{"id":2148,"date":"2017-07-10T05:09:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T13:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2017-07-10T05:09:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T13:09:48","slug":"vicks-caprice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/vicks-caprice\/","title":{"rendered":"Vick’s Caprice"},"content":{"rendered":"

After four years of waiting, at least one go-around with Mr. Antlers and a presumption of plant death, \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 has finally bloomed in my garden.\u00a0 And even though the tough little rose put out only one flower, it was worth the time and anxiety.\u00a0 The cupped and quartered bloom is lovely–rose pink, accented with barely discernible stripes of lighter pink.\u00a0 I took its picture immediately, just to capture the moment when patience paid off.<\/p>\n

\u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 is classified as an \u201cold rose\u201d because it came on the scene between 1800 and 1920.\u00a0 Unlike many famous old varieties, it is an American original.\u00a0 Discovered around 1885 in Rochester, NY, \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 is classed as a hybrid perpetual, a type of reblooming rose that was very popular just before the introduction of the first of the showy hybrid teas that dominated twentieth century gardens.<\/p>\n

If \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 came on the scene today, it would probably have its own reality show.\u00a0 The name \u201cVick\u201d comes from nursery owner James Vick, who found the chance seedling in his western New York garden.\u00a0 The \u201ccaprice\u201d part was added as the result of a deliberate name suggestion solicitation by the publicity-conscious Vick.\u00a0 Announcing the results in his self-published garden magazine, Vick wrote, \u201cAmong the many thousands of names that have been sent in by our friends for our new striped rose, the name \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 has been selected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Caprice\u2019s parent was a French rose, \u2018Archiduchesse Elizabeth d\u2019Autriche\u2019, another hybrid perpetual, with blooms that are darker pink than those of its offspring.\u00a0 Both roses bear large flowers with many petals, and stems with very few thorns.\u00a0 These traits, coupled with a repeat blooming habit, make hybrid perpetual roses easy to love.\u00a0 \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 is also<\/p>\n

fragrant, though its scent is not overwhelming.\u00a0 Topping out at three to four feet tall, it could easily be grown in-ground or in a large pot.<\/p>\n

Like other plant breeders, rose hybridizers always aim to maximize desirable traits, such as large flowers, while minimizing less desirable ones, like weak stems.\u00a0 Achieving the best traits generally involves cross breeding successive generations of roses, sometimes using more than one rose species or type.\u00a0 In the case of the hybrid perpetuals, breeders crossed three different old rose types: hybrid China, Portland and Bourbon roses.\u00a0 Bourbons, like the still-available \u2018Zepherine Drouhin\u2019, are remontant or repeat-flowering in most cases, and bear few thorns.\u00a0 They also tend to be fragrant.\u00a0 Portlands feature large flowers, plus a repeat-blooming and vigorous growth habit.\u00a0 Hybrid Chinas are once bloomers, but known for their vigorous habits.<\/p>\n

\u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 was not the result of such deliberate breeding efforts, but popped up in James Vick\u2019s garden, probably the result of seed dropped by a nearby \u2018Archiduchesse Elizabeth d\u2019Autriche\u2019 shrub.\u00a0 Vick allowed the seedling to grow to flowering size and was taken with the pink-striped blooms.\u00a0 He propagated the plant by means of cuttings, which was the only means of commercial propagation until the end of the twentieth century when tissue culture came on the horticultural scene.\u00a0 When he had enough plants to sell, he invited his readers to send in possible names.<\/p>\n

This kind of interactive outreach was characteristic of the British-born Vick, who was born in 1818 and originally trained as a typesetter and printer.\u00a0 Becoming a writer, editor, publisher and owner of horticultural publications, Vick pursued a love of gardening to the point that in 1860 he started his own seed company in his adopted hometown of Rochester.\u00a0 Selling seeds by mail order, supported by the effusive prose and colorful illustrations of his \u201cFloral Guide and Catalog<\/em>,\u201d Vick succeeded spectacularly.\u00a0 Only two years later, in 1862, Vick\u2019s firm boasted about 150 employees and is said to have received some three thousand letters per day.\u00a0 The latter figure seems hyperbolic to me, but then, Vick did say that \u201cthousands\u201d of names were suggested for the rose that became \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019.<\/p>\n

Vick died in 1882 and was survived by his sons, who ran his monthly magazine and the seed company until the company was sold to the Burpee Seed Company early in the twentieth century.\u00a0 He is still survived by \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019, which is available from old rose vendors like Rogue Valley Roses; 2368 Terri Drive Medford, OR 97504; (541) 535-1307; www.roguevalleyroses.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the first \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 flower, I have watered the pant thoroughly, fed it with worm castings, mulched around it and sprayed it with deer repellent.\u00a0 Its first flower was mostly the result of benign neglect.\u00a0 I hope that I have not just killed the plant with kindness.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A great rose blooms at last<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After four years of waiting, at least one go-around with Mr. Antlers and a presumption of plant death, \u2018Vick\u2019s Caprice\u2019 has finally bloomed in my garden.\u00a0 And even though the tough little rose put out only one flower, it was worth the time and anxiety.\u00a0 The cupped and quartered bloom is lovely–rose pink, accented with … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1663,1661,859,1270,1658,1660,1244,11,1662,1659],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-american-roses","tag-antique-roses","tag-heirloom-roses","tag-heritage-roses","tag-hybrid-perpetuals","tag-james-vick","tag-old-garden-roses","tag-roses","tag-striped-roses","tag-vicks-caprice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2150,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions\/2150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}