First Bloom

So I'm geeking out about this the past few days. This is the first bloom on a cutting I took about a year ago. It's called Autumn Splendor. I ganked it from the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden thinking it'll probably die like the last time I tried propagating a cutting. But no. This one sat under a mayo jar and rooted in about a month. No problem. Once I got it outside I thought it would start blooming, but all it did was get leafy. For the past year I've been watering it and keeping it in a nice, sunny morning spot waiting patiently for the magic to happen.

Autumn Splendor blooms into a bright orange with red tipped petals. The flowers tend to cluster which is what drew me to this particular rose in the first place. I like orange, and clustering minis like this one have a dense look to them that I like. One interesting thing I've noticed is that aphids don't attack it. I guess that's a good thing.

It was about a week ago that I noticed this bud pop out. Yay! So now I've transplanted it into a larger pot for the summer, so this ought to be the first of many orange explosions to come.