Urban legend? The roses on the trellis of the Big House were brought from Texas

 

There are two roses on the Shinn House trellis. Periodically I hear that these roses were brought from Texas. Urban legend? Let's run through this.

• The roses on the trellis are modern roses. The white one has been identified as 'Silver Moon' and the other tentatively 'Golden Showers.' So very doubtful! But let's continue...
• The Shinn family - James, Lucy, Charles, and baby Annie - came to California in 1856. They did not live here in the Big House until 20 years later. But did they bring a rose cutting with them and grow it on their cottage? Maybe? Many people brought their favorite rose from home. Some notes from the family say that there was a pink rose on the cottage.
• The family lived in a cottage about a half mile away next to Alameda Creek for 20 years. In 1876 the Big House was finished. Did they propagate that favorite rose and plant it on the Big House? Possibly.
• The old photos of the house show the La Marque rose on the tankhouse side of the house. On the other side of the house is something that looks like a Lady Banks rose. 

Fun fact is that there is a Lady Banks along side the tennis court. Possibly from a cutting from the house? Alas, no La Marque roses at the park. But there was one tentatively identified on Overacker along the road along with some other old roses. Maybe dead by now from our long period of drought?

Can you imagine that growing roses on your house was a romantic idea, but one that was not practical? How do you paint your house? How do you keep critters from living in the vines? Pruning must have been a major project.

Charles Howard Shinn wrote about California Rose Cottages in Feb 1891 and included a photo of the La Marque rose that covered the Shinn Big House.

From Vick's Illustrated Magazine February 1891