A Walk Through The Garden, 2008

'Persian Yellow,' Rosa foetida persica

Species hybrid or sport, East to Central Asia

All right, I'm not, as I mentioned earlier, a big fan of yellow. But this rose has two things going for it: its historical value (it is the source of virtually all yellow in modern roses), and the fact that it blooms so much earlier in the season than everyone else! In 2007, 'Persian Yellow' showed her first buds on 19 April! She made me fell that all the weeding, mulching and worrying I'd been doing for the past month and a half had been worthwhile.

I bought her in 2006 as a completely green container plant. She had lived in a greenhouse until then, and when put out in the bright Colorado sun, she immediately lost all her leaves (many of them to leaf-cutter bees: you can see some of the damage in the photo), turned her stems a deep rust, whitened her prickles, and sulked. She moped through June and July, and then, in mid-August, began growing again. And flowering again—which she isn't supposed to do! Did she go dormant in that time? I don't know, but she flowered intermittently until October! She grew no more canes, but I'm hoping she will do so this year.

She seemed to take the winter in stride, and was the first rose to break in 2007. She is a grafted plant, and I may keep her that way in order to stop her taking over the world (assuming she decides to make new canes...).

'Persian Yellow' was the first rose to bloom (alongside Rosa woodsii ultramontana and Rosa fendleri) in 2008. I thought, since this rose has famously low pollen fertility, I might use it as a seed parent, crossing my species roses on it. However, when I took apart some flowers and removed all the stamens, I found I had nothing left to work with... so I've collected some pollen anyway and we shall see...

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