A Walk Through The Garden, 2007

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'Smoky'

Large-Flowered/Hybrid Tea, 1968, Combe

For color and fragrance, Smoky is hard to beat. I was never able to photograph the color of this rose; it always came out a rusty brown or a faded mauve. So, yeah, I tweaked this picture. But this is what color this flower actually is.

In my garden at the old house, Smoky was always the hardiest of the roses and the first to bloom each year. I had her as a grafted rose then; now I have her on her own roots. She bloomed profusely last year even though she was only a year-old cutting. In 2007, however, she was badly frost-damaged and lost almost all her leaves and two young canes by mid-April. Nevertheless she is slowly coming around and she should be back to herself by early summer.

A Year In Pictures:

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