QBARS - v17n3 The Cover

The Cover

Our late Editor, Rudolph Henny, already had much of the material for the July Bulletin at hand, and most of the rest planned. There was an unlabelled color transparency laid out, and a note on a folder " R. fargesii , from Dr. Phetteplace." Dr. Phetteplace was asked to write a paragraph about the plant, which he thought must be 'Barto Rose', although he did not recall providing the picture, and did not have a chance to see it. Careful examination of the picture, however, does not reveal much, if any, of the purplish pink color characteristic of 'Barto Rose' so it is possible that this is another plant, but the description by Dr. Phetteplace of a good form of this species will be of interest.

"The R. fargesii for which the name 'Barto Rose' has been registered is a plant originally selected from the Barto collection by the late Del James. It was obtained from him some 15 years ago and has since grown at my summer home on the McKenzie river. It is now probably about 30 years old and is about 9 ft. tall. The leaf and flowers check out with the published descriptions of R. fargesii , except that its color is much deeper than the usual and is described as purplish pink. There are numerous small spots on the corolla, common to the species. In our woodland setting the color is most striking, especially as it blooms at the end of February when there is no conflict with other colors and the landscape still has its winter gloominess. Like R. fargesii generally it blooms every year so heavily that the branches are weighted down and deadheading is essential to prevent injury from seed production.

Some years the trusses are injured if there are rather severe frosts at blooming time, but generally they are unharmed. The plant itself is completely hardy in our climate."