elainegrey

This is Zaide, known in its patent as Rosa hybrida var KORparofe. That variety name seems like some complicated key the hybidizer used in breeding roses: its seed parent, ‘DELge’, and pollen parent, ‘KORtuge’ have similarly entertaining names. I rescued Zaide from the Lowes sad plant pile in July of 2019 and planted it near the stick of a fig tree. They intermingle branches with each other.

This year i hadn't quite gotten around to pruning it back, and i chose to leave one long cane, looping it around itself to make a circle. The new canes poke up straight and tall, and it can seem like two different plants. I note the similarities between how the long rose cane behaves compared to its close cousins the blackberries: pulled more horizontal, both canes sprouts small spurs off skyward with a cluster of blossoms. Left vertical, the energy of growth continues upward with a smaller amount of branching and flowering. Cutting the leading growth on the cane promotes some branching.

The roses off Zaide smell divine, and i have comforted myself just walking around the yard with my nose buried in the petals, inhaling deeply. I've been dropping full blown blossoms in the tea pot and the jug i make mint tea in.

I think a year or so i succeeded in making a very rose scented sugar syrup by packing the roses and sugar in a jar in the fridge, and i vaguely remember a batch of rose scented sugar cookies. I don't know if i can dry the flowers and retain the scent - the rose petals i have dried look pretty but don't seem that scented (although they were from the miniature roses). Perhaps i should try a glycerine extract... or a vinegar extract for making "shrubs"!

Oy, too much poking at how others extract rose scent.

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It's been a week and i feel like i have been hit by a truck.