Rudi Dundas.art

05/30/2026

05/24/2026

Lady Jane Grey is putting out some gorgeous sprays! Harkness hybrid tea from 1998, she commemorates the “Nine Days Queen” who was beheaded at age 16 by her stepsister, Mary…

Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the “Nine Days Queen”, was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned until she was deposed by the Privy Council of England, which proclaimed her cousin, Mary I, as the new Queen on 19 July. Jane was later beheaded for high treason.

Queens like roses, have prickles…

05/22/2026

Love and Peace - a miniature rose developed by Ralph Moore in 2006. This first bloom is hinting at the variegation to come, as seen in the second photo from HelpMeFind..

This lovely rose came to me from Burlington Roses in Visalia - A fabulous nursery specializing in rare and old garden roses, and especially miniatures including many from Ralph Moore. Burling Leong worked with Ralph for many years and took over much of his legacy. Her nursery is an inspiration to visit!

05/20/2026

Some new ideas for photographing roses in the garden! Bought some cotton scarves to drape over the other branches and cover up the irrigation lines, pots and distracting background items in my garden shots! This was the result with Elysium, a Kordes Floribunda from 1958. The second photo shows my setup (using lightstands to hold up the cloths) and the third photo shows the same rose photographed in situ without cloth draping. I like to photograph my roses in the garden as they are blooming. I don’t like to have to cut them and bring them inside to get a simple background… I think this might be a solution! What do you think??

05/08/2026

What to do with all those buds that get clipped off while deadheading and pruning? A BUD VASE! Also known as a Tulip Vase! I found this one in a store selling Dutch vases.. and it is constantly full of buds - the central bloom in a “spray” which must be removed before a Rose Show, the buds that had to be removed from a diseased branch, or just an “error or two” when deadheading closely packed blooms! We love watching the little buds open into a lovely “spray” of blooms!

04/24/2026

Fortune’s Five Colored Rose- 1844 - also known as Smith’s Parish Tea - was a highlight of our visit to The Huntington Old Rose Garden… Robert Fortune, a Scottish Botanist, spent the years from 1843 to 1861, often dressed as a Chinese merchant to gain access to “forbidden gardens” bringing back tea plants and many of the yellow and multi colored roses such as Fortune’s Double Yellow - a climbing China rose (also in the Huntington Garden) and Fortune’s Five Colored Tea Rose with its many color variations from pink striped to yellow, pink and white all on the same bush.

So exciting to see these amazing roses altogether in the beautiful Huntington Gardens!

04/20/2026

‘Si’ - the smallest rose in the world.. Only 1/4 inch wide blooms on this micro-miniature rose! Bred in 1957 by Pedro (Pere) Dot… The buds are smaller than a kernel of wheat!

Thank you for showing me this amazing miniature!

04/11/2026

The Queen of my roses is now Yolande de Aragon! Most fragrant rose I have ever grown… Named for the stalwart and influential French Duchess of Anjou, in the early 15th c.

Yolande, known as the Queen of Four Kingdoms (Sicily, Naples, Jerusalem and Cyprus) played an important role in 15th century politics in France, England and Aragon. She was the Duchess of Anjou and the Countess of Provence. She was married to Louis II of Anjou in 1400 at age 19. She had six children, and through her second son René was the grandmother of Margaret of Anjou, the wife of King Henry VI of England.

The Bishop of Beauvais described Yolande as “the prettiest woman in the kingdom.” King Louis XI of France recalled that his grandmother had “a man’s heart in a woman’s body.” She is mentioned in passing because she is the pivot of all important events for forty-two years in France, while Joan of Arc was in the public eye only eleven months.”

04/10/2026

Julia’s Rose… No, NOT named for Julia Child, but for Lady Julia Clements, British floral arranger and author of over 20 books. She died in 2010 at the age of 104! And her books are still available at online booksellers worldwide..

The unusual color is an homage to a woman who broke boundaries with the color of roses… And a favorite of mine in the rose garden…

Available from

04/09/2026

The Burgundian Rose - Before 1664, found in garden at Mount Vernon - a favorite of George Washington! First bloom on this long awaited rose…