Christmas Roses

According to the Calendar, we are now 3 days into Winter. It does not look or feel like winter. A South breeze is blowing and the temperatures have been in the 70’s during the day and 40’s at night. The grass is still green and growing — we mowed yesterday.

Tomorrow is Christmas and we are not expecting “cold” temperatures until at least December 27. This year, we have roses for Christmas, so I feel compelled to write about them!

The roses seem to think that Spring has arrived; several varieties are blooming. A few of those now blooming are; Belinda’s Dream, Valentine, Grandma’s Yellow (also called Nacogdoches Yellow, so named for the Town it was “found” in), Little Pinky, White Pet, Livin’ Easy, Cramoisi Superior, Lindee, Chrysler Imperial, plus two additional roses I’ve generated from cuttings but am not certain of their variety names (I’ll explore these more in future posts).

Grandma’s Yellow, Dec 15, 2015

The flowers of ‘Grandma’s Yellow’ are quite stunning for the first 2 days or so — they hold such perfect shape (in my opinion); the early flowers remind me of the greenhouse roses sold in grocery stores and floral shops.

Grandma’s Yellow is very drought tolerant, but was damaged by excessive water from the Spring Rains, followed by no rain and 95 degree plus temperatures over the summer months (we generally have twice as much summer as winter around here!). So it’s good to see this one blooming now.

Livin’ Easy, Nov 15, 2015

Livin’ Easy is also blooming (the photo left was taken in November, but this rose continues to add new foliage and flowers).

Livin’ Easy often dies back with adverse weather (as seen by the dead branches that will be removed when Spring actually arrives).  When conditions are good for roses, this one adds new foliage and begins a bloom show as if it’s survival depends on it!

This rose should not be near a walk way due to its voracious thorns. Really good rose gloves  (the long ones that cover the arm to nearly the elbow) should be worn any time the rose is “handled”. This one stays because I love the colors in the flowers — every color seen in a beautiful sunset (including the purples, but only in Spring).

White Pet (Dec. 23, 2015)

‘White Pet’ is a rose that I had to really search to find (it’s often “sold out”). This rose is new to my gardens, but it has already performed really well. It blooms almost continuously; the small flower buds have a pink tint that is observed in cool temperatures and fades with warmer (hot) temperatures.

White Pet performs equally well in pots or planted in the ground (with high quality, loose soil). No problems with disease, and this rose will tolerate shade (watch how the sun strikes them if in pots — the seasonal change in position of the earth about the sun often results in sunny conditions for Spring/Summer with shaded conditions for Winter). I usually just move the pots to an area that receives at least 4 or 5 hours of sunshine.

While it is not unusual for us to have at least one of the roses blooming for Christmas (even if there are only a few tiny flowers), but there are enough this year to make for a noteworthy blog post!