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Letter to the editor

With 'Maggie,' it's love at first sniff

The fragrant rose lover's dream thrives in Florida.

By John A. Starnes Jr., Special to the Times
Published October 20, 2007

"Maggie" is a fragrant rose lover's dream, and it thrives in Florida. This beautiful and baffling rose was discovered by Dr. William Welch of Texas A&M University on a Louisiana plantation purchased in the early 20th century by his wife's grandmother, Maggie.

As is the custom when rosarians attempt to determine the identity of a mystery rose, he gave it the "study name" of "Maggie." The quote marks alert other rosarians that it is an assigned name while research continues.

Its heady heritage

An early guess as to its true name was "Gruss an Teplitz,"bred by the famous rose hybridizer Rudolph Geschwind in 1897. But many rosarians feel that "Eugene E. Marlitt," a China-Bourbon rose also bred by Geschwind and released in 1900, is more likely. As the debate rages on, we can invite its sensuous beauty into our landscapes.

Look into each ruffled Victorian-style blossom and absorb the saturated magenta color. Then tingle with that heady, spicy Old Rose perfume so rarely encountered in Florida. The blooms average 31/2inches across and occur singly or in clusters that can contain a couple of dozen blooms, making one cut stem an instant bouquet.

I had a landscape client in North Tampa in the early 1990s who loved to woo women with blooms he'd snatch off the "Maggie" bush thriving just outside his door. He said it never failed to dazzle each lucky recipient, who was totally unprepared for that sultry perfume and rich color.

The ideal conditions

All that China rose blood in its breeding makes it happy in a Florida landscape as long as it is grown in full sun in damp, mulched, fertile soil. In those conditions, disease and big problems are minimal, an occasional cosmetic issue. So there is no need for the usual chemical weapons of mass destruction so often associated with rose growing in Florida.

A good soil feeding each March, July, September and December with an organic like menhaden fish meal or Calf Manna or a quality chemical fertilizer like Sunniland Palm 8-6-6 will let it thrive and bloom all year. Spring and fall offer the heaviest bloom seasons, with intermittent blossoms throughout the summer. The more blooms you cut, the more buds form.

Just imagine replacing a boring hedge of ligustrums or pittosporums with a row of "Maggie" roses spaced 3 feet apart. Or grow one in the center of a flower garden as a focal point. Do you live in a condo with a sunny balcony? Grow this sweet gem in a large pot at least 7 gallons and feed it with fish emulsion those same four months, 3 tablespoons per gallon of water.

Give it a try

I like to give all my roses a light sprinkling of dolomite each March because, contrary to the myth, roses are not acid lovers like azaleas and ixoras. Many a frustrated rose grower has made matters worse by giving an ailing rose plant an acid fertilizer.

Most Floridians have given up on roses or never tried them, having heard the horror stories of endless hassle, elaborate pruning and toxic spraying regimens, or reversion to the rootstock, only to end up with a dead rose anyway. But "Maggie" offers us all the hope for both sweet success and even sweeter rose perfume. How can we resist Maggie's charms?

John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com.

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Maggie by mail

The cool autumn and winter months are the ideal time to order "Maggie" from the widely respected mail order company the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas. Call toll-free 1-800-441-0002 or visit www.antiqueroseemporium.com.

Owner Mike Shoup knows William Welch well and was pleased to help him get this treasure back out into the world and into the yards of gardeners aching for an easy-to-grow, deeply fragrant rose.

Shoup grows his roses on their own roots, never grafted, and your rose will arrive in a 2-gallon pot after being grown for 12 to 18 months in that same pot, so there is none of the worry of a bare-root mail order rose.

Before being packed into the tall shipping carton, it will be cut back to reduce shock and to quickly regrow in your garden or container.

Take it out of the carton and pot, plant it in a hole twice the size of the root ball half filled with compost, then water itin well. A deep weekly watering is fine for this undemanding rose in this age of permanent watering restrictions.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 14:51:09]