Something funny happened yesterday. I received a duplicate shipping of a large climbing rose, 'Alberic Barbier'. Don't know where in the world I can put it!
I don't know if it was my mistake or theirs, but it would not survive a return shipping in this heat, I think. So, for now, I'm thinking it will stay here - and I have to find a place for it! Where can I put it! The first one is already in the ground in the chosen spot, hoping it will climb up and onto the pergola.
Husband/Best Friend/Chief Photographer asked me about that name: It was bred by Barbier Fre'res & Compagnie, 1900. I guess Alberic is the French form of our 'Albert'. So, I'm guessing (based on a lot of reading about roses and how the developers and hybridizers tend to name them) that it is named for a man, Alberic Barbier, and if he had lived in England, or here, we would probably know him as Albert Barber. I love reading and learning about the plants and "their people", and enjoy the names of roses.
One climber we planted this spring is 'Alister Stella Gray' (Gray 1894). It has a sad history. It was named after the hybridizer's (Alexander Hill Gray's), son. Stella, Alexander's wife, died in childbirth of Alister. Sad. But such pretty names and these sound British to me. Almost as pretty as the French ones.
Photograph from Antique Rose Emporium
Brenham, Texas, U.S.A.
http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com
Brenham, Texas, U.S.A.
http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com
11 comments:
Nearly all my roses (not that I have many) are refugees or donations. People say: "Would you like a rose?" and I say: "No thanks, I'm not good with roses." Then they say: "It's been in a cupboard for six months" and I feel I have to take it home. The 'cupboard rose' was a 'Champneys Pink Cluster', sent out to promote a very smart health club called Champneys in the UK. (Now there's a ridiculous idea.) It's just about to flower in my garden.
Oh my goodness, you now have two of the rose we nicknamed Killer. We started with two, one on each end of a ten foot tall and ten foot wide pergola in front of a large window outside out living room. I wanted that dripping roses effect. I didn't realize that Alberic would want to eat our house. We cut it to the ground when the new metal roof was put on, the contractor said it would not be able to grap the metal, and it would be too hot for it anyway. He was wrong, it did grab the screws holding the metal on, didn't mind the heat and still ate the house. We moved a cutting that had rooted in the gutter to the back of the property on an old clothesline pole next to a large overgrown privet hedge. Killer ate that too, and grabbed people as they walked the path. He was dug up last winter and replaced with Madame Alfred Carriere. The moral of this comment is to place Killer, A-B very carefully, but he is a beauty, from afar. ;->
Frances at Faire Garden
Hi Victoria, love your rose story. Another interesting name, I think. You are good to give the outcasts a home; I hope they reward you greatly. Now I am off to Google 'Champneys Pink Cluster' to see if I can find a photo to see what it looks like. It sounds pretty. Thank you for the comment and cute story.
Oh, my goodness, Frances! You get the trophy for big rose story. Unlimited thank yous for the warning. Victoria said in her comment that she doesn't do well with roses; well, neither do I. So, they probably have their days numbered. Maybe in this case, it is a good thing!
Victoria, I did find photos of your pink rose... pretty!
Frances, that dripping roses effect sounds beautiful. Sorry it turned out to be such a beast. How is Madame Alfred Carriere doing??
If only people who donated plants would grow small alpines. Oddly enough they never do.
Good luck with Killer.
Easygardener: Wonder why that is?! :) Thanks, but I'm worried - a bit nervous about going out doors where it lurks.
Following Frances's comments, I've just read the description of 'Albéric Barbier' in the Peter Beales catalogue (PB is one of the leading British rose growers). It says: "Delightfully muddled when open." Sounds a bit like me!
Ha, ha, ha, Victoria. Me, too, especially before noon. But, I don't look nearly as good as the rose!
Good luck with it. I'm sure we'll see here next year thriving under your loving care! It's good to see you.
Hi again, Barbee, Madame Alfred is doing well, but somehow has managed to have a large tomato growing in the same hole with her and Jackmanii clematis! The tomato is huge, with large green tomatoes already, so it has to stay. I also planted Fortune's Double Yellow, borderline hardy here in TN, that I had grown in Texas. It is growing like gangbusters without a tomato sapping all the good stuff out of the soil at the other end of the arbor. There was also a crossvine sharing the hole with killer, that will be covering the top of the sixteen foot long arbor, loving the freedom of a hole of one's own.
Frances: Your garden is amazing! Sounds like a happy ending to your rose story. The tomato adds mystery and humor. The crossvine sounds exuberant; I can just picture it galloping across the arbor claiming it for itself and not wanting to share. I bet you have beautiful butterflies. I know there is a crossvine butterfly, but at the moment can't remember what it looks like.
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