just right. The difference is these antique roses that you and I are talking about, they can slough off that, leaf keep on growing. My job is to fertilize, prune, and then leave them, leave them be, and none after that.

- Okay.

- So what do you fertilize with?

- Well, I kind of alternate. I have learned a conventional fertilizer is great to get 'em started with in the spring. You know, just any general purpose rose food, you know? So I then follow that up five weeks later with an organic rose food. So what I've found is that if I can alternate and give 'em conventional feeding, we start here March 15th, and then every five weeks, I'll keep fertilizing until the end of September. So I'll alternate a conventional fertilizer and then I'll use an an organic rose food. And the organic rose food, of course, has the benefit of feeding the soil as well as the rose.

- [Annette] Do you ever use the one that has a preventative for black spot insects?

- Oh, for modern roses, I definitely do. For these guys, I do not.

- All right.

- But we've got a few modern roses mixed in that are a little bit more susceptible, and that's where we'll use the three in one, something along those lines.

- [Annette] Now we're in a different class.

- That's right. That's right. This rose, believe it or not, has been planted here for 15 years. So this is as big as it's gonna get. And it's a polyantha, it's a member of that class, the same class that our sweetheart rose is a member of. So we see the small individual blooms that occur in clusters. And like you were talking about, look at how many there are in that cluster. This variety is called La Marne. And it's spring, it's summer, it's fall. It just keeps on chugging.

- [Annette] So this is an extension of a floribunda?

- [Jason] Well, it's pre-floribunda. So the floribunda is exactly you recognize the small individual blooms and clusters. This is the precursor to the floribunda, which also has flowers and clusters, but much larger.

- Okay. I just don't think I have enough time left to plant all these.

- No. Well and this is one class, with its more compact stature, that you and I can use in containers if they're 14 inches in diameter or larger or in the garden.

- [Annette] All right. Then let's see 'em.

- All right, his is another polyantha. You know, we looked at La Marne. This is a climbing version of polyantha called Climbing Pinkie. And you see that same characteristic, the smaller individual bloom that occurs in clusters. A couple of advantages that climbing Pinkie offers us is that it's thornless. And it's just as heavy a bloomer though. It's spring, summer, fall. And you notice, Annette, when we're looking at this, we're on the west side of the farmhouse. So it's in the shade of the overhang, but it's going to get hot afternoon sun about 1:00 PM and then it is relentless after that.

- [Annette] Wow. So now I think the deciding factor on this, it's a climber, it is thornless.

- That's right.

- Amen.

- And, you know, introducing children to flowers, you know, as beautiful as a rose is if you hand them one.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. Did you say if it reblooms?

- Oh yeah. It's a heavy bloomer. And so part of that polyantha class is that they not only bloom in the spring, but when it's 100 degrees, when it's so hot in the middle of summer, this rose loves it.

- That's right. The fragrance brought me here.

- [Jason] I know, I know. Isn't this nice?

- [Annette] It is.

- This one is one of the hybrid musk classes of roses. This is a variety called Lavender Lassie. And we love Lavender Lassie because it offers us a spring, summer and a fall bloom. But when you look at it, one of the things that I like is it illustrates what we've gotta do with our climbers. If you hold that one, Annette, then you look up and down the length of it, because this cane is not growing straight up, but rather just allowed to come over horizontally. Everywhere there are leaves attached inside the axle of that bud, that becomes a flower bud rather than a vegetative bud. So when you look here, we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine clusters of-

- You missed that one. 10.

- 10. 10 clusters of flower buds. And all we've gotta do is with our climbers or ramblers, take those canes and go horizontal-

- [Annette] Like you're exfoliating them.

- [Jason] Exactly. And in this case, it's on a pillar. So we're wrapping them and they can be wrapped clockwise or counterclockwise or braid them together.

- Yeah. 'cause they don't have the ability to attach. you have to take care of that.

- You're exactly right. You've got to take care of that. And then so when you're attaching them, we always recommend a stretchable material, right? No twist stems because that's wire, but it could be stretched-tie, can be jute twine, anything that expands with the rose as it grows.

- [Annette] This is beautiful. And I love musk roses.

- [Jason] Me too. Me too. So Lavender Lassie, I think, is one you gotta keep on your list.

