[gardeners] harison's yellow rose
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 21 Jul 1998 13:14:49 -0600
I'm seriously considering cutting my Harison's yellow rose down to the
ground when it goes dormant. It's very old, and the interior is old and
full of leaves, some of which have had fungi thereon the last couple of
years. It would take many, many hours to trim it up, but it would be easy
to cut it to the ground. Well, comparatively easy. May have to rent a
load lugger to take the stems, canes, etc. I'd like others' reactions to
this, provided they really know what the Harison's yellow rose is. It's a
Rosa foetida, I think, similar to the Austrian copper rose. It's primarily
canes that rise from the ground instead of being a shrub with a trunk.
I don't want to kill the rose because it has sentimental value to me. My
grandmother, who lived on a farm in eastern Colorado, had no ornamental
plantings in her yard, not even grass, except for the Harison's yellow
rose next to the door that led to the outhouse. She watered it with
dishwater and laundry water, and it was glorious when it bloomed in the
spring! What do you think? Margaret