Miss Emily Mackenzie

[tiG]

I can’t tell you how much I love this brug.

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[Paul]

If this was not already named, I would suggest Marilyn Monroe.

It reminds me of that famous skirt picture of her.

Absolutely wonderful form, fragrance, and even though tonight it looks white, I LOVE it!!

Ya done good Bonnie!!!

[Violabird]

I adore it too, such a huge bloom!

We’ve confirmed it smells like vanilla.

[Paul]

I totally understand Teresa! How can you improve perfection? Maybe a little darker?

I feel that way about GA Peach also.

[Spectator Teresa]

WOW Teresa! The flower is HUGE! Fantastic!

[Dianne]

There isn’t much info on MEM, so maybe members who have grown her would add their experiences.

[Keymaster Alvin]

In my northern climate, MEM grows well, but not rampantly like KBS or Xena. She seems to like to send out large stems as well as large flowers.  I often get flushes at different times on different branches/stems and I like this because it keeps her effective blooming season going longer.

I’d have to put the fragrance right up near the top along with NOL as far as being able to smell her blooms from across the yard.

Some cultivars (Janet Reno & Culebra come to mind) are terrible mite magnets, but  I have never noticed mite or aphid problems with MEM.

My biggest complaint is that it seems impossible to set a successful seed pod on MEM.   I can only speculate that having about 22 inches of style between the stigmatic surface & the ovary, it is just too tough a job for a single pollen grain (??).    I thought that someone said they had a seedpod started, but I can’t remember who & haven’t seen any results.   I shall continue trying though.

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[Keymaster Alvin]

I have been trying to get a seed off of MEM for over a decade & have never been able to get a pod to set.   I have searched to see if anyone else around the globe has managed to to so either and it seems that it has never happened.

I wondered if PERCHANCE, MEM might be tetraploid and thereby unable to pollinate any other normal Brug, so I tried to pollinate her by Snowbank, the only KNOWN tetrapliod Brug.   I DID get a small pod, but it was Late in the fall season and the tiny seed that developed (barely & slowly) over the dark, cold dormant winter did not survive.    I have been trying to get my Snowbank and one of my MEMs to bloom simultaneously since then and they are FINALLY (sort of) there.   I have been making frantic crosses for the last three days both ways.   We have been getting light frosts here at the 45th parallel, but are expecting a slight warming trend so I am hopeful!   The real trick will be to get the seed pod (IF I get one) to ripen during the long, cold, dark dormant period.    As many lights as I can muster, I suppose and as close to the wood stove as possible. (???)

 

Here’s a comparison shot of MEM with Santa Rosa.    They are hard to tell apart, but MEM has better fragrance by far and is a bit larger in bloom.

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