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I made a quick trip to Nashville for the bank on Friday, returning late Saturday. Having grown up in Nashville, I always try to visit friends and go by to visit my mother-in-law, Robbie. When our children were small, they could not pronounce Robbie, so our daughter began calling her “Obbie” and it stuck. Now our whole family has called her Obbie for years.
When I was in high school, I helped Obbie plant the rose pictured above. I believe we planted it in 1982. She never sprays it and only prunes every other year or so. It always puts out several fabulous flushes of bloom. I have never known the name of this rose. It has a light tea fragrance and blooms in tight clusters without a center rose.
Someone gave her a cutting of a hummingbird vine a few years ago, and she planted pot and all in the ground just beneath far side of the stair railing of her side porch. Every year, it springs to life and literally takes over her porch! Needless to say, the hummingbirds love it. I just had to take a picture of it.
I went by the Music City Rose Garden downtown, but due to parking and construction issues, was unable to stop and visit the garden. Maybe next trip……
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About Chris VanCleave - America's Favorite Rose Gardener
Christopher R. VanCleave – America’s Favorite Rose Gardener
Nicknamed "The Redneck Rosarian”, Chris VanCleave is passionate about gardening and growing roses. He is an active member of the Birmingham chapter of the American Rose Society, serving two terms as President. In 2007, he created the Rose Chat Podcast which has reached over a half a million listeners with news and information on growing on growing the world’s most beloved flower, the rose.
He was a contributor to the 2015 Southern Living Gardening Book, has appeared on P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home television show and was featured in the June 2015 issue of Southern Living Magazine. Locally, Chris serves as Chairman of the Helena Alabama Beautification Board where he has spearheaded efforts to create a sustainable landscape in one of the top one hundred places to live in the United States.
His writing is seen at About.com and on his popular website; RedneckRosarian.com, where he chronicles his gardening adventures and explores an intrinsic mix of life, faith and gardening.
An agent of change with over 20 years’ experience in process innovation, Mr. VanCleave is leading the charge to reinvigorate horticultural societies and helping them to reach their full potential in the social media age.
The Redneck Rosarian 
>Interesting to find out about the Music City Rose Garden and what a pretty bloom.
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>What a lovely rose! My mother-in-law came to be called Li-li, because her first grandchild couldn't pronounce Lillian, and that is what everyone called her for the rest of her life.
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>i love stories of plants/flowers living that long. So cool! and what a great vine! (I grew up in nashville too!)
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>Hey – I am definitely glad to discover this. great job!
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