Hi all, At my credit union today I spotted a beautiful small flowering shrub. It couldn't have been more than knee high at best. The flowers were a very beautiful open tea-cup sort of shape - about the size of a small tea cup in fact. The petals were white, but seemed to have a mild pinkish hue to the whiteness. The leaves of the shrub reminded me of elm tree leaves - they had a lot of "lines" running through them like an elm tree leaf, and the edges were sort of serrated. The leaves may have been about 2" long max. There were tons of blooms today - and also loads of dropped petals beneath the short shrubs. Since this was a commercial location, I guess it must be a common plant. They were planted right next to some of those everbearing type of day lilies. When I asked at the credit union they didn't have a clue what was planted out there. This is the far south-western edge of the great lakes region - and the zone is 5 - but I've heard a lot of horticulturists say we're actually borderline 4/5. What could it be?
Thank you for your thoughts. I googled prunus triloba and I'm sorry to say that is not the plant. I will be going there again on Friday - and I will try to take a picture to post. I hope it is still blossoming. The shrub is short and has a great deal of greenery/leaves. When I first saw the bushes from a distance I thought some kids had "toilet papered" a short evergreen shrub. I'll try to get a picture.
I may have solved my mystery. It reminded me of pictures I've seen of primroses - but the foliage was wrong. I just looked up more primitive roses in a seed catalog - then I looked on line for single blossom roses and I found a picture that looks very similar. They call it a white wild rose in the caption. http://locusmeus.com/dimage-z1/white-wild-rose.html Is that the right name for it? What would the botantical name be? PS: Found this on the web too - which seems to capture the pink tinge I saw. I really must get a real pic of the bushes I saw. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8328632@N06/3256260807/in/pool-flowersasart
Just following up to my own question. I found a great wikipedia page which really displays great pictures that show just what I saw. The blooms on "my" plant were far paler - but this is definitely the plant. Thought I'd post this in case it helps others. I adore these bushes. Have to have some one day. Just lovely! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_canina
Dog rose produces leaves without impressed veins. Elms produce undivided leaves, rather than the compound leaves of most roses. It appears you saw a single rose, there are many thousands of hybrid roses in addition to the numerous wild rose species of the world. Nearly all of these latter produce single pink flowers, mostly quite similar to one another. Dog rose is used for rootstock as well as naturalized in North America so - if hardy in your area - that is certainly possible. The uncharacteristically short height might have been accounted for by it being cut back. Otherwise, if the one you saw has impressed leaf veins it is probably Rosa rugosa or one of its garden hybrids.
Thank you for the further info, Ron. I googled the Rosa Rugosa and yes, it does have the same sort of leaves I saw. But I'm confused when you say the Dog Rose doesn't have impressed veins. Doesn't this wikipedia picture for the Dog Rose also show impressed veins here in this photo? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosa_canina_blatt_2005.05.26_11.50.13.jpg
I was able to get pictures today. Is it the Rosa Rugosa, the Dog Rose, or is it something else entirely? http://i40.tinypic.com/jkvd3t.jpg
Yes, it is Rosa rugosa Alba. http://images.google.com/images?hl=...=1&sa=3&q=Rosa+rugosa+alba&btnG=Search+images
Thanks for helping me solve this mystery once and for all. :) Now I need to go read about how to care for these roses. Would love to own some.