Hi, Natalie here… this week, I wanted to write about one of my favorite little shrub roses, Oso Easy® Double Pink. It has been a champ in my own garden, and it has also done very well in trials! The most recent being the American Rose Center trials.
Last weekend I was honored to be invited to the first-ever Celebrity Judging Event and Awards Luncheon in Shreveport, Louisiana, for the American Rose Center 2021 Rose Trials. Now, when someone asks me to be a celebrity judge, I spend a lot of time looking over my shoulder, wondering if they meant someone else. Still, when I got there, I definitely was among a fine group of rose lovers and “celebrity” judges. I met so many interesting people, each exhibiting a great deal of southern charm.
If you love roses and you’ve never been to the American Rose Center, put it on your to-do list. The “Circles” are expanding the already extensive gardens; in the bottom right photo, you can see the third circle almost complete, and they are grading the land for the fourth circle as well. A beautiful addition.
In the gardens, I saw (and smelled) many, many outstanding cultivars, including our own Oso Easy® Double Pink rose, which won the 2021 Volunteers of America Rose Garden Award for Best Shrub – Groundcover Rose.
And that’s not all! It’s also the winner of the American Rose Society 2021 Award of Excellence and two 2021 A.R.T.S. Local Artist Awards.
Oso Easy® Double Pink rose features excellent disease resistance and an abundant, continuous bloom set, and that was fully on display in Shreveport last weekend.
Bred to have ten or more pink double flowers produced per stem, held high above its low mounding habit, Oso Easy® Double Pink rose effortlessly produces a mass of cheerful color all summer long.
Grows 1.5 – 2′ tall and wide (in my experience, it grows wider than tall) and is hardy in USDA zones 5-9.
Yankee in the South
Yes, when I was down south, I was called a Yankee more than once. But only in the nicest way. It was a quick trip, but I made sure to eat gumbo and some excellent fresh oysters before I left. I also used my free time to visit the RW Norton Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens. They had a wonderful homage to Frida Kahlo with a large exhibit of Kahlo-inspired artworks.
The gardens were extensive, with streams and waterfalls throughout. Most of the summer blooms had passed, but the grounds smelled verdant and green and were beautifully manicured. Very park-like. Both are free to enjoy; highly recommended if you are in the area!
Finally, this Yankee got some exceptional treatment on the flight out of Shreveport! Apparently, I was a passenger on the maiden flight to Denver from the Shreveport United Airlines terminal. Food, balloons, a ribbon-cutting, and even a plane-shaped cake were all there to greet us on our early-morning flight. Why I had to go all the way to Colorado first to get to Michigan, I’ll never know, but at least I got a free bagel!
