the rambling rose and all her beguiling promises

[asakiyume]

This is the season when Rosa multiflora, the indomitable conqueror of roadsides and wastelands, the one who can render a pleasant meadow into an impassable, laceration-producing wall of arching, spreading, canes, puts out its flowers. Everywhere there are curtains and drifts of small, white-and-yellow blossoms, with a fragrance so intense that you breathe it in and begin to float. The whole rest of the year it's thorns and You Shall Not Pass, but right now it's Come To Me And Stay Awhile My Love.

"It's worth a little blood, isn't it? You can cede a little ground, can't you? To enjoy this moment with me now?" says the rambling rose.

Comments

[sovay]

"It's worth a little blood, isn't it? You can cede a little ground, can't you? To enjoy this moment with me now?" says the rambling rose.

This definitely sounds more dangerous than it did as a flower fairy. (Gorgeous photographs.)

[asakiyume]

It is So Dangerous. It will NOT let you walk near it without a blood offering. But in flower it's amazing.

[rachelmanija]

Gorgeous!

[asakiyume]

I wish I could post fragrances!

[osprey_archer]

I ran across these flowers on a trail just recently! "Aren't they beautiful?" I gushed to my father. "What are they?"

"I think they're an invasive species," he told me.

Which was a little less poetic. But they are still beautiful.

[asakiyume]

They're not just invasive, they are conquerors! But in this season, they can win you with their wiles.

[kore]

Oh, she's so worthy of just a little blood.

[asakiyume]

She appreciates your saying so and awaits your visit ;-)

[dark_phoenix54]

Holy crud, I knew those multifloras could eat entire forests, but I had no idea they could get so tall!

[asakiyume]

They opportunistically drape themselves on whatever they can get ahold of!

[sartorias]

Oh my is that pretty!!!

[asakiyume]

They really are!

[puddleshark]

The whole rest of the year it's thorns and You Shall Not Pass, but right now it's Come To Me And Stay Awhile My Love...

Love, love, love this!

And here the briars snatch my hat, but it seems a fair trade for the glimpse of a pale pink rose with a bumblebee cupped inside.

[asakiyume]

I'm glad--thank you!

A hat is a fair trade for that view, definitely. And probably the briars liked trying on your hat ;-)

[light_of_summer]

They look beautiful! I'm not sure if I've encountered that exact rose variety or not, but I'm imagining a lovely rose scent. I tend to prefer the sweeter rose scents, such as yellow rose cultivars often have, rather than the sharp/musky scents that I associate with dark red, florist-style 🌹 roses—how about you?

Your post reminded me of a quote from a fanfiction novel that I like:

"...to truly appreciate the beauty of a rose, you must brave the thorns..."

Out here, the thorny thickets that I most often encounter are patches of blackberries, and I couldn't say for sure whether more of them are native California blackberries or invasive "Himalayan" blackberries.

We do have a native Wild Rose variety, out here, but I don't think I've ever seen a whole thicket of it.

In past years, I've taken quite a few photos of rose cultivars that I've seen growing locally. If you care to venture over to the now-Russian-owned and somewhat-slowly-responding LiveJournal platform, my favorite rose photos from around 2009 through 2017 are over here.

Yay for June and growing things! 🌱

[asakiyume]

Ooh, your gallery of roses is beautiful. The small white roses you photographed in 2013 look a lot like these ones, but double-petaled. I like the spiraling of some of them--all the forms and colors are great.

The California wild rose is beautiful!

I haven't been around enough roses to distinguish scents, but I definitely love the intensely rosy smell of Rosa multiflora and some of the traditional roses cultivated in part for their scent.

Definitely hurray for growing things!

[radiantfracture]

Wonderful!

Here it's the pink Nootka Rose.

[asakiyume]

There's always somebody who sprawls across the landscape, smiling affably and saying, "This is mine now." (I realize that for most living beings, that someone is Homo sapiens; it's just funny that in a small way, we can have that same experience--and with roses, yet!)

[lizvogel]

How timely -- I've been wanting to confirm that the lovely-smelling, viciously-thorny things taking over the back of my yard are indeed wild roses, and that looks just like them. (Though not quite that tall, although one of them clearly has ambitions.)

They do smell marvelous. I don't think they've bloomed this much previously, unless maybe they have and my timing was off for observing it. Which means they get to stay despite their thorny attitude problem the rest of the year, although we're going to have to have a talk about boundaries in a couple of places. ;-)

[asakiyume]

Good luck maintaining the boundaries! It can be done, and I think it's worthwhile: that way you can both enjoy the scent and not become Sleeping Beauty confined within your house by a yard given over to Rosa multiflora. It does take vigilance, though. Rosa multiflora is a happy, happy, grower.