Mrs Graham Hart

Hello everyone, I received a surprise Friday afternoon when checking our mail box, There was a card from our postman telling us that we  had a parcel to pick up, at this stage it was to late as I had just finished in the shearing shed at work. I noticed that our post office was open Saturdays, so off we went yesterday. On arrival at the post office I thought it might have been from England.  This was not to be. The parcel came out as a shoe box. No senders address, so this had me thinking, who ?, no idea.  I went to the car and opened it to find packaging of shopping bags and then a budded plant of 'Mrs Graham Hart', Who had sent this ? then the detective came out in me, brain kicks into gear, check the postage stamp. It said Glenorie, the light comes on again, who lives there, yes I know Bruce Treloar(Ozeboy). This plant will be treasured, one reason is the friendship between Bruce and myself over the years, it is yellow in colour(my favourite). Bruce tells me he is getting to old to tend his roses so he is retiring from them, our loss in my opinion. The plant I received goes back to February when a couple of members started talking about this rose. Gary(Balinbear) a long standing member of the forum mentioned he had a plant of it and would supply Bruce some budwood, which must have happened, THANKS Gary. Many thanks. This rose will go in the bed I have made just for yellows. I will need help Gary on how you look after "her". I will take photo of her today in the pot I will start her off in, then as she starts to grow a bit I will transplant her to the bed.

This is such a good story. Gardening people are so good. I can't believe how much help I've had from different people purely out of the goodness of their heart. I won't name names - you know who you are.

David

Yep I sent the budwood to Bruce who supplied us with our original plants after he (if I remember correctly) had the budwood sent to him from a plant at Leonie and Terry Kearney's garden down at Samford which is near Brisbane. He told me that he was going to surprise you with one and I hope it grows well for you.

Since that time I have sent him more buds and the rose has been spread around a bit. He was concerned that the latest lot of buds were a bit old but he told me that he had a couple take.

I's a great healthy climbing Tea which seems to get better as it gets older. The flushes last a lot longer (ours just finished one that has lasted about 4 weeks) and the number of flowers increases. We have two plants of her growing on a pergola along with a climbing Penelope Tea. Not the best mix of colours but came about by accident as we did not expect the Penelope to grow so large. The Penelope, which was planted on a small section of fence for support, sent out a couple of long climbing stems that got up onto the top of the pergola.  

Nothing special in growing them just, like all roses, keep them fed and watered though I have to admit we are a bit lapse on that front though we have fed all of ours a bit more this year.

The rose was bred by Alfred Williams in Queensland in 1900 and was named after the wife of prominent legal identity at the time, Graham Hart. The rose was lost but believed to have been found again in 2008 in northern New South Wales. There is one growing on a pergola in New Farm Park in Brisbane.

Here are some photo's of the girl.

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Barbara B wrote:This is such a good story.  Gardening people are so good.  I can't believe how much help I've had from different people purely out of the goodness of their heart.  I won't name names - you know who you are.

Yes a few of our plants have come as gifts from others. Bruce also sent up several found Teas that he had received from South Australia that he felt he could not tend to. These are now all growing well in our garden and as they grow older we will be in a position to share these with others.

Living in an area where roses are not promoted in anyway, let alone encouraged to grow, we find it great that those few that are interested are willing to share what they have.

Gary, I think it shows to true person in those that do.

The Lazy Rosarian wrote:Gary, I think it shows to true person in those that do.

Too true. This act of kindness has made my day!

Ahhh, the drool worthy Msr Graham Hart! What a fantastic surprise David!!

Good on you Gary and Bruce for sharing the love around

What a great story! Have not heard of Mrs Graham Hart, but love that she is Australian bred. Not enough have been saved to pass onto future generations to enjoy. Reminds me of Susan Irvine's pursuit of Alister Clark roses, many of which are now available again. Heart warming!!!

Ours last year

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Thanks Balinbear. Mrs G H reminds me a little of the Noisette, Reve d'Or in this photo ..

She is a lot more of a true yellow. Reve d'Or is more a creamy yellow.

Reve d'Or

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Mrs GH is looking fantastic at your place Gary, I will nurture mine so it can hopefully achieve similar to yours.

muscovyduckling wrote:Ahhh, the drool worthy Msr Graham Hart! What a fantastic surprise David!!

Good on you Gary and Bruce for sharing the love around

couldn't have said it better myself Zoe! What a lovely rose! Yerrrs ........ drool time!

When I get enough wood I shall pass it on as well.

Always a pleasure to be part of a rose rescue and Mrs Graham Hart is no exception. Thanks to those in the chain from discovery to the ones I have propagated and sent out for safe keeping. David, I hope you enjoy your rose and send it on to all those interested.

One of the most gratifying rescues was two foolscap pages listing roses growing at Gretchen's. As newly graft budded understocks, some of these were sent onto the National Rose Collection in Renmark. Unfortunately many of the roses had died from dry rot and Borer damage. The stand out was a almost dead HT called 'Laurent Carle' bush for the reason it has grown so well for me here. Since then I have found the Climbing 'Laurent Carle' which has wonderful fragrance.

Gretchen had a wonderful property with so many old heritage roses, just a shame to see her so unhappy that health prevented her from looking after them.

Bruce, it is growing well in it's pot, for this year and will be placed in the ground this coming Winter.
As budwood becomes available it shall be passed on.
I still have all the plans/plots/lots from where we first met many years ago, Would it be 15 plus years ?.
Is Gretchen still with us ?, also what happened to the nursery and it stock plants?

David, Gretchen passed away around 4 years ago. She had problems breathing so had to walk around tied to an oxygen bottle. She gave me full access to all plants, her only comment was "Just make as many as possible grow". She was very troubled by the fact that she could do nothing to save a lot of her plants.

As you know she was artificial inseminating honey bees and the property has been gifted to the East Coast Bee Research group of which she was a member. They are very interested in keeping the roses and have invited rose groups to come and maintain the roses. Unfortunately I'm over the hill for this now and lucky to look after my home paddock.
Possibly a job for the Nepean rose society members being so close.

I am so sorry to hear this Bruce, she taught me at HAC/UWS Hawkesbury. Let me look into this Bruce, I have two ideas about keeping it "alive".
Have you any contacts with the Bee keepers ?

That wasn't Carole, it was "I" just replied on her side of the computer.

Will send you contact information via private message.

David (and Bruce) - I heard a little about this (as it turns out) from the bee-keeping side (friends). Small world.

Whilst we were at the "beach" over the weekend, your not going to believe what happened, 'she' flowered. We get home late Sunday afternoon and here is a bloom, well opened, but a colour to die for. It is still in the pot it came in, sheltered by one of our "triffids" which has been cut back to keep it under control, in Winter these "triffids' are going south to Zoe for her "no mans land" garden. The colour is the what I would call soft lemon, I hope this is close. I did not get a photo, I am sorry, shouldn't have gone to the beach.
Up your way Gary, how long do the flowers last ?

Mid yellow to soft lemon is a reasonable description though it is a darker colour in the cooler weather. Flowers seem to last a few days though I have not really taken too much notice as when it flowers the "flush" seems to go for weeks.

Roses seem to have a habit of flowering when you are not looking. I have a Mons Tillier x "Rose Hedge Cottage Pink" seedling that flowered when my back was turned and I missed its first flower. It rained fro a few days so I did not need to water it and it budded up with out me noticing and by time I saw the flower the rain had washed most of the petals away.

It's budding up again at present so I am keeping an eye on it.