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| John Tuytle's blowsy mystery rose |
One of my favourite rosarians (a rose enthusiast) was
Langley sheep farmer (originally from Holland) John Tuytle who on the side grew
roses of all kinds, particularly the ones that struck his fancy. He propagated many of these and would set up
shop once a year at the VanDusen Plant Sale. Many of my rarest or unusual roses
came from him. I describe here one he provided me in the heat of
August (when most roses go for a forced rest) that became a Canada Post rose.
There was one rose that I really wanted called Rosa
‘Ramona’ which was a hybrid of a species Rosa
laevigata. At different times of one year he sold me three and none were
ever Rosa ‘Ramona’. I have them
labeled in my garden as Tuytle’s Mystery Rose.
My favourite is the one illustrated here. It has little
scent but is extremely floriferous in an almost untidy manner. I have long
given up (and felt much better for it in scanning or taking pictures of a
perfect rose. In my photograph here (not a scan) you can see it in its glory.
When I look at it I smile. I know it is a female and I have one word to
describe her, blowsy.
Blowsy brings to mind a delightful, always smiling young
woman, 22 or 23 that I photographed for a couple of years some 13 years ago. I’ll
call her Salem.
The pictures of Salem here are from our first session. The photographs in later sessions got more subtle, more erotic, more adventurous and even cute. For my money these are blowsy like my John Tuytle mystery rose.
