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Walk Through The Garden, 2008A
Walk Through The Garden, 2008previous rose ------- next rose
"Fort
Pella Purple"
Wichurana Rambler? Found rose; possibly 'Ametyst'
"Belle of Hygiene" was what I originally called this rose, when I found it almost completely surrounding an enormous cottonwood tree on the main drag through Beautiful Downtown Hygiene, Colorado. Yeah, "Hygiene" is really the name of the town. But it's probably not a great name for a rose, so I used the town's oldest name, "Fort Pella," for the study name of this remarkable little rose.
Here she is, a six month old cutting, blooming in the house in December of 2006! The color, including the blue tints, is as true as I can make it on my own monitor.
"Fort Pella Purple" is a tall plant of about three meters, and with some water and no competition from a tree she might do even better. She blooms once in May, showing a profusion of these 20-petalled, alas scentless flowers which open this color and rapidly fade. I have found very few hips on the parent plant; whether she makes none, or the squirrels eat them all, I don't know.
In
April of 2007 I planted this cutting, and two others, in the garden,
where they all napped. They didn't bloom again that spring and one
of them ultimately died. The other two sulked for a long while and
finally began growing again in late summer. Come summer of 2008, one
of them put on a glorious show, producing the flowers in the photos
here (at left, a newly opening flower, above a flower about three
days old). The other plant has thrown all its energy into taking
over its corner of the bed with new canes. I may dig up the
flowering rose and plant it elsewhere come autumn. Considering the
way the original ringed a huge old tree, I don't think I need that
much Fort Pella Purple all in one place!
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