Some Of Our Favourite Roses

"Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you." _{Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)}

We've built a photo-library of our rose collection. We don't claim that the photos or the rose specimens represent perfection - they're for reference purposes and to brighten up the long winter nights. We could fill our website with rose images and give you an enormous 'phone bill by downloading each of our 70-plus varieties but we'll settle for the following of our favourites.

"My garden all is overblown with roses, My spirit all is overblown with rhyme, As like a drunken honeybee I waver From house to garden and again to house And, undetermined which delight to favour On verse and rose alternately carouse." Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962)

Blue Moon: a delightful lilac-pink large-flowered bush rose with a strong scent, raised by Tantau in 1964.

"Tu es responsable de ta rose." _{Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) - "Le Petit Prince"}

Casino: raised by McGredy in 1963 this is a climber with a good scent and deep yellow buds that open to soft yellow petals. Unfortunately our original bush died, probably from honey fungus, but in Spring 2000 we planted another in a different location.

Drambuie: a large-flowered bush rose with orange-red blooms with a red reverse, raised by Anderson's in 1973. Regrettably, this firm seems to have gone out of business.

Eden Rose '88: the RNRS Rose Directory lists Eden Rose as being raised by Meilland in 1950, a large-flowered bush rose, deep pink with a paler reverse. Ours was clearly labelled with the '88 suffix. The Peter Beales Collection of Classic Roses describes this as fully double with old fashioned type flowers of creamy-white and lavender pink, introduced in 1988, but does not say who raised it. We grow it on one side of an arch - on the other side is the white modern climber "Swan Lake".

"He who would have beautiful roses in his garden must first have beautiful roses in his heart."
_{The Reverend Samuel Reynolds Hole (1819-1904), Dean of Rochester and the first President of the (Royal) National Rose Society}

F.J. Grootendorst: this deep red rugosa hybrid, raised by De Goey in 1918, has frilly-edged blooms, resulting in it being called the "carnation rose".

Grandpa Dickson: raised by Dickson in 1966, this large-flowered bush rose has lemon-yellow blooms but only a slight scent. "Wandering I found, in my ruinous walk, By the dial-stone aged and green, A rose of the wilderness, left on its stalk To mark where a garden had been. Like a brotherless hermit, the last of his race All wild in the silence of nature, it drew From each wandering sunbeam a lonely embrace For the night-shade and thorn had overshadowed the place Where the flowers of my forefathers grew." Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817-1878)

The Times Rose: we grow this blood-red cluster-flowered rose as a full standard. It was raised by Kordes in 1984.

We like to fill our rose-bowl with whatever blooms are at their best. Here's a couple of photos of early summer arrangements. If you'd like to discuss roses with us, send an e-mail to Brian or Eileen or sign our Guestbook.

Mystery rose identified!

We rescued this rose from the total shade position where a neighbour had planted it many years ago. He probably bought it as part of a job-lot from a wholesale nursery, such was his way. Unsurprisingly, it had barely grown and clung tenuously to life. We moved it into full sunlight and hoped for the best. We were rewarded for our trouble by these clusters of paper lantern-like blooms.

We are indebted to the late Bill Brantley of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA for identifying this beauty as "Margo Koster", introduced by Koster of Holland in 1931.

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