- [Annette] Okay. And we have one that people might know about here, don't we?

- We sure do.

- Let's go to her. I think we can sum this up with a few words.

- I agree. I think by now, most of your viewers will know and they'll recognize Peggy Martin. This is the spring flush of Peggy Martin, which is the thornless climber that, I don't know, 30, 40 feet easily this row will reach. One of the things that we've discovered thankfully is that it takes it a couple of years, Annette, but after the second or third year on the ground, you're gonna start seeing some repeat flowering from Peggy Martin.

- [Annette] Okay, so it will give us more color later on in them summer.

- Thankfully it does. The first year, all it thinks about is growth. And I mean-

- And it does it.

- Oh it does, doesn't it?

- It is.

- And then we get this smashing spring show of blooms. You can't see the leaves hardly for all the flowers when it's fully open. And then later on, second, third year, we start getting some repeat bloom.

- [Annette] And I think you said that you might have saved the best for last.

- I did. I can't wait for you to see that.

- Let's find it. We are four feet back and I can smell this lady.

- [Jason] Absolutely. Yeah. It's pretty powerful, isn't it?

- [Annette] It is.

- And the reason I wanted to talk to you and show you this one, and that this is the first rose that was introduced in the United States, and its name is Champney's Pink Cluster. That's an 1811 introduction. And John Champneys, who was a rice planter in Charleston, South Carolina, is the one that introduced this and shared it with the world.

- [Annette] Isn't that? that's just fabulous history.

- [Jason] I agree. I agree.

- [Annette] wonderful.

- [Jason] Well, and as a member of the Noisette class, you remember the very first rose we looked at was Rev d'Or? So this was the size of the original Noisette, small individual blooms that occur in clusters, right. Heavy bloomers. And you and I were talking earlier, spring, summer, and fall. So you can use Champney's Pink Cluster in the landscape in Tennessee anywhere as a small climber, 15 feet, 12, 15 feet, or you could prune it and grow it as a shrub. But the small individual blooms with the open center makes it a great landing pad for the bees. And, of course, the fragrance is what, I agree with you, that's one of the first things you notice about this rose.

- [Annette] So this one has not even really begun to shed its petals 'cause it's right at the peak.

- [Jason] You timed it so perfectly right here.

- Well, this is a trip that I always love. And the information you've shared for us on roses that maybe are not upfront enough.

- I agree.

- And they're gonna give great satisfaction. So we are here. This is April the six 17th.

- [Jason] Yes. Hm-mm.

- [Annette] And it's the perfect time of the year to be here.

- I agree. I think mid-April in central Alabama, it's where we're really peaking and all of these great old garden roses. I appreciate so much you coming this time of the year because then you can really get a bird's eye view of what's happening in the garden with the roses our grandmothers grew.

- [Annette] And we have time to get one and plant it before the fall.

- [Jason] Amen.

- Well, thank you for being with you during your busiest time of the season. And we appreciate the knowledge that you've shared for our people at home.

- Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.

