The Serendipitous Rendezvous

The Decker Garden is off the deck.  Clever, eh?  Okay, so not a lot of brain power was invested in any of the garden names--they are descriptive or utilitarian.  The Decker Garden contains one of my favorite roses--Aloha--the pink beauty you see above.

Welcome to my shade garden, the Dark Side.  This area is beneath the sycamore, and once it leafs out, the entire area there--and most of our neighbor's yard is in shade.

 

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite roses, Distant Drums.  It's a Dr. Griffith Buck rose.  Back in the day when the hybrid tea was all the rage, Dr. Buck set out to create roses that didn't need spraying or fussing over.  His roses had to be able to withstand the blistering prairie sun of summer, but they had to be equally successful at shrugging off the bitterly cold winters.  Oh, and they had to withstand the fierce winds of the plains, too.  Those were lofty goals.  One could easily hybridize a rose that would withstand high temperatures, and Canada has done an exemplary job with their Explorer and Parkland series of creating roses that can survive cold winters.  But, to have a rose that could do both?  And not require special care? 

Dr. Buck planted his roses, and the only attention he gave them was water and cultivation.  Those that survived the winter he used further in his attempts to hybridize a wide variety of roses that were suited to the prairie, had scent, and would fit into most gardens.   
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