Climbing Rose Picture

We’re having one of those sorta blah winter days today. Not freezing and snowing, just gray skies and a sort of dismal feel. The absolute perfect day to smell, or at least enjoy, the roses.

This vintage flower image is another one of the wonderful vintage rose photographs from a 1911 book about gardening with roses.

This climbing rose picture was identified as the Hiawatha (Wichuraiana) variety. It looks so happy to me with the yellow and white centers and bright red-tipped petals. The open, as opposed to layered looking blooms almost make this look like some other sort of flower than a rose.

I admit to doing a bit of a double take when seeing these vintage rose images. I had to verify it several times that these were photographs. Most of the books that I’ve worked with from this era were still being hand colored or roughly colored by printing several layers of color on top of each other.

A bit of research showed that clever folks were playing with color photography as far back as the 1850s. By 1911, there were several different techniques and equipment choices though both were mainly purchased by universities to teach about color and color vision or those individuals with enough disposable cash to partake in what was an expensive hobby.

Anyway, this is the second rose drawing from this beautiful book and the first of a climbing rose. Check back as I will be sharing more of them in the coming weeks.