As described in an earlier post, I spend a lot of time in winter trying to rein in weeds, including Japanese honeysuckle, cutting it down and yanking it out whenever possible. I honestly never want to eradicate honeysuckle, as I cannot imagine late spring/ early summer in NC without its divine fragrance. But there can definitely be too much of a good thing. If you listened to the link from this post, you heard one of the twin sisters of Chapel Hill Sisters' Garden fame talk about honeysuckle. The sisters grew up in Arizona and grew a honeysuckle as a prized specimen, watering it with dishwater. The vine grew to the third storey of their house. Bernice Wade described how excited she was to see all of the honeysuckle in her yard when she moved to Chapel Hill in 1944. With laughter in her voice she said "I was in seventh heaven. I'm still fighting it however."
Honeysuckle can smother a lot of things since it grows so rampantly here. One of the things that needs rescuing is the giant prairie rose (Rosa setigera) beside the driveway. It started out as two young plants that I grew from seed. Once established they grew by leaps and bounds and by 2011 they had formed a mound that was over 8 yards in width and about 6 feet high. This rose is insane. It has cast itself another 10+ feet outward since then, over a ditch towards the neighbor's fence and up the driveway. The only thing that could stop it would be the honeysuckle, or that horrible thing called RRD.
As you can imagine trying to get honeysuckle out of the middle of a rose isn't the most fun of garden chores. There is repeated impalement by thorns. R. setigera has sturdy hooked thorns that go right through jeans and sweatshirts. There is cursing. But the pain and blood drawn is worth it.
Pictures from May:
This rose doesn't have any fragrance, but it has so many beautiful flowers and attracts so many bees I don't miss it. I've planted two more beside the drive further up the hill and two across the drive from that. There's also room between the drive and the neighbor's pasture and I've planted half a dozen there too. All grown from seed. If they all stay healthy one day there will be a lot of space filled with prairie roses.
I always love seeing this rose in your photos. To think you grew this from seeds is really amazing.
ReplyDeleteI bought a honeysuckle earlier this year, looked it up online and saw that it was an invasive down here and they don't want you planting it, so with much disappointment, I took it back. The scent was wonderful, but I did not need another thing to have to keep under control.
Have a wonderful Christmas ~ FlowerLady
Wow !!! Amazing rose !!!
ReplyDeleteI love the photos. In Denmark the sea coast was filled with, I guess ocean roses. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteThose must have been rugosas. I have those in my garden too and love them.
DeleteYou're scaring me! I have a prairie rose growing against a south facing brick wall. I am trying to train it but not sure how successful I'll be. I do like the flowers, and it seems birds like to nest in it. Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to scare you! LOL It could be it's more restrained in a colder climate. Our mockingbirds love the hips.
DeleteI've got a busy day ahead, so I wasn't going to spend much time on the computer this morning, but when I saw your post title, I had to stop by:) Such a lovely rose; you're fortunate to have so much space to let it ramble. It looks perfect in this natural setting. Speaking of honeysuckle, we always had honeysuckle, too, and it's one fragrance that I've always loved, reminding me of my childhood. It wasn't until a few years ago, though, that my dad told me the story of its origin: they moved a piece from the first house they lived in, thinking it was so fragrant and lovely. Not until years later did they realize it was invasive; by that time it had formed a thick hedge along one side of their yard. My dad--in his 80's--finally managed to get it all torn out a couple of years ago. So the sisters were not alone in making such a mistake:)
ReplyDeleteRose I am glad you stopped by! To be fair, I think wherever you move to in the piedmont or coastal plain of NC, you're going to inherit honeysuckle! LOL It's *everywhere*. I imagine that the cold in the mountains contains it a bit (since their climate is similar to PA and the cold kept it in check there), but here in central NC it's part of the landscape.
DeleteSo beautiful! I would even consider planting this based on your recommendation, although I am extremely rose-phobic. I love the un-fussy look of it.
ReplyDeletePretty, pretty, pretty! What lovely pictures. I don't care for roses generally until I see these natural beauties and am reminded that an unfussy, simple pink rose is the way a rose should look. I love these.
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