P90203‘Sterling Silver’ and ‘Stainless Steel’ are two hybrid tea roses that were quite popular decades ago. ‘Copper’ and ‘Aluminum’ are not. However, I did happen to write a bit about the aluminum roses in the picture above on the Facebook page of Felton League on January 28, and included a link to an older article that featured a picture of copper roses. They are not at all relevant to horticulture, but are interesting nonetheless.

Felton League is an informational forum for the distinguished small group of displaced or socially outcast people and their friends in Felton, California. That is how it is described on Facebook. Those who are more directly familiar with us know us as a community group that not only advocates for the local homeless, but also provides compelling insight into homeless culture, and confronts the trend of animosity and hostility for anyone perceived to be homeless.

This is the post on Felton League from January 28:

Some of us participate in the River Cleanups here and elsewhere in Santa Cruz County. Some regularly collect trash for disposal throughout the year. One takes trash collection a step further by creating these metallic roses from some of the collected debris. They were featured in this article about garden art that was published in local newspapers between San Francisco and Beverly Hills in the summer of 2017; https://tonytomeo.com/2018/07/12/be-tactful-with-garden-art/ . (Not all of the articles used this illustration. The link is for the article as it was posted last July, about a year after it was published.) The copper roses of the original article were made from copper pipe. The newer silvery roses are made from flashing found in the San Lorenzo River. The thorny stems are made from scraps of fencing material that resembles a fine gauge of hog wire, that was found closer to Zayante Creek. The leaves are wired on with random bits of copper wire. These roses are often sold to tourists and local merchants to finance the banquets hosted by ‘Let’s Have Soup’ in Felton Covered Bridge Park.

19 thoughts on “Metallic Roses”

    1. It is actually more normal than most realize. That is what the Facebook page is about. There are so many hate groups out there nowadays, and so called neighborhood groups that vilify those they do not like. Our group presents a different perspective.

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    1. Thank you for saying so. That is what the Facebook page is for. There are so many hate groups and so-called neighborhood groups that vilify the homeless and anyone who so much as looks homeless. Our group is contrary to that.

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    1. Thank you. I am considering getting a reporter from one of the local newspaper groups that I write for to write a more detailed article about the artisan who cleans trash from the riparian zones, and also creates these metallic roses.

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  4. Thank you for the reminder of a long time ago. My father had a lot of roses when I was a kid, and Sterling Silver was one of his favorites. Peace was his forever favorite tho. He taught me to make cuttings and how to grow them when I was about 10. A long time ago………

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    1. Oh my! ‘Peace’ was my mother’s favorite too! I am still none too keen on it. The colors are like diaper rash. The so-called fragrance is not much better. ‘French Lace’ is her favorite now. I do not mind it so much, but it is a floribunda, with the color of unbleached white towels that were not sorted from the rest of the laundry. Wow, that is more information than you needed. I remember when both ‘Sterling Silver’ and ‘Stainless Steel’ were popular, but I never grew them. I am a sucker for names, so I thought they would be nice. However, they look so pale.

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      1. I don’t take time/energy for roses but if I did, Peace would be one I would grow. It’s nice to see the color change to……diaper rash color. You do have a way with words at times. My father got me interested in growing things, and as kid, I thought it was magic that you could take a piece of stem and get another plant. My interest in the magic of the earth is still going strong 60 years later. Now I get excited about beans and squash coming thru the ground. đŸ™‚

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      2. Growing things can get to be a bad habit. Beans and squash are nice because they are productive, and then finish at the end of their season. Roses can fit into home gardens, as long as there are not too many. Once you start getting into wanting too many big trees, then you got problems!

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      3. Growing food is my best “bad habit”. Getting good thing from the freezer (tomato products, Lima beans, soup stock with my herbs in them) in the winter and cooking them……oh yea.

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      4. Many of the kids I grew up with grow apricots just because it is what we all grew up with. However . . . because we all grew up with it . . . we all dislike apricots. They all get given away. tee hee

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    1. It was not planned to be a cause. It is just what the artisan does. He is often around the River, so feels compelled to remove trash when he sees it. He also happens to be good with finding uses for some of the trash.

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