Rose
of the Month #7
By Gaird Hamilton
SALLY
HOLMES
A couple of nights ago, I was facing a moment
of indecision. What rose was I going to make the 7th in our series of
Roses of the Month? The first six were so wonderful in all of the criteria
of judging roses for planting in our cool coastal zone, and yet they
are all readily available. We have a large number of roses which are
great roses but extremely hard to find. I let the decision slide for
the night, hoping for an answer which would be right. In case you don’t
remember, the first six were; 1. Apricot Nectar, 2. Gold medal, 3. Kardinal,
4. Gemini, 5. Playboy, and 6. Ingrid Bergman.
Well, the answer came about like a clamp of thunder
or flash of lightening from that last storm we had. Pat and I had entries
in the Humboldt County Fair for the first time ever. We had entered
before the storm messed up most of the current blossoms. We were relieved
that the first show was only miniatures and climbers/shrubs. Well the
miniatures were in fair shape so it wasn’t too big of a problem.
The clusters required for climbers/shrubs was another matter. We only
managed to find 4 clusters in our entire garden and we had to enter
two. One however was splendid, and won Best of Division. It dawned on
me then. The perfect choice for rose of the month #7 is Sally Holmes.
It’s beauty in spite of the ½ inch of rain/hail which we
got in about 10 or 20 minutes time was just an example of it’s
toughness and yet seemingly delicate appearance.
Sally Holmes is listed as a shrub, yet is often
used as a climber. The official description from Modern Roses 11 is
S, w, 1976; bud pointed, apricot; flowers creamy white, hydrangea-like
clusters, single, 5-8 petals, 3.5-4 in., blooms in large clusters, slight
fragrance; few prickles; foliage dark, glossy; straight long stems;
vigorous, bushy growth; GM Baden-Baden 1980.
Enough of that official talk. It doesn’t
do justice to the wonder that is Sally Holmes. It is so healthy that
when we went to check a garden which had not been taken care of all
year and was in bad shape, Sally Holmes didn’t have a speck of
disease and looked quite nice. Later after we had done a lot of work
on the garden, the first nearby resident to come over and rave about
a rose, was raving about Sally Holmes. She could see it from her house
and those huge clusters looked so spectacular that she couldn’t
figure out quite what it was. That is a reaction from a lot of people,
it attracts attention. Also the large single roses which make up the
tight clusters last and last and last. When they do get past their peak,
the petals fall gently and cleanly to the ground.
The leaves are very shiny and green. It can be
grown like a bush, as we do, or as a short climber. We have ours planted
under a Eucalyptus tree in partial shade right in the root zone area,
and it still makes a nice round bush of about 5 feet in height. If it
can grow under these circumstances, it can grow most anywhere. When
we first started growing roses, we thought that good roses had lots
of petals. Now after looking at and raising hundreds of roses, we have
found the simplicity of the single rose(5-12 petals) to be very satisfying.
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