John Cabot Explorer Rose Revisited

I've blogged briefly here on the John Cabot rose, the first climber in the Explorer series introduced in 1978. As noted in the prior post, this rose was named after the European explorer whose voyage in 1497 reached the coast of Newfoundland and led an expedition to discover a northwest passage. His son Sebastian Cabot (no not this one) followed in his footsteps as a seafaring captain and explorer.

Commissioned by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Explorer Series (along with the Parkland Series) were developed to thrive in the often harsh and cool climatic regions of Canada, and to require a minimum of fuss and only a modicum of care. They tend to be resistant to common rose infections such as black spot, and thrive quite nicely without much need for toxic insecticides. The John Cabot climbing rose, in particularly, seems to thrive on benign neglect. This rose is designed to thrive and survive in what is called Zone 3 -- a climatic zone with minimum temperatures of -40C to -35C.

Writing about roses with the finesse and elegance that one might afford to a fine wine, Brad Jalbert and Laura Peters, in Roses for British Columbia (2003), describe the John Cabot rose as "exhibiting semi-double clusters of blooms ... [with] prominent yellow stamens [that] stand out among the cupped pedals and light green foliage" (p.148). This climber, as it matures, develops clusters of blooms the appear in the late spring and early summer, and again in the late summer and early fall.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a little help from the local bumble bee community (as in the picture at the top of the post).

Photo credit: The Jack of Hearts blog.