Wilhelmina Joyce Jui Wren

Wilhelmina Joyce Jui Wren is an avid gardener; roses are her specialty! She belongs to various horticultural associations and won the Blue Ribbon for the best Etienne entry in its class. The Etienne is a lovely violet crimson in the true full "puff" shape of heirloom roses. This year Wilhelmina is trying her hand at the Macmillan Nurse variety, a beautiful bloom  that looks like it has petals in a star configuration in the middle. Gorgeous. you can see a terrific picture of this rose at http://www.classicroses.co.uk/products/roses/macmillan-nurse/. Wilhelmina's great aunt (also Wilhelmina!) had a wonderful green thumb.  Wilhelmina Joyce Jui Wren's love for roses comes from the fact that every time she visited her great aunt,  there was a wonderful bouquet of roses on the side table. Red, yellow, white and pink, they were always different AND a feast for the eyes.  While it was an honor to have been named after her great aunt, Wilhelmina Joyce thinks she would have been equally happy being named “Rose”.  Once day, she hopes to cross pollinate and produce a unique rose – happy to call it Wilhelmina Joyce!  Or perhaps after her great aunt, Wilhelmina Jui!  Another aspiration is to have a green house nursery. Over the years, Wilhelmina has found tea roses to be the easiest to grow: "Hybridized to the point where some don’t even have  thorns(!)", she figures that is why this well-bred [literally] variety is the favorite Valentine’s gift.  "Some are shipped from as far away as Mexico and survive!  How’s that for hybridization!"   Wilhelmina Joyce loves living in close proximity to the Pacific Northwest, but it means that the climate may be hot in the daytime and freezing during the night.  Tea roses do well, but some of the less hybridized roses, as in the centifolias, get a little straggly around the petals in these extremes.  Wilhelmina Joyce thinks it’s a challenge to grow this variety mold- and brown spot-free too.  The marine layer comes in every evening from the Pacific Ocean -- the multi-petaled centifolias trap the droplets and creates an opportunity for fungus growth. To combat this she finds it’s best to plant the shrubs at least (very least) 3 feet apart so that there is good air circulation, and more importantly, have the plants in the sunniest spot you have. This is by no means foolproof, but Wilhelmina Joyce has reasonable success.    Naturally, the Pacific coastal climate is no longer “seasonal” – it’s hot when it’s supposed to be cold, and the rainy season is practically OTT this year.  However, Wilhelmina has noticed that the marine layer that comes off of the ocean is penetrating further inland.  Once only a regular evening event up and down the coast – Marin Headlands, San Francisco, Pacific Grove, Monterey, "you can see the marine layer now (a layer of thick clouds that move in from the ocean onto land) as far in as what once used to be dry-as-a-bone. We’re talking about at least 30 miles inland."  This maritime phenomenon is due to -- global warming -- that’s her take on it.  Longtime residents of her neighborhood have said that summers and winters can wreak havoc on one’s garden plans!  A challenge, yes.  But take a  look above at one of Wilhelmina Joyce's  greatest successes – all worth the trouble.   A Wilhelmina Joyce or Wilhelmina Jui rose variety may not be far off, nor a Wilhelmina Joyce Jui Wren Rose Nursery!  

gardening, maritime sailing, hiking, art, books, shopping, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund, Oceana, Conservation International.