This rose variety, “Angel Face,” is really not suited for the Chicago climate based on everything I have read. When I was looking to replace one that, indeed, had not survived, the woman at the garden center was very condescending and discouraging, and said it would not do well (then why are you selling them??). I bought it anyway. The current shrub has survived about 5 years and it definitely is the puniest rose in the garden. But I LOVE it for the following reasons:

The color– a very muted mauve, very unusual for a rose
The scent – not like a rose at all, it’s a citrusy and spicy scent

Here is a (long) story about the first Angel Face rose I tried to grow:

THE MIRACLE OF THE ANGEL FACE ROSE

As you will recall from a previous installment of Blooming Today, the property next door to me (from which the white peony was rescued) was run down, overgrown and relatively abandoned, except for the occasional visit by one or both of the crazy daughter’s sons, who, by the way, were both Cook County Sheriff’s police officers.

There was a tree (one of many) growing in that jungle of a yard close to my fence, that was getting larger and larger and starting to create a lot of unwanted shade in my yard. Unacceptable, particularly because earlier that spring I had planted an Angel Face rose (in standard form – like a little tree) that I was so in love with and it wasn’t getting enough sun because of that tree. Had I been able to reach, I would have chopped off the encroaching branches, but the tree was really too tall and this would only be a temporary solution. What to do? Well, why not cut down the whole damn tree? OK, it’s not on my property, but, well, who cares.

Now, cutting down a large tree can be a dangerous endeavor, I know that, and this was not a small tree. But hey, I watched the episode of the Woodwright’s Shop on PBS when he was cutting down trees to build his log cabin, so I had the general concept down. I rented a chain saw, a tool which, by the way, I had never previously operated, and enlisted the aid of my tenant, the one who owned the Harley that he never rode cause it was in continual “enhancement” mode and “it might rain” (that’s a whole other story).

My objective was to have the tree fall into the neighbor’s yard, so I explained to my tenant, who had agreed to operate the chain saw since it is a macho kind of tool, to cut a notch out on one side of the tree, the side where the tree should fall, and then start the full cut from the opposite side of the notch. We tied a rope to one of the strong lower branches, so as he cut, I would pull the tree toward the notch, thereby controlling the fall. So much for my plan.

My tenant had his own ideas (which he chose not share with me) and decided to just start cutting wherever was most comfortable for him. Before I knew it, the chain saw was fired up and all of a sudden, the tree came crashing down, through my fence, taking out about a 3’ section and landing right in the middle of MY yard.

It was devastation in my garden.

Suddenly, in a panic, I thought about my Angel Face rose, imagining it crushed under the weight of the tree trunk. I ran back into my yard, and there she was, unharmed and peeking up through all of the branches. Somehow, all major limbs and branches bypassed that little rose.

IT WAS A MIRACLE !

The rest of the day was spent making good use of that chain saw - cutting up that tree so I could remove it from my yard.

All that, and Angel Face did not survive her first winter.