Rosa 'Sir Thomas Lipton' 19 August 2019

For reasons that escape me somehow when I purchased the white rugosa rose, Rosa ‘Sir Thomas Lipton’ in late spring did not scan any blooms. It flowered well just in time for our Vancouver Rose Society open garden. Because this rose is going to bloom again (remontant) I will have the chance before fall starts.

One of the joys of having a garden, be it big or small is to walk and observe it. You look for pests or for signs of some plant needing water or getting too much of it.

But, when you have been scanning your plants as I have since 2002, you observe the details. As an example most roses when they have new growth the leaves are reddish. Those reddish leaves lead to buds and from there to blooms.

Today as I was walking past Sir Thomas Lipton I noticed the uncommon beauty of new leaves that signalled that they would soon become buds. But they were not red. But they were very beautiful.

Rugosa roses are mostly pest-free and can withstand cold weather that other roses cannot. Some of these rugosas (called by their rugose or unsmooth leaves) can survive in places like Alberta. I am not sure about Winnipeg where most roses are seen as annuals!

I often see people with macro lenses photograph roses and other flowers. If these photographs are taken in a cloudy day, the results are bland without any contrast. If the day is a sunny day then the extreme contrast cannot be handled either by digital cameras or film cameras.

The perfect solution (as I see it) is to scan the flowers. Because the light in a flatbed scanner is very close to the suspended rose there is an interesting factor that comes into a very positive question. Because light diminishes by the square of the distance, petals that are close to the flatbed glass are lighter while the petals that are marginally further away are darker. The light produces an image that is neither flat nor too contrasty.

While I seriously do not talk to my roses nor have I ever heard one talk back, I have observed these flowers now for 17 years and yes they seem to talk to me, “Pick me now,” or “Not yet.”

Gardening, good gardening, is patient observation through many years. This is also called experience.