Magazine  (Jun 2024)  Page(s) 57. Vol 46, No. 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley, WA.  The Last Straw. 
Leonie’s article on the beautiful little polyanthas and “The Straw Rose” in the last issue reminded me of a similar rose from my recent past. Lyn Joyce, a Bridgetown lady shared with me...  In 2009 she sent me yet another package in the mail. I have no idea where she originally got it from but it was a wonderful method of sending a rose in bloom. (Well, it would have been had it ever bloomed!) She had cut a plastic bottle in half, put in the stem, and packed it around with damp cotton wool, and sticky-taped the top of the bottle on to the bottom, and voila - instant moist transportable hot-house. It arrived in perfect condition. Lyn’s note read “This funny little rose just never opens up. She has been flowering for three years and always stays the same. This cutting was taken on Nov 25.  A spray out now has about 80 buds on it. I originally thought it wasn’t getting enough light but it now gets fully 6-8 hours and all the roses around it are opening. It stands about two feet (60cm) high and has some lovely new growth, despite its neglect.” I took photos of it on Dec 4, so that meant the stem was 9 days old and it was still perfect. I had picked up the mail on my way to town to do the monthly shopping, and showed it to a nursery and a florist but neither of them could help as to what it was. It seemed to me to be an ideal florist rose to use as a filler. I struck it and gave it the study name of “Rose in a Bottle” (well, what else?)
I never did plant it out into the garden. But my December 27, 2010 notes for this potted rose accompanying the last photo I took were: “Threw my cutting-grown plant. Never opened up. Simply awful.” I am sure that Leonie’s “The Straw Rose” (Queensland) and my “Rose in a Bottle” (WA) would have been the same type of rose, although Leonie’s seems a deeper colour. Both roses never opened up, and the buds were tiny and in great clusters. We both had the impression that it might have been a florists’ filler, and it was a long-laster. The main difference is that Leonie loved it, and I hated it.
As the flower never opens up, it may not be able to set seeds. Was it passed around in Australia because of its novelty? Because of its fringed stipules, I suspect it may have been a multiflora aberration...

Magazine  (Mar 2024)  Page(s) 52. Vol 46, No. 1.  Includes photo(s).
 
Leonie Kearney, Brisbane.  Polyantha Roses From the Past. 
“The Straw Rose” . A Polyantha rose which once seen you feel the need to have in your garden. I have always assumed it was found near a barn or shed near the bales of hay. That is just my opinion.  “The Straw Rose” grows to around 1m tall and is a nice rounded bush well-armed with prickles. The bunches of roses are dark pink to light red and they stand up from the bush on reasonably long stems, making them very suitable for picking. The roses are tiny rolled-up petals, never opening fully, and there are many in a cluster. Foliage is strong and healthy, making it a very easy rose for the garden. The most wonderful thing about the “Straw Rose” is that it is such a great filler for rose arrangements. I love to put it with Tea roses such as Mrs B. R. Cant (1901) or Comtesse de Labarthe / Duchesse de Brabant (1857), as it makes the bunch sing. It keeps for such a long while as a cut flower or on the bush.