Roses we see in our gardens are products of cultivation and crossbreeding by gardeners over the 5000 years that these colorful plants have been used by man to decorate his home.

The Peace rose, Rosa spp. variety “Madame A. Meilland” is an example of the handiwork of a French rose-breeder during the years 1935 to 1939. Meilland hybridized individuals from two large groups of garden roses: the Hybrid Perpetuals, and the Tea roses.

Multiple species of roses were hybridized to form the Hybrid perpetual group which included Asian species with their tendency to bloom repeatedly and European hybrids that tended to bloom once a year. The Tea Rose group consists of a large collection of hybrids based on Rosa chinensis crossed with R. gigantea. Breeders have enlarged this group by further cross-breeding with other rose groups.

Meilland selected individuals from the hybrid perpetuals and the tea roses to produce the hybrid tea rose we call the Peace rose.  As a result, the peace rose is a hardy cultivar that is disease resistant and blooms repeatedly throughout the growing season. Meilland named the rose after his mother.

Hybrid tea roses are a diverse group of rose hybrids produced by rose breeders like Meilland and others. The Hybrid tea rose group is the most popular kind of roses grown by man worldwide.

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Roses are beautiful flowers for photography. They come in so many shapes and colors that you can find endless ways to put something new in your frame.

Roses are ephemeral, their blooms last a few days at most and they shed their petals to begin growing seeds in the part that some people call rose hips.

This is a yellow hybrid tea rose that is just starting to open. I like the various textures visible in the image. They add depth and dimension and serve to draw the eye to different portions of the image.

In this image, I enjoy the shapes and areas where light adds various shades of yellow to explore. The shapes of the petals are complex surfaces that invite inspection and delight the visual sense. Additionally, there are clues at the periphery and hidden between the petals to tell the viewer this is a rose and not some kind of abstract art.

The post Why I Like To Photograph Roses appeared first on GJM Nature Media.

I was at the Oklahoma City Zoo during the spring of 2017 when I encountered these beautiful floribunda roses. The floribunda varieties of roses have been produced by crossing Hybrid Tea roses with Polyantha roses.

By crossing Hybrid Tea roses with Polyantha roses breeders were able to combine the large number of beautiful colors and shapes of the Hybrid Tea flowers with the multiple flowering characteristic of the Polyantha roses.

Floribunda roses produce smaller, bushier, more sparsely branched plants than the Hybrid Tea roses. Additionally, they are more upright  and less sprawling than their Polyantha ancestors.

Whatever their parentage, these colorful, gorgeous flowers add their charm to private or public spaces where a compact shrub is needed to decorate walkways or courtyards.

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My recovering Apricot tree, Prunus armeniaca, was blooming during the last week of February 2017 when I took these photographs.

Apricots belong to the rose family, Rosaceae, and are cousins of the other stone fruits like the plum and peach, nectarine, cherry, and almond. The seeds of apricots have been used for their medicinal qualities for centuries in the Near, Middle, and Far East.

Apricots are supposed to have been domesticated in the highlands surrounding Mount Ararat by the Armenian people. Its species name means Armenian Plum which reflects this heritage. This mountainous area can experience very cold winters. Apricot trees can withstand considerable periods of cold. In fact, they do better where the climate is like its place of origin. This probably is why I have apricot blooms in late winter.

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