It's for a good cause, if you sign up for their newsletters, it was in yesterday's email:
"We don't know how we would get through a rose day without the amazing online rose encyclopaedia, HelpMeFindRoses!
We've found a way to help this valuable resource to continue.
Beginning on Wednesday, October 20th, at 5 am Pacific Time we will host a fund-raising auction of 5 very rare roses. "
You'll be able to bid on the following roses. Bids will continue to be accepted through Sunday, October 24th at 6 pm Pacific Time.
We will donate 100% of the winning bid money to HelpMeFindRoses!
All about the auction:
http://www.vintagegardens.com/...
These are the details of offered roses:
Nigel Hawthorne
This Jack Harkness seedling of Rosa persica (Hulthemia persica) has become so rare that it has nearly disappeared from the few public collections that have displayed it. Classed as a shrub, Nigel Hawthorne is in fact a very compact miniature, growing well on its own roots and making a 2' tall bush, ideal for displaying in a pot. Melon orange flowers open nearly single, displaying a rose-maroon blotch at the center of the flower, fading to peach-blush pink and cinnamon red with age. Its re-bloom is constant and abundant. Our clone came from the last shred of plant still growing at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. Nigel Hawthorne, the British actor, renowned for his oscar-nominated portrayal of King George III in 'The Madness of King George', and the inimitable Georgie Pillson in 'Mapp & Lucia', the British film adaptation of E. F. Benson's comic novels.
Papa Vibert
Brent Dickerson's seedling of the much-loved Portland rose, Marbrée. Very difficult to propagate, slow to mature to a plant of small stature, intensely fragrant, rose pink with white and pink blotches like tiny polka-dots, we have struggled for nearly 10 years to grow plants to offer. By some extraordinary happenstance we succeeded this year to root three excellent plants! Brent Dickerson's generosity in sharing his research works with HelpMeFind have benefited all by providing a virtual appendix linking HMF to his published works. Named for Pierre Vibert, early 19th century French rose breeder who contributed some of the finest roses created in the 19th century.
Mrs. George Shawyer
Collector extraordinaire, Fred Boutin, sent us cuttings of this foundling which we agree with him matches the rare old Hybrid Tea, introduced in 1911 in England by Lowe & Shawyer. A hybrid between the Tea rose Mme. Hoste and the early HT, Joseph Lowe (sport of Mrs. W. J. Grant) this semi-double beauty has the ribbon-petaled grace of Lady Anne Kidwell in a vivid, light cerise-pink veined in raspberry red. Seen in the collection at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, but not offered by any nurseries in the world today.
Climbing Pixie
Another foundling of Fred Boutin, this climbing sport of the micro-miniature rose Pixie, introduced in 1940 by Jan de Vink, has remained obscurely tucked away in the Heritage Rose Garden at San Jose, unavailable from any nurseries in America.
Double blush-white flowers come singly, making elegant garlands of the long, wiry climbing canes. A tiny treasure that should not be lost!
Charles Walker's Miniature China
A very old mystery rose, found by HRF founder Charles Walker, and sent to us by Fred Boutin. This surely counts among the very oldest miniature Chinas; flowers double, rose-pink blushed with rose red. A very bushy and elegant plant that is rarely out of bloom. Why this rare old China has not found its way into the hands of more collectors amazes us. Help preserve this, and some day we may know which early cultivar this is that has survived more than a hundred years of complete obscurity!
) I had to check it out. Thank goodness I didn't have my drink to my mouth otherwise I would have spurfed Sunny Delight all over my monitor. There's 19 roses and they're getting $50/rose.
