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Green Rose: Symbol of hope and freedom

Unusual flower has ties to Underground Railroad

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 18, 2021

A ray of January sunshine illuminates a Green Rose. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Horticulturists ridiculed it. Abolitionists wore it proudly. Wherever it grew, the Green Rose got noticed.

Passed down from one generation of gardeners to the next, this unique flower has come to mean freedom, resilience, hope and friendship. And its American story continues to inspire.

Officially named Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora,’ the Green Rose is unlike any other. The “petals” are actually modified sepals, packed into a tight cluster about the size of a golf ball. Tinged with pink or bronze, the flowers look as green as the plant’s foliage. Locally, it is grown in historic rose collections in Sacramento and Woodland as well as rose lovers' own gardens.

The original Green Rose most likely was a sport, a natural mutation. Truly asexual, the flowers have no pollen and never form hips or seed. The only way to propagate it is through rooted cuttings, which is how American gardeners have shared this rose for two centuries.

Classified as a China rose, Viridiflora may have its origins in ancient China. Something that looks similar to a green rose can be seen in Chinese paintings (but it may be a green mum).

Several green roses with reddish highlights

Green Rose flowers are often tinged with pink or

bronze.

Rose expert Stephen Scanniello, co-author of “A Rose by Any Name” (Algonquin Books), suggests that the American Green Rose may have originated in South Carolina or Georgia. Nursery records trace the Green Rose to Charleston in 1833; that’s when plants were sent north to Philadelphia. In 1843, a cotton merchant planted Viridiflora at his country house in Savannah, where it grows to this day.

Plant critics were never fond of the Green Rose; they called it “a green-eyed monster.”

But according to legend, the Green Rose became popular with abolitionists, who planted it in their gardens as a sign of welcome to escaped slaves. Members of the Underground Railroad wore the distinctive flower as a signal to one another.

“The Green Rose of Furley Hall,” a 1953 historical novel by Helen Corse Barney, recounts the story of her Quaker ancestor, William Corse, a Baltimore nurseryman and abolitionist who planted Viridiflora at his home. That book revived interest in what had become a horticultural curiosity.

Beyond the Underground Railroad, Viridiflora found another niche. In the language of flowers, a green rose symbolizes rejuvenation or abundance. With its unique appearance and long-lasting quality as a cut flower, Viridiflora became popular with floral designers. That’s a distinction it still holds.

For all these reasons, the Green Rose endures. It comes down to love.

Mountain Valley Growers, which propagates the Green Rose for sale, describes it this way:

“This plant only exists due to the kindness and love of gardeners who take cuttings and make more roses. It often has great sentimental value to those who grow it because it may have been a gift from a friend. Considering it is first recorded in the mid 1800s, that is a lot of love keeping a sterile rose with no real rose flower going.”

To order a Green Rose: https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/rosviridiflora.htm

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

historical plants gardening Sacramento Sacramento history plant history roses Woodland unusual plants Green Rose perennials plant symbolism

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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