My Climbing Lady Banks ~

This plant was given to me many years ago and I really had no idea how much I would come to love it. If my husband didn't keep her in check, she would cover the entire house and then some! She is loved by all of the neighbors - and passers by as well. People come and stand on the sidewalk in front of our house and stare at her and talk about her and if I'm around, they ask me questions about her.

She caused me some worry and concern a couple of weeks ago! She was so heavy with blooms and it was so windy and rainy that she was pulling off of the house and threatening to break right off! My heart would have broken right along with her. And my very caring husband knows how much she means to me. He lovingly trims each year, many times! (She has a nasty habit of crawling under the shingles of the roof.)

So here he is saving her in the calm before the storm. The first time actually. He's anchoring her to the house, but he had to go out and add to it since this time. And all for a short couple of weeks! That's all the bloom you get. It's here and gone in a flash. Kind of sad.

Here's the funny part! We have a neighbor who likes to know everyone's business and very predictably showed up to put his 2 cents in during this rescue process. He looks up at my husband - risking life and limb - and says, " I could understand you doing that if it was about honey, but..." and no sooner had he said it I responded, "Oh, Gene - It's ALL about honey." He gets it right off the bat! "Oh, Honey-Do!"
So my Lady lives and is happy and the blooms are all faded. She actually has an interesting history. I was perusing some old National Geographics someone had so graciously donated to us "because we were homeschooling and would surely need them." and there was an article about Sir Joseph Banks. A very wealthy, natural historian, Joseph Banks had sailed three years around the world with Captain Cook, aboard the Endeavour. Returning to London in 1771 he brought back an immense collection of plant and animal material. He died in 1820 at the age of 77.

In 1807 one of Banks' collectors had found a rose growing on the Chinese coast and sent it back to Kew where it was named Rosa banksiae in honor of Joseph Banks' wife. It soon became known as Lady Banks' rose.

In 1885 a cutting of this rose was sent to Tombstone, Arizona. In the garden of the Rose Tree Museum grows the worlds largest rose tree. From its twisted trunk grow branches which cover 8,660 sq ft of trellis. There was a picture of it in the magazine. Amazing!

Here's to Spring and all its beauty.