Visiting Raft Island Roses

On one of our Saturday adventures, Alison and I visited Raft Island Roses in Gig Harbor.  If you live in the greater Tacoma area, you may be familiar with the name as these folks sell their roses at several farmers' markets. 

It had been years since last I visited  RIR but the memory of  rose perfume delighting my olfactory receptors was strong.

I know very little about roses and always say that they're really not my thing but somehow, there are quite a few of them in my garden.    These lovely and fragrant climbers cover the fence of the old parking area.

I went looking for a Westerland rose but they were out.  Joy Creek's inventory says that they have 36.  Alison and I need to go to Portland anyway.  Some sources say that Westerland has a strong fragrance; others say that it's a light fragrance everyone agrees that it blooms freely and beautifully. 

 

Lots of gorgeous roses at this nursery and some surprises that you'll see closer to the end of the post.  Labeling was sometimes hard to find or missing but the staff knew the rose names.

 

Chrysler Imperial

Taboo (guessing)

La Rose Complète    -     Rainer Maria Rilke   

 

J’ai une telle conscience de ton
être, rose complète,
que mon consentement te confond
avec mon coeur en fête.

Je te respire comme si tu étais,
rose, toute la vie,
et je me sens l’ami parfair
d’une telle amie.

 

I have such awareness of your
being, perfect rose,
that my will unites you
with my heart in celebration.

I breathe you in, rose,
as if you were all of life,
and I feel the perfect friend
of a perfect friend.

 Contre Qui, Rose,
avez-vous adopté
ces épines?
Votre joie trop fine
vous a-t-elle forcée
de devenir cette chose
armée?
Mais de qui vous protège
cette arme exagérée?
Combien d’ennemis vous ai-je
enlevés
qui ne la craignaient point?
Au contraire, d’été en automne,
vous blessez les soins
qu’on vous donne.

 

Double Delight

Against whom rose,
have you assumed these thorns?
Is it your too fragile joy
that forced you to become
this armed thing?

But from whom does it protect you,
this exaggerated defence?
How many enemies have I
lifted from you who did not fear it at all.
On the contrary, from summer to autumn
you wound the affection
that is given you.

Dirait-on

 

 Abandon entouré d’abandon,
tendresse touchant aux tendresses…
C’est ton intérieur qui sans cesse
se caresse, dirait-on;
se caresse en soi-même,
par son propre reflet éclairé.
Ainsi tu inventes le thème
du Narcisse exaucé.

 Abandon surrounding abandon,
Tenderness touching tenderness…
Your oneness endlessly
Caresses itself, so they say;
Self-caressing
through its own clear reflection.
Thus you invent the theme
of Narcissus fulfilled.

 

Neptune

 

 Rainbow Sorbet

 

Several of Rilke's Rose poems have been set to music by Morton Lauridsen.  Click below to hear the entire cycle.

 

Or click here to listen only to Dirait-on, the very popular final song.

Red Intuition really grabbed my attention!   The buds look similar in coloration to a broken tulip.

This one is just starting to open and the outer petals have a green stripe down the middle.  The broken coloration seems to be more subtle on the inner petals but we'll have to see what happens as it opens and ages.

Unfortunately there were no blooms fully open.  This almost came home with me but it's a hybrid tea...'nuf said?  It had incredibly long and strong stems for each flower & a few dozen bushes of this would be fabulous for those of you who have an acre or two devoted to a cutting garden.  Still, it was very pretty.  Maybe a return visit is in order.

Look at some of the other surprises we found here.  Some of these non roses came home with us!

These had no label and the nice young person working there only knew that it was called a Pregnant Onion.  It was kind of interesting so Albuca bracteata came home with me. 

 And look at what Alison found!  Also without label, this Manfreda was pretty sweet!

 These were simply labeled "Agave." 

 

I also bought a Fallopia japonica 'variegata'  because it's beautiful and there's nothing quite as fun as asking garden guests if they've noticed your Fallopia.   The prices of the plants we bought were incredibly low.  We each got 3-4 large plants and spent less than $20.00.  They've lots of stuff in the greenhouses below that will be coming up to the sales areas soon.  I'll be visiting this place more frequently!