There are Oscars, and there are comeback player of the year awards, but there's nothing quite like the "underdog" rose bush of the year award. It was exactly one year ago, September 10, 2016, that I featured the first honoree in a post of that date titled:
The "underdog" rose bush. You can see today's winner below -- an unnamed seedling of the 'Queen Elizabeth' rose. This seedling stands just 1 foot tall, but it is displaying some very pretty blooms (photo on the right), just like it did when it displayed its very first bloom (photo on the left). The "birthday" of this rose plant was March 16, 2010. Doing some quick math, we see that the plant is a little less than 7½ years old.
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| First bloom: June 17, 2010 |
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| Today: September 10, 2017 |
Note: there may or may not be an award next year. Most of my seedlings are fairly vigorous, just like the two rose bushes (both over 5 feet tall) seen behind today's winner.
