I love it when my assumptions are disproved. Who am I to think ‘Renae’ is not good in a vase? My mind changed when she made a spectacular show at a wedding.

My friend Susan Donley, who owns Florali, called and asked if I could spare some nice big canes of ‘Climbing Cecile Brunner’ for a wedding. “Sorry, the bloom cycle’s over,” I answered.

Then I remembered ‘Renae’, and told her it was in peak bloom, but might be tricky to use, because the canes tend to fall downward. Susan said she wanted to try it. Since the rose was at its peak, we had to harvest it three days before the wedding. We made sure to cut the canes underwater to avoid air bubbles and encourage quick water uptake. Susan stored four 3-5-foot bloom-filled canes in a bucket of water in her walk-in fridge, to await the Saturday wedding.

I wasn’t able to see the results. Susan said the roses were spectacular in big vases framing the alter. Mildly stunned that the canes withstood refrigeration for 3 days and were gorgeous when needed gave me pause and even more appreciation for rose stamina and flexibility.

Vase Play – (like playing dress-up with roses)

While illustrating my book R is for Rose, I happened upon the idea of taking one bunch of roses and photographing them on a vase hop. Vases with different looks are chosen to see how effective they are.

‘Renae’ is fun to use, because the roses bloom in clusters and the buds are so pretty. The bouquets above are all hand-gathered or hand-tied.

This posey image is one of my favorites. I like to send it to friends on Facebook when they are celebrating or having a birthday.