Dr. Huey on San Ysidro’s Saint Day

San Ysidro is the Patron Saint of Corrales, May 15th is the saint day for San Ysidro, and Dia de San Ysidro has fallen on a Sunday; therefore, it could not be a better day for the Corrales Rose Society to hold its 3rd annual Dr Huey tour, the patron rose of Corrales, than on Dia de San Ysidro.

Driving through Corrales in the springtime, everything is green and teaming with life. Grasses and alfalfa carpet pastures, corn and green chiles poke new leaves through the loam of the plowed fields, while cottonwoods and elms shimmer in the breeze. Squirrels and bunnies scamper about teasing dogs barred by fences. Coyotes yip, dart across the road, and disappear over walls; swarms of gnats and mosquitos stick to your windshield. Iris, daffodil and an occasional lily will show off their colorful blooms in yards along Corrales Road.

Finally there are the roses: large, gangly bushes sporting redish-purple petals with a yellow center. They are everywhere; spilling over railings, peeking over walls, and crawling under fences. These roses bushes are so prevalent in Corrales that people who drive out to visit in the springtime almost always ask what they are. I tell them it’s Dr. Huey, the patron rose of Corrales.

You would think that in a village well-known for produce available each summer at Wagner’s Farm and the Grower’s Market, you would see a large variety of roses lining its main road, sporting a kaleidoscope of color for visitors and residents alike to enjoy; and that would be the case if it were not for the harsh micro-climate in Corrales. Although, only a few miles north of Albuquerque, the low temperatures in Corrales run 10 to 20 degrees colder than Albuquerque, and the high temperatures are often 5 degrees hotter. While the cooler night time temperatures are welcome during the summer months, the cold winters and hard frosts as late as the end of May and as early as the end of September have killed many roses in Corrales, leaving the venerable Dr. Huey to thrive and show off his multitude of blooms in the springtime.

While the temperature extremes take their toll on roses in Corrales, the cooler nights help to preserve blooms during the summer months — we rarely have bushes without blooms from the end of May to the end of October. Even our large Dr. Huey bloomed multiple times this season on new canes he sent one after another long after other Dr. Hueys had dropped their petals.

He stands out by himself, bowing like a lonely ascetic, praying to San Ysidro, who grants him the miracle of life, and the ability to bloom when other Dr. Hueys cannot. San Ysidro, the patron saint of Corrales, looks favorably on the patron Rose of Corrales, given the predominance of yellow buttons encircled by redish-purple petals lining Corrales Road in the springtime.

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I originally published the article about Dr Huey as the patron rose of Corrales in the Albuquerque Rose Society News Letter several years ago. I posted it on my photo blog for the 2nd annual Corrales Rose Society Dr Huey Tour in May 2015.