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Walk Through The Garden, 2008A
Walk Through The Garden, 2008previous rose ------- next rose
"Number
2" (2005-2)When I planted the 2005 seedlings in the garden, they all seemed to go into a prolonged sulk that might have been dormancy. "Number 2" was the last to decide to break again. She grew on only with great reluctance until perhaps August 2006, when she seemed to come into her own.
She broke with everyone else in 2007, but seemed to contact a bit of chlorosis which left her a few days behind her siblings. So I had to wait a bit, but eventually I did find a tiny infant bud—and was rewarded by seeing that "Number 2" is indeed a Moss Rose.
After a short bout of chlorosis, which she shared with everyone else in the garden, she got right down to growing her buds. Of all "The Nine," "Number 2" was the only one to show red color almost immediately the buds were exposed to the sun; all the others had their "moss" stay green for some time.
On 23 May the sepals began separating to show petals within. In the photo at right (or above), you can see that she's really well mossed, and blessed with beautiful pointed buds. But the flowers turned out to be a disappointment. Nicely quartered, but tiny and without spots and fragrance.
This is one I thought I would end up shovel-pruning, but since nothing else I planted in that spot did well, in early 2008 I potted her up and brought her into the greenhouse. Almost immediately, she broke and came into leaf. But so far, she's stayed a tiny plant, far more "miniature" than most of my minis.