The Old Yellow Rose

There is a beautiful bushy yellow rose that grows here on the Palouse.  I'd noticed it around the area the first few years I was here.  One of my neighbors has one growing along his fence.  It gets 5-6 feet tall and just as wide.  There is another one growing across the river from us on an old home site.  The house long ago burned down but some of the flowers are still there.  

My neighbor told me he thought it was called a Harison's rose.  I did a little research and found that it is indeed that rose and that it's origin is quite old.   "The original plant was discovered in the garden of amateur hybridist George F. Harison in Manhattan in 1830.  Suckers of it traveled west with the pioneers.  'Harison's Yellow' rose runs under a few different names including: ' Hogg's Yellow', 'Yellow Rose of Texas', 'Harisonii', the 'Oregon Trail Rose' and 'Pioneer rose'."
      
About three years ago I decided I wanted to try to start one of these roses.  I drove over to the old home site and dug up a couple of suckers and transplanted them along our fence by the road.  Unfortunately, this was the same year of the Vole Wars and those little buggers tunneled right under those starts and they died.  Sigh...


So last spring I headed back to the home site and dug up a few more suckers.  Luckily no one lives around there who cares.  These starts went into the same spot along our old fence and have done quite well.   I was quite excited a few weeks ago when I discovered buds on the bush.  And now it is blooming!  The blossoms aren't large but they smell really sweet.  There is something lovely about continuing the spread of this old rose around the countryside.