Dead people can grow them
Published 8:16 am Thursday, March 7, 2019
“If dead people can grow them, then anyone can.”
This quote was from Mike Shoup, author and owner of the Antique Rose Emporium at the Down and Dirty Seminar in Many, Louisiana.
This quote was in reference to finding old roses surviving and prospering in old cemeteries on their own. Roses found surviving in cemeteries and older neighborhoods and then reintroduced by the Antique Rose Emporium include: Old Blush, The Fairy, Perle d Or, Mutabilis, Katy Road Pink or Carefree Beauty, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Souvenir de la Malmaison and the Climbing Pinkie.
Collin County master gardeners in McKinney, Texas, grow the Henry Duelberg salvia in their research garden. This plant was found in an old cemetery outside San Antonio on the gravesite of Henry Duelberg.
This Texas Superstar, a native Texas plant, displays showy blue flowers. The white flowered Augusta Duelberg salvia was found near Henry and Augusta Duelberg’s gravesite. These low maintenance flowers do well with little water and are hardy to Zone 7. Grow in a raised bed or container. Fungus is a problem with too much water.
Other ways to see tried-and-true plants besides cemeteries are along roadsides. Driving through the country roads of west central Louisiana, we noticed other beautiful spring plants and trees prospering on their own at old homes and pasture land. We saw blooming yellow dwarf Tete-a Tete daffodils, yellow trumpet daffodils, snowdrop lilies, redbuds and oriental plum trees.
Springtime Texas driving means seeing bluebonnets and other native wildflowers that grow profusely along the highways, fields and empty city plots. Speaking to the 2018 Texas Master Gardeners Association, European Dutch author and garden designer/plantsman, Piet Oudolf, sums up the bluebonnets growing wild in one word — “unimaginable.”
Google the words “Only in Your State.” Go to the subtitle States and click on Texas. Click on the bluebonnet field with the title “Bluebonnet Season Came Early This Year in Texas And Here Are the Best Places to See Them.”
Another website is www.wildflowerhaven. The Hill Country received the highest score this year. Drive the 13-mile Willow City Loop around Fredericksburg for many red, yellow, white and blue wildflowers. While bluebonnets do not grow as profusely here as in Central Texas, plant some in a large container with good drainage.
Who would have thought any plant would survive after being submerged for two weeks in the salty floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina? Surprisingly, the “Peggy Martin Rose” was found alive in New Orleans. Owner Peggy Martin acquired the rose through pass-along cuttings from friends in New Orleans.
Dr. William Welch, Texas A&M professor, worked with six other growers to make the rose widely available. This rose will be available at the Jefferson County Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale on March 16 at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport.
Enjoy seeing the spring plants that even “dead people can grow” along the highways, cemeteries, fields and old homes.
Reach Jefferson County Master Gardener, Eileen Slater at jcmgenslater@gmail.com or call the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service at 409-835-8461.