Rosa sericea ssp. omeiensis f. pteracantha - 24 April 2025

The members of the Vancouver Rose Society (I am a member and we call ourselves rosarians but we do not have secret handshakes) compete every year in being able to announce the first bloom of the season. I have lost as someone in sunnier Victoria has claimed credit a week ago,

So this blog announcing my first bloom will not interest most of my fellow rosarians. But there is a proviso as I may be the only member of the society with a species rose that besides having a long and complicated name is the only rose with four petals. Species roses have five.

But there is a bit of good news that might interest a few and that is that on Easter Sunday at Mandeville I found a very healthy Rosa ‘Double Delight’. It is not an easy hybrid tea rose to grow. Somehow when we moved from our Kerrisdale garden 7 years ago to Kitsilano it either died or got lost in the move.

Double Delight of Raspberry Flummery

Few of the younger members of the VRS will know that in the 90s this rose won many awards at the VanDusen Floral Hall for its exquisite perfume.

There is this link (above) to one of my blogs where I mention its connection to raspberry flummery.