From “Rosa banksiae” in Trees and Shrubs by Ernie Wasson:
“Near-evergreen in mild climates, this once-flowering climbing rose from western and central China is now seldom cultivated, though its double-flowered varieties, the white Rosa banksiae var. banksiae and the yellow Rosa banksiae var. lutea are very popular. The species can grow to over 30 ft (9 m) high or wide but regular trimming will keep it compact and shrubby. It blooms from spring to early summer, producing massed sprays of small white flowers.”
From “Rosa banksiae” in Some Like It Hot: Flowers that Thrive in Hot Humid Weather by P. J. Gartin:
“Banksian roses are native from north-central through southern China. The wild version has small, white, single flowers that smell intensely of violets. A double yellow variety (Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’) was discovered in the Canton province and presented [in England] in 1824. This is the Lady Banks rose that most people associate with Deep South gardens….
“Lady Banks ‘Lutea’ has soft yellow flowers with a green eye. Blossom size is quite dainty at only 3/8 – 5/8 inch in diameter. Although they are not scented, the bloom is always copious. This is the perfect plant to weave in and out of a fence or trellis because it will not bite the hand that cares for it; it is practically thornless. ‘Lutea’ is the hardiest of the Lady Banks roses although temperatures below 15 degrees will kill it. Like the rest of these roses, it is practically impervious to disease.
“The double white version, ‘Alba Pena’, which is sometimes designated as R. banksiae banksiae… is not quite as hardy as Lady Banks ‘Lutea’ and has a few more thorns. However, its 5/8 – 3/4-inch flowers have an intense violet fragrance…. Lady Banks roses flower on second and third year growth and they are not repeat bloomers. They are fast climbers that will reach 15 – 20 feet in height….”
Hello!
This is the first of four posts with photos of two variants of Lady Banks’ Rose (Rosa banksiae) that I took at Oakland Cemetery in early spring. “Lady Banks’ Rose” is the most frequently used common name for plants in this species, a name attributed to honor Dorothea Banks, the wife of nineteenth-century botanist and plant explorer Joseph Banks. You may also encounter it under the names Banks’ Rose, Banksia or Banksian Rose, or Chinese Climbing Rose when it’s discussed in conjunction with other roses originating from China that exhibit climbing or vining characteristics.
I was very familiar with a Lady Banks’ Rose that produces double-yellow flowers — Rosa banksiae var. ‘lutea’ — from previous photoshoots when that was the only Lady Banks’ Rose on Oakland’s grounds, singly representing its presence in the southeast and availability at local garden centers. I had timed my photoshoot specifically to hunt down that plant with yellow flowers and observe how it’s changed over the years, and then….
As I entered the property’s main entrance and passed the guardhouse (originally called the Watch House), I saw what looked like a flowering vine that I assumed was jasmine or something similar (which I’d never photographed), as that’s what I’d seen growing there previously. From a bit of distance, the white flowers and green leaves against red brick caught my eye, with their strong color contrasts apparent on an overcast day — contrasts that would typically attract my attention, just like they attract Oakland’s insect pollinators.
I almost kept walking by — I was on a mission after all! — but decided to take a closer look, and saw these…
… very distinctive flower buds that I recognized from my earlier photography work on Rosa banksiae var. ‘lutea’ — the yellow variant. Where this plant came from, and when, became an immediate mystery, as I’ve walked this route from the main entrance multiple times every spring for years, but this was the first time I’d seen this Lady Banks’ Rose with double white flowers — which I now know to be Rosa banksiae var. banksiae — in bloom.
Despite having thousands of photos of plants and architecture from Oakland going back to 2007, I didn’t have a single photograph of the guardhouse that I could use to anchor on a timeframe, or even confirm what I vaguely remembered twining up the building’s arches. Skulking around the internet, I eventually found an image of the guardhouse duplicated on several sites (possibly a shared stock photograph) showing a vine emerging from the ground near the rain gutter’s downspout. Those images resonated with my memory of a thin, scraggly plant with a few randomly spaced pink flowers toward the top — and at least confirmed that the white double Lady Banks’ Rose replaced a previous occupant growing in the same place.
If we interrogate the plant and its photographs now, we can come up with a reasonable hypothesis about its genesis here and its age. In this photo from my next series…
… notice the size of the cane structure on the right. The largest one is three to four inches in diameter as it has expanded to support the weight of the plant’s central spine while extending both vertically and horizontally and winding up the building. The plant’s process here is similar to the way a tree builds growth rings — layering new rings of increasing diameter as the plant’s height and weight increase.
The Lady Banks’ Rose is known to expand the diameter of these supporting canes at a rate of about an inch per year, and is also known to produce its canes and stems for three to five years before it develops its first flower buds and its first exuberant blooming cycle. These botanical characteristics suggest that the plant was added to this location as many as five years ago — likely around the same time as some completed guardhouse renovations — and this could be its first year in bloom. Taken together, these observations explain why I’d never seen it before despite passing the guardhouse to engage with its yellow-flowering relative every spring since 2022.
With that mystery solved reasonably well, we can now talk about the photos in this four-part series. Since it was the brick and plant color contrasts that got my attention to begin with, I’ve used this first post to highlight the plant’s growth patterns against the brick columns and walls in its background. In the second post, we’ll see more of its flowers and buds close up. In the third and fourth posts, we’ll switch from Rosa banksiae var. banksiae to Rosa banksiae var. ‘lutea’ — from white to yellow — and observe some of the differences between the two, visually and botanically. Throughout all the remaining posts, we’ll also explore their use in gardens, their significance to memorial gardens like Oakland, and their botanical and cultural history.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
