Confederate Rose ...

“Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.”

                     ~ William Faulkner

                           ~ 1897-1962

     ~ Southern American author,

                  Nobel Prize Laureate

The grace, beauty and memory of The Old South dreamily bloom in this beautiful pink Confederate Rose on an October morning in the Lowcountry of Beaufort County, South Carolina.

The Legend Of The Confederate Rose

Once the Confederate Rose was pure white. During the Civil War, a soldier was fatally wounded in battle. He fell upon the rose as he lay dying. During the course of the two days he took to die, he bled more and more on the flower, till at last bloom was covered with his blood. When he died, the flower died with him. Thereafter, the Confederate Rose (or Cotton Rose), opens white, and over the course of the two days the bloom lasts, they turn gradually from white to pink to almost red, when the flower finally falls from the bush.

The Confederate Rose or hibiscus mutablis is actually a Chinese import. Brought into English gardens in the 1600’s, it is said to have gained favor in the South due to its ease of cultivation during the hard financial times after the Civil War. The hibiscus mutablis is a member of the hibiscus family which includes both the tropical hibiscus and the hardier Rose of Sharon. It is considered a large bush or a small multi-stemmed tree. The plant roots easily from cuttings and grows vigorously during the summer. Once established it is drought resistant. The blooms appear in the fall.

Of Soldiers And Sailors ...

"Freedom is the last best hope of earth."

                               ~ Abraham Lincoln

                                                         ~ 1809-1865

                                ~ 16th President of the United States

                                                          ~ 1861-1865

Valor is celebrated as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument stands in 

the heart of downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania a few days before

Veteran's Day 2015. The statue of a rebel Confederate soldier (second from left) stands

beside a Union soldier with the phrase "One Flag, One Country" imprinted beneath them.

The rebel soldier was included on the monument as a gesture of reconciliation when

it was erected in 1899, only three decades after the Civil War, or the

War Between The States.  It is reportedly the only municipal monument in the North

honoring a Confederate soldier.

An inscription reads: "This column commemorates the valor and patriotism of the

Soldiers and Sailors of the County of Lehigh in the War of 1861-65."