Been a lovely couple of weeks, so thought I'd share a few images of our springtime for all you deep South and far West types.
First, the clematis is in full chat:
Then there is the family rose. We grow these from sprigs that originated in the UK and get passed from home to home. The first photo shows the many buds on this rather wild-looking monstrosity. We grew a few at our previous home, but somehow the sprig we took with us here didn't survive the trip. We got another from one of my cousins two falls ago and it grew OK last year but no flowers at all. This spring saw it going absolutely crazy with growth and buds.
These are also a subject of legend at least if not fact. The story of this rose was put down by the family genealogist of whom you have heard me speak before. Her research into chronology was actually quite good, but she did have a habit of bending the history of some of these people when they didn't quite measure up to her idea of respectability, and would get very hostile when called on it, so we usually just smiled and nodded.
Anyway, her version is that Robert was one of the gardeners to Queen Victoria and received an "Arms of Concession" and was titled a baron during the Queen's Honours of 1847. Great story but her understanding of the Honours system is really twisted as she wrote the blurb in her genealogy and somehow justifies the odd fact that Robert is not actually found on any of the Honours Lists of the era. She also came up with a "coat of arms" and used it liberally throughout both of her volumes.
What is known is there was a Robert who was indeed a gardener for the Royal Household, and this rose has passed down sprig by sprig through the generations and the story of it being a strain that Robert grew at Balmoral passes with it. It's all a good family legend that goes with what is a simple white rose that does indeed grow in very prolific and productive manner.
