🌿 ROSES THIS DAY ON SHAW ISLAND 🌿

ROSA RUGOSA "HANSA"
1905, Holland.
A plant start gift from islander Mary Lou Clark,
many years before the rose attained 7' x 7'.
Flowering 27 May 2020 on
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

ROSA RUGOSA "HANSA"
Clove scented
Unenhanced photos from
27 May 2020.

"Rosa 'Hansa,' a particularly nice specimen plant, is a tall-growing vase-shaped shrub, growing as wide as it is tall. Recurrent with excellent rebloom in the fall. Having excellent vigor and disease resistance, provides plenty of return for little effort, this is recommended for beginning gardeners. 'Hansa' is also a solid choice for a tall rose hedge."
Suzanne Verrier. Rosa Rugosa. Capability Books. 1991.
Gatehhouse Library collection.

"Deadheading is the one profoundly rewarding war. It tidies away the signs of death and encourages yet another show of flowers. It was wonderfully understood by Vita Sackville-West, in her garden at Sissinghurst Castle. 
'Dead-heading roses on a summer evening,' she wrote, 'is an occupation that carries us back into a calmer age and a different century. Queen Victoria might still be on the throne. There is no sound except the hoot of an owl and the rhythmic snip-snip of our secateurs.'
Robin Lane Fox. Thoughtful Gardening. 2010
Gatehouse Library collection.

This is a site for featuring seeds harvested and shared from Shaw Island gardens and what is this with a shrub Rose?

Below is a Rose grown from seed brought back from Alaska by Library and Museum charter members Alice and Bryan "Fess" Fessenden and then for many years thereafter, cared for by the volunteer gardeners. (This photo taken pre-2000, when the old reefnet boat had drifted away to earth was replaced.) At this time, the wild Alaska Rose was allowed to display the lovely heps for fall color and a bounty of fruit for the birds -- a lovely view then without serious pruning such is needed for a domestic rose. Photo by author.

The garden of the
Shaw Island Library and Historical Society
with a treasured Rose grown from seed
attained from the wilds of Alaska.
Photo pre-2000.
Click to enlarge.

🌿 Memorial Day 🌿 2020

Spring Garden Flowers ('87)
as we remember the watercolor artist,
summertime Shaw Islander
Joan Irving Brandt
(1916-1995)
Click image to enlarge.

🌿 HAPPY MAY DAY ON SHAW ISLAND 2020 🌿

MAY DAY

Earliest observance: Unknown, dates from prehistoric time.

A Lilac which once grew in the garden
of Elsie Crawford Wood and before her,
the garden of her parents,
near the Shaw landing.
There was no May Pole dance but
her Lilac was saved from a bulldozer
in the 1980s, and planted by
local garden volunteers for the
Community Building where it blooms
this day of 1 May 2020.
Thanks Elsie.

"May Day is not an overly prominent holiday in the American year, but it does have a long and notable history as one of the world's principal festivals.
      The origin of May Day, and of its accompanying Maypole, undoubtedly goes back to New Year celebrations in prehistoric times which related to changing seasons. Trees have always been symbols of the great vitality and fertility of nature and were often used at the spring festivals of antiquity.
      The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers, in whose honor a five-day celebration was held, called the Floralia. This was from April 28 to May 2.
      For the Druids of the British Isles, May 1 was the second most important holiday of the year; it was the festival of Beltane, the day which divided the year in half. (The other holiday was Samhain, November 1.) By the Middle Ages, every English village had its Maypole. The bringing in of the Maypole from the woods was a great occasion and was accompanied by much rejoicing and merrymaking. 
      The Maypoles were of all sizes, and village vied with village to see who could produce the tallest one. The London Maypoles were permanently set in the ground, but the dancing around them was stopped by the Puritan Long Parliament in 1644.
      With the return of the Stuarts, the Maypoles reappeared and the festivities of May Day were again enjoyed. One of the great Maypoles, a 134-ft wonder, was brought in 1661 in two pieces from Scotland to London and hoisted into position by twelve seamen, with the encouragement of drums. It smoothly crossed the barrier from folklore to science when, in 1717, it was taken down and purchased by Sir Isaac Newton to be used as the support of his powerful 124-ft telescope.
      In recent years Americans seem to have attempted a revival of May Day, although in a way designed for children. Schools supervise the making of paper May Day baskets, which are meant to be filled with flowers and small gifts and hung on friends' doors on May Day. 
      Girls' schools and colleges have traditionally been enthusiastic observers of May Day in America. They had their May Queens and May dances, ceremonies, games, and a good deal of fun. In recent years, these customs have lapsed."

Source; Robert J. Myers. Celebrations, The Complete Book of American Holidays. Doubleday & Co. 1972.