Talisman is blooming again:




The plant itself has quadrupled in size, and the blooms are quite nice despite the intense heat we've been having. I can see why this rose was such a hit when it was introduced; it really is a beauty. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's planted in the ground next spring.

My Talisman rose finally started to bloom a few days ago. This is the third and final bloom of the three that were on it this time around:






As was expected, it's pretty, but nothing spectacular... yet. These blooms were actually nicer than I expected. Once this plant is mature and planted in the ground next spring, it should be magnificent. Not bad for an 81-year-old rose :)

Well, for the first three weeks that I owned it, Talisman didn't do a whole lot except abort the two buds that were on it. It was obviously a bit stressed from its cross-country journey, and seeing as how May is our absolute busiest time of year, I really didn't feel like messing with it (except keeping it watered). Finally, I potted it up into a gallon container, drenched it with a mild fertilizer solution, and... it took right off :) After a couple weeks I decided to boost its fertilizer rate. Not a good move :( Roses are sensitive to fertilizer as it is, and this is such a small, immature plant that it proved to be even more sensitive than what I'm used to. So I gave it 9 or 10 days to adjust, and... it aborted another bud and just stopped growing.

*sigh*

Okay, so I drench its soil with clear water to flush out the excess fertilizer. A week later, my Talisman rose is starting to pick up steam again. Its leaf buds started to swell, so I knew it was going to be okay. After those four days of 90+ degree temperatures we had, it needed watered again, so I reverted back to my original fertilizer rate (a little less than 1/2 teaspoon of Jack's Classic 20-20-20 fertilizer per gallon of water, for those keeping score). Again, I drenched the soil with this solution to make sure the nutrients were balanced and the soluble salts weren't building up. Talisman is growing along quite nicely now, and should be blooming (finally!) in the next ten days or so. I'll try to post a pic or two when it does. I'm really not expecting much from these first blooms, as it is such an immature plant. Also, I know from the research I've done that this particular variety doesn't like extreme heat -- and it's growing in a black pot in full sun in a sweltering greenhouse right now! So the flowers will be less than stunning, in all likelihood.

For now, though, I'm concentrating on producing vegetative growth and getting the plant as big as I can as fast as I can. The beautiful flowers will come later :)

Updates to come...

It all started about 17 years ago. There I was, early in my rose-growing career, perusing the 1993-'94 Weeks wholesale rose catalog. There, towards the back of the hybrid tea listing, was an old rose called Talisman. Its breeder was listed as "Montgomery - 1929". Just like all the other roses in the catalog, this one had a full description, as well as a photo. Unfortunately, the photo was of a full blown-open bloom, so I really couldn't tell much about its appearance, other than it was a red/goldish-copper blend. But I was, of course, intrigued by the date of introduction: 1929. Here was a plant that was a living remnant of the Jazz Age.

A couple months passed and I was fortunate enough to be given Stirling Macoby's Ultimate Rose Book as a gift. Here again was mention made of this rose named Talisman. According to Macoby, the Montgomery Rose Co. asked and got six times the price of other roses for their Talisman plants. It was that unique in its day and time. Unfortunately, the photo in Macoby's book was no better than the one in the Weeks catalog.

The years passed and I continued to run across references to Talisman from time to time, but I never did see any decent photos of this rose, nor did I ever see one for sale anywhere.

Enter the internet.


Finally, while researching roses over at Helpmefind.com one night I found some decent photos of Talisman's blooms at the peak of perfection. It is no wonder that Montgomery charged so much for this rose; even by today's standards it is an utterly unique and beautiful rose. It was, in fact, one of the leading florist roses in its day, as well as being one of the most popular garden roses.

The next thing to do was find a source for a Talisman plant. Once again, enter the internet.

I managed to track down three or four vendors that were still propagating this old variety. All of the places I looked at grow their roses from cuttings on their own roots, not grafted as is the usual method. This didn't really worry me as I have propagated and grown my own hybrid teas from cuttings before. I finally settled on Rogue Valley Roses as my vendor of choice. So I placed my order early last week with the date of shipment to be on this past Monday, May 10th. It arrived on Wednesday, the 12th, and... it is a cutting alright, and a small one at that. But it's rooted and it's growing (even has buds), so it should be okay.

I'm going to run this little guy through a full bloom cycle in its current pot and then it will be potted up to a one or two gallon container. The eventual plan will be to pot it up into a 5 gallon (or larger) pot; that is where its permanent home will be. You see, these old hybrid teas aren't always as winter-hardy as the newer ones, so it only makes sense to keep it in a pot in the heated greenhouse over the winter months. This little rose plant is the single most expensive one that I have ever purchased ($31.00, including shipping and handling), and it's becoming an increasingly rare variety -- not something that I want to take a chance on losing over the winter. No, it is best that I preserve it. It is a remnant of an impossible-to-recapture time in American history.


I will try to post updates on its progress on this blog.