The Nature of Things

'Peggy Martin' begins her bloom on the side of my garden shed, April 4, 2013. Do you know the story of the 'Peggy Martin' rose? The old "found" thornless rambler had lived in the garden of a gardener named Peggy Martin in Plaquemines Parish in New Orleans for many years. According to Peggy, she was given cuttings of the rose in 1989 from another New Orleans gardener who had originally gotten her cuttings of the rose from her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law had, in turn, gotten her rose from another relative in New Orleans. The rose flourished in Peggy Martin's garden and she was delighted to see those perfect clusters of roses that resembled nosegays all along the canes of the plant. Over the years, she gave away cuttings to many of her gardener friends and so the old rose spread. One of the people to whom she had gifted the rose was famed horticulturist Dr. William C. Welch of Texas A&M University. He recounts that after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orl...