On a hot, humid Rose Gathering @ Parramatta Park

It started out very hot, humid and sultry and ended up with a southerly to cool things down.

Apart from meeting and greeting David Rumsey for the first time, we also met a lot of ladies from the Heritage Roses In Australia group and even Roger Mann dropped by a bit later on. Many thanks to the ladies for bringing along some delicious home cooked fare.

I tried my best with the photos but was feeling the heat rather severly, so limited them to just a few.

Here are some of the ladies from the HRIA with Bruce Treloar (l) me (centre), David Clark and David Rumsey (r):[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here's our Bruce delighting some of the HRIA ladies:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Bruce, Dave R & David C: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Of course, I had to get in on the act before the heat burned me up :[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It was great that Roger Mann could join us and share some of his stories with us as we tried to see out the heat underneath a pear tree(?): [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

David Clark catches a moment with Roger. Its been 18 months since we all last caught up:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

RitaG, looks like you all had a wonderful time.

Bruce, I saw the picture before reading the post. When I saw the picture I was able to guess you amoung the others. Now I have two faces, Rita and Bruce to match the names.

Thanks for the photos, Rita! It was great to catch up with everyone, and put faces to names with some of the HRIA folk.

David R was very touched by the get together and he was delighted to see the gardens in such good nick. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't see a single weed. There was thick mulch everywhere, and although the first flush was over, the roses were in fine form. It was good to meet the gardener and congratulate him on such excellent care of the roses - not forgetting the wonderful volunteers who do the hard yards too.

Thanks all again for a memorable afternoon.

Its great to hear you had such a great day. Great roserian photos ! Bruce, you looked very dashing ! David from the coast, which David are you ?
I certainly missed out, if it wasn't from lack of money and car trouble, I would have loved to have come too.

Thank you Rita for the photos. So good to see Bruce with whom I have exchanged letters. Was David Clark the man who took and cared for the Rumsey Roses when they closed the nursery? And Madeline Ellis hasn't changed a bit. I met her when she showed us over the Rumsey garden on October 29, 2003. She was wearing high heels and I can remember thinking at the time "How does she get down there to them thar weeds".

Great photos! I vote we hold the next one down at Longford! Just so I can attend!

Last week David Rumsey contacted the David Clark who took over his father's roses. The roses (many in pots) were lost in a bushfire years ago. I have a Mrs BR Cant I bought there before the fire, one of Rumsey's plants. I'll take David R some blooms when we meet up again next Tuesday.

Easy enough to confuse the two David Clarks, especially as we are both connected to the Rumseys in different ways.

Here is a pic from (circa) 1997 which shows the David & Lyn Clark of Lyn Park Nursery @ Maroota. This was one of those Rose Gatherings from the GardenWeb days.
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David Clark is right up the back with Lyn, his wife in front of him. The pots in front are just some of the few roses we all purchased from the nursery on the day.

David, I just realised that I should have bought the catalogue of 'Old Fashioned Roses' by Heather Rumsey for DR to see. It may well have been the last catalogue (B&W, no pics) published. Alas there is no date on it.

Patricia, Madeline Ellis is still a very jolly, lovely lady who still loves her high heels - she was wearing some on Sunday. I've met her a few times now through HRIA events and look forward to attending their end of year gathering. Will say hi for you.

What a great day, everyone contributed by just being there. Rita recorded
the happenings so well with her wonderful camera and photographic expertise , thanks Rita. Sorry you couldn't have all been there other than meet us via the pix. Can't add more to Rita and Davids remarks other than,
rose people are a great group of quality people.

It's always lovely to meet and put a face to the name and then be able to share it with others of like mind. (Hmm, gives me an idea for later).
Here is another shot of the group (this time I'm taking the photo). [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][b]