A primary purpose of the Historic Rose Garden is to preserve found roses.Found roses are those plants located on old, abandoned or neglected properties (farms, cemeteries, homesites, etc.) throughout California, particularly in communities settled during California's gold rush era.Volunteers locate these plants, take cuttings, propagate the cuttings and plant them in the Rose Garden. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it is a complex process. |
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Process to add found roses to the Historic
Rose Garden:
° Take cuttings of
unknown plants and
prepare them for transport and propagation.
° Carefully identify each different cutting as to location and type of rose. ° Assign a study name that includes both place and type of rose. (e.g., "Placerville Cemetery China" or "Vacaville Farm HP"). ° Propagate the cuttings; when grown large enough, find an appropriate place and add the plant to the Rose Garden. ° As the plant grows and blooms and later produces hips, etc., attempt to determine if the rose is one that is known to have been in commerce in the 19th century. In short, attempt to identify the cultivar, if known. ° Consult antique rose experts to verify the identification and replace the study name with the correct name of the rose. ° Continue to monitor and identify the entire collection using the Field Report of Rose Characteristics and other resources. Consult experts as possible. The Field Report of Rose Characteristics is a volume developed by antique rosarians, Judy Dean, Lynne Storm and Bev Vierra. These expert Master Gardeners from the foothills have developed and published a two-page form that can be used to identify specific characteristics of the parts of each plant.Cemetery Rose Garden volunteers have begun to examine each found rose with the purpose of identifying as many as can be identified. A number of roses will undoubtedly remain under their study names as they may be seedlings or sports of cultivated plants. |
This is an example of a photo card which shows characteristice of the rose; size, bloom, leaflets, prickles, etc.Such cards are
being photographed for each rose in the ID project. Approximately
90 roses have been photographed and 30 ID field reports have been
compiled.
(The numbers on
the second line of the card refer
to the location of the plant in the Cemetery Garden.) |
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This is a photo of Mme Lombard in full bloom. She is a tea rose that was collected from the Graton Cemetery in the small town of Graton in Sonoma County. After being planted in the Rose Garden and studied, the plant was identified.
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This photo shows the identification card with bloom color and shape, leaflets, (top and bottom), size and prickles. |
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This photo shows Mme Lombard in bloom on the plant. |
This closeup shows a hip from Mme Lombard sliced in half to show shape, color, and seeds. |
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This photo shows the plant in winter (early January). Knowing that the rose continues to bloom and put out new leaves in winter is helpful in identification.
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