This rose is beautiful but it has most wicked thorns.
After having dinner at my second-cousin’s house one evening, we were strolling around her beautifully landscaped yard when I spotted the thorniest rose canes I had ever seen. I almost thought it might even be some sort of noxious weed, the canes were so evil looking. “What in the world is that?” I asked.
“Those are Great-Grandma’s roses,” she replied.
My Grandma was one to keep plants (especially flowers and roses—see previous post) in the family so I was surprised that not only had I never seen this rose, but also that I did not have it in my own garden. I told my cousin and my great aunt (Grandma’s sister) that I had never seen it. My cousin didn’t miss a beat; she simply went to the tool shed and got a pot and a shovel.
We went home with a new plant.
I have tried to research this rose and have come up with a few different names. It obviously is an heirloom variety. So far I have found that it may be a “Harison’s Rose” or a “Yellow Rose of Texas.” Either way, it is said to have been brought from New York state to the Midwest and beyond on wagon trains. My great-grandmother did make the land run and was a homesteader in our state. I like to believe that she brought this rose with her.
This rose only blooms once but it is covered with beautiful yellow flowers for at least part of April.
I hope one day I can invite a nephew, niece, or goddaughter over when they start “house keeping.” (That is a phrase directly from my grandma.) I will provide the shovels and the pots for them and I will narrate the tale of each precious plant as they dig them up to take them to a new home.