- The wonderful world of flowers brightens up the garden and puts a smile on our faces. The flowers soften up the landscape of a rock terrace here. And so we grow a lot of flowers right here out our back door. The flowers come in annuals that we re-seed every year. But there's also perennials that once you get established, they come back on their own every year. You can hardly beat zinnias for an easy to grow annual that quickly covers itself with color. Well, not even its own color, but the color of the butterflies and insects that pollinate them. This was sewn in late April in shallow furrow. The variety is Dahlia Zinnia. And I was gonna point out that the actual flower of a zinnia are these things right here. These yellow blooms in the center are where the organs of reproduction are. The petals here are actually calyxes. They're here to help attract the pollinators to the plant. The yellow tiger swallowtail butterfly is particularly attracted to zinnias. A flower is a fettered butterfly as a butterfly is a freed flower. We can make the comparison of an egg and a seed, the worm to a new shoot, the cocoon that the worm makes to the flower bud, and then the butterfly to the fully open flowers. The dark green foliage of marigold is enough reason to grow this beautiful plant. These are seeds that we saved from last year's blooms. They will cover themselves with orange flowers by fall. Right now they're just barely starting to bloom. They're sewn much the way the zinnias are, in a shallow furrow in early spring. Although the marigolds just get prettier and prettier throughout the year, zinnias peter out in the hot weather. So for fall, zinnia blooms. We'll plant a new row sometime at the beginning of July. It's good to know the size of your flowers at maturity so you can know where to plant them. We oftentimes plant a low growing plant in the front of a wall or something like sweet alyssum. Another low growing plant that we love is calendula. They make a salve for your skin. It's a little bit sticky and they make a salve that you can rub on your skin. This variety is called Regina. And they're very easy to grow from seed. The bright yellow calendula is called Alpha. A third low growing plant is nasturtium. We plant 'em early and they look pretty good in the spring, but as you can see, in the summer, they kind of suffer from the heat. But these plants will come back in the fall and make really pretty plants and flowers that will actually climb down the rock wall. This is actually a tobacco. It's in variety called rustica. It's the Indian tobacco. We don't smoke it, but we just enjoy the pretty flowers. An old fashioned flower that we love is cleome or spider flower, spider plant. It looks real spidery. We didn't even plant these. Well, we planted 'em once a long time ago, but they reseed themselves and they just pop up in the garden as volunteers. So when we're doing our spring weeding, we just look for the little plants and then we leave them and they add a nice splash of pink and purple to the garden. We love the bright blue flowers of borage. This is another one of the plants that reseeds itself. We never know where it's gonna come up, but we'll let a few come up and we might transplant them somewhere else if we want to too. We've harvested a lot of this oregano already and then parts ready to harvest again. But we left some to go to bloom because the blooms are so pretty. This is oregano. Another pretty plant is pineapple sage. It's one of the plants that can be propagated by a cutting. Here's a piece of the plant that we put in water and now it's formed roots, which we can plant for a new plant. The red flowers of pineapple sage bloom in the fall and attract hummingbirds. Although there are millions of varieties of the easy to grow sunflowers, the one we like, Mexican sunflower isn't even a sunflower. The soft velvety leaves and stems of Tithonia bursts into a plethora of bright orange blooms. The six foot or taller plants make a beautiful backdrop in a flower bed. Well, this bumblebee here is showing us that this is beebalm whose bright red flowers add a early color to the garden. The beebalm is a cousin to the wild monarda that grows in the fields that has a more purple flower. Hyssop is a flowering herb that we like a lot. Like many of these flowers, they attract the pollinators. Hyssop is handy if you have a deer problem because deer don't like it. We can look closely at it and see the square stem and opposite leaf pattern that tells us it's in the mint family. Chives are really nice to have in a kitchen garden because we use them quite a bit. As you can tell, the plant's been picked, but they make a nice pretty purple flower. Another perennial plant that we like is salvia. This blue flowered variety really attracts the hummingbirds. We like to have it in view from our porch where we sit so we can watch the hummingbirds come. The tuberoses are about to bloom. This plant from Cuba is in the Lilly family and it's used in funerals. We cut the stems off and put it in water and the fragrance comes out at dusk. The lily family offers blooms all season long. The early flowering crocuses and narcissus and daffodils are long gone. But now that it's summer, we have the daylilies. This daylily is a double. It has two flowers put together rather than just one set of petals on it. The bulbs after they bloom, die back a bit and that's when we dig them up and transplant them to a new bed. We don't want to keep bulbs in the same bed and getting too thick. It will reduce the blooms next year. An old fashioned perennial favorite is the perennial four o'clock. They're really cool because they bloom at certain times of the day, well, four o'clock, but they also bloom early in the morning and they close up during the heat of the day. In old fashioned medieval gardens, monks would have time gardens where they would have morning glories blooming in the morning, various plants that opened at certain times of day, including the four o'clocks, and maybe wind up with moon flowers that bloom at night. Well, don't forget Tennessee's native wild flowers. This is dayflower, a member of the spiderwort family. We didn't even plant it. It probably came up with some seeds from the graveling the roads or something from down the creek gravel. But it just makes a lovely plant with very interesting foliage. It kind climbs a little bit and has these beautiful blue flowers. We have just touched the tip of the iceberg of the wonderful colorful flower world. There are so many flowers to grow. It's the wonder I ever get out into the vegetable garden.

- [Presenter] For inspiring garden tours, growing tips, and garden projects, visit our website at volunteergardener.org and find us on these platforms.