I’m honored, David, please feel free with my compliments! Thank you!
My scent perception has increased massively after genetics caught up to me, which is when my autoimmunity began expressing and I was put on a restrictive diet. Also, after my best friend’s family moved, who were mostly smokers, my sense og both taste and smell went way up.
To be honest, its annoying, because one really doesnt need to be that aware of everything, lol.
This is not my photo, but someone else’s from HMF:
It is hard to find a color like that now, let alone unique cool scent. The most common is the giant beast, Mister Lincoln, which reaches sizes beyond my own size. The downfall of this line of roses, which few dislike the color or scent of, is the “blue-ing”, some disease issues, and the really, really awkward stems. But what if these issues were resolved? Well, except for the “blueing”, as I dont realy see that as an issue, and Im not sure that can be sperated so easily from the color or fragrance.
The reason that I think that HTs and GRs are vital is because they represent something we have value for. I think that HTs got lost along the way due to the exhibition world, which is a fairly minor aspect of the rose world that had a lot of impact on “what an HT should be,” for a very long time. When I saw all of my coworkers, about 200 of them, go insane over getting leftover blooms of Double Knock Out at the wholesale nursery, my mind was instantly struck with the images of people discarding the leftover exhibition roses after a show. The emotive reaction was IDENTICAL. All these folks wanted was something pretty to look at in their office, kitchen, car, and so on. All they cared was: it was pretty, in a color they liked, had enough stem to put into water, and had that formal form they expected. When I went to the Nike Store with my room mate, guess which rose was mass planted everywhere? It was not a 1980s floribunda, flower carpet, or meidiland rose. It was tons and tons of Double Knock Out, for the exact reasons I listed about. It was formal, in a universally accepted color, and was eay to take care of.
There are places for this class of roses. The only thing I see “wrong” with them is that very few of them have the modern twist required by the market. People do not want or need giant stick beasts anymore to fall in love.
I agree with you about the long held appeal of the formal flower shape, Micheal, but I think HTs and roses in general, got lost more due to the wide spread acceptance of the “perfection ideal” and it being OK to spray nasty stuff weekly in order to obtain and maintain “perfection”. Had we either not had the chemicals or developed the resistance to their expense, labor intensiveness and toxicity earlier, we would have either had healthier, more durable roses or there would be some other garden and cut flower darling holding court.
I mostly agree, and thats part of my point.
The rose is more than just a flower in America, however. It is a national symbol.
Kim, since you mentioned the inverse correlation of fragrance and vase life, doesn’t it seem like Double Delight has both?
It has a better balance than many, Joe, but not as great a vase life as quite a few other less scented roses. It’s a fulcrum, a balance, between the necessary chemical activity of the petals; where the scent originates and durability of the petals. The components of scent cause the deterioration of the petals, like one piece of rotting fruit spoiling the whole bunch more quickly. I’m sure some of the components are more actively damaging than others, so which are more present in the particular scents probably plays a great part in petal life. I would imagine that more scent from the stigma and anthers rather than the petals may also play a part in flower life, but I can’t direct you to any studies or proof.
Kim, thanks for the link to that article. I think you may have shared that info with me in the past, but my feeble mind had forgotten.
I’ve heard for many years that a disease-resistant, fragrant, deep red was the holy grail of rose breeding, and have wondered why, genetically, the three traits seem to be mutually exclusive.
If Dickson couldn’t bring them all together, I doubt anyone could. If it was naturally possible, I’m positive it would have already been done. Imagine the rewards for that combination! “Feeble mind”? Re establishing your family in a new state after a major hurricane; renovating a house on your own; resurrecting your career in a new state then finding you are about to be a dad? Feeble? Yeah, right! More “Herculean” to my mind. LOL!
You are entirely too kind, sir. But nonetheless, if I thought I could get away with it, I would quote you to my wife.
Feel free to leave the computer on to this thread, my quote and blame it on me. You can probably soften the blow a bit by reminding her I’m also a “plant nerd”!