Newsletter  (Nov 2016)  Page(s) 15.  Includes photo(s).
 
[From "We the Fairies, Blithe and Antic: The Lawranceanas", by Stephen Hoy, pp. 9-15]
As a result of the huge influx of horticulture during this time, there is reason to believe that some members of the Lawranceana class began to populate the gardens of Charleston. One documented link is found in the history of a family that relocated from Charleston to Florida in the 1850’s. Phillip Benjamin Harvey “P.B.H.” Dudley and family made several trips to the area before purchasing farm land in 1859 just west of modern-day Gainesville, Florida. Capt. Dudley (who served in a Florida regiment during the Civil War) made numerous trips to Charleston to sell cotton and other crops raised on his Florida farm. They transported numerous roses from Charleston to their new homestead over the course of several decades. Among the many that would have been commercially available in Charleston-- ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster,’ the ‘Green Rose,’ ‘Old Blush,’ etc.--was a miniature pink China hybrid whose given name is lost to commerce. Family members recall that Dudley purchased the diminutive rose around the time of the birth of his first granddaughter Dolly (Catherine “Dolly” Dudley, born 1878). In my garden ‘Dolly Dudley’ has dime-sized medium pink blooms of about 20-25 petals and, in a container, grows about 12-15” in height and width.