About a year or so ago, I met a contractor doing work on one of my houses in the states that knew a LOT about gardening and especially about roses. He could take the stems of roses delivered on special occasions and turn them into a beautiful rose bush.I got to talking to him and I developed an interest in roses. I promised myself when I finished my house in the DR I would plant roses in honor of my mother Rose. So I started a few months ago buying the punitiest roses looking half dead already. I knew I could do better if I worked at sourcing ,so I went on line and found a piece of trivia. The national flower of the DR is the Bayahibe Rose. What could be better than that? I looked locally in San Isidro and Santo Domingo.No luck.I researched further and found the rose was on a watch list and impossible to find. Further more it was only grown in the town of Bayahibe.
So, I decided to go look for it. I was like a kid at Christmas time looking for the latest toy and "sorry Mom it's otta stock". I read on line there was a Bayahibe Rose garden in Bayahibe. It was located adjacent to a church...Inglesia La Divina Pastora. OK, Let's go. The town down by the water was packed with tourists but way in the back right by boat mooring I found the church.Empty but open. I looked around and saw the remnants of what could have been a garden. We spoke to a couple of guys sitting around near the water that said that garden was long gone. (So much for archived out of date info on the net.)We talked to a (nasty) agent at the gov. center in the midst of all the tourists who never looked up from her cell phone.
We decide to head to La Romana that has several good size garden centers. (and expensive).On the way my drivers decides to stop at a police station and ask if there were anu nurseries near-by. Yep!,down the road on your right. Almost missed it bc new housing going up right next to and I was looking at the construction. We went and asked if they had roses. Yep. and he pulls out 5 -7 plants of assorted size and colors. I buy 5 of them and almost forgot about the Bayahibe Rose.
Do you have. ---si over here. Buried in another part of the nursery, against the fence I recognized them at once because the Bayahibe is the only cactus that has a rose on it. Very easy to spot. I bought two and they will be planted tomorrow night.
Went and had a nice lunch in La Romano at a SKY recommendation restaurant. Perfect day.
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So, I decided to go look for it. I was like a kid at Christmas time looking for the latest toy and "sorry Mom it's otta stock". I read on line there was a Bayahibe Rose garden in Bayahibe. It was located adjacent to a church...Inglesia La Divina Pastora. OK, Let's go. The town down by the water was packed with tourists but way in the back right by boat mooring I found the church.Empty but open. I looked around and saw the remnants of what could have been a garden. We spoke to a couple of guys sitting around near the water that said that garden was long gone. (So much for archived out of date info on the net.)We talked to a (nasty) agent at the gov. center in the midst of all the tourists who never looked up from her cell phone.
We decide to head to La Romana that has several good size garden centers. (and expensive).On the way my drivers decides to stop at a police station and ask if there were anu nurseries near-by. Yep!,down the road on your right. Almost missed it bc new housing going up right next to and I was looking at the construction. We went and asked if they had roses. Yep. and he pulls out 5 -7 plants of assorted size and colors. I buy 5 of them and almost forgot about the Bayahibe Rose.
Do you have. ---si over here. Buried in another part of the nursery, against the fence I recognized them at once because the Bayahibe is the only cactus that has a rose on it. Very easy to spot. I bought two and they will be planted tomorrow night.
Went and had a nice lunch in La Romano at a SKY recommendation restaurant. Perfect day.
.
