A Favourite Thing: Roses (Roses)

Member Name: zebra

Product:	Roses
Date:	12/07/02 (711 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Countless, scent, beauty and mystery.

Disadvantages: none

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" When I read Jill's message that song popped into my head and refused to go away until I wrote about one of my favourite things. There was no category for rainbows or butterflies so I have chosen roses.

Roses have a depth of beauty beyond mere vision. Beautiful, scented and delicate they also have thorns. The rose is a mysterious metaphor for all aspects of life and love reflecting both joy and sorrow, bitter and sweet within the same oneness.

There are too many myths, legends and stories about the rose to even think of capturing its essence in this opinion but can you imagine poetry existing without roses. From Burn's famous 'luves like a red, red rose' through Herrick who told a maiden to gather 'rosebuds' before she got too old. Blake was sorry for the sick rose and T. S Elliot concluded that all shall be well when the fire and the rose are one.

Mystical poets use the rose as a metaphor for union with god and similar esoteric thoughts. Often a love poem is actually a deeply spiritual poem and the idea of rose bowers as romantic places derived from secret gardens where the 'rose' was venerated as a symbol of the divine feminine and hence the 'rosary' traditionally made from rosehips or rosewood.

Far more than just another flower I simply couldn't live without roses. I have many roses in my garden most of them were chosen for their scent but some have a place for other reasons too. Being a bit of a romantic I tend to go in for pastel and pink roses more than any other colour and grow them tangled up with blue and purple clematis or here there and everywhere in the borders. Here I will list some of my favourites.

SPECIES ROSES

Species roses are wild roses or their near relatives. These roses only have one flush of flowers and many of the flowers have the simple five petals as the hedgerow dog rose. They come true fr
om seed.

Rosa glauca *** for the lovely foliage

This is a species rose, sometimes called rosa rubrifolia, is actually grown for its foliage more than its flowers, and this indeed was what attracted me to it. The long arching branches are relatively thornless and carry leaves of a delicate soft blue greyish colour and the shrub has hints of purple from the stalks. It has a sort of glow to it which is very attractive. The flowers are tiny delicate and a lovely pink and it also has beautiful dark red purplish hips which are very attractive. It grows to about 6 ft if you allow it and does not suffer from any of the normal rose problems. I often find baby self seeded rosa glaucas growing near so it is very easy to propagate.

Rosa moyesii geranium *** for the stunning rose hips

This is another species rose but I have this one as a standard rose. It has one flush of bright scarlet single flowers. The main attraction of this plant is not the flowers or foliage which are quite ordinary but its wonderful hips. In autumn and winter the hips are magnificent, they have a very large flagon shape with a rich deep orange-red colour. These make attractive additions to winter flower arrangements and the birds also rather like them.

Madame Isaac Perreire *** for its scent

Bourbon rose This rose has abundant deep pink flowers with a superb fragrance but it is a bit difficult. It tends to flop all over the place because of the heavy double flowers so it needs support of some kind. It is susceptible to rose problems.

Ballerina *** because it flowers all summer and dances so beautifully over lavender

Ballerina is a hybrid musk shrub rose and and I have it as a standard. This one doesn?t have any scent but it does have a profusion of flowers throughout the summer. The graceful arching habit of hybrid musks lends itself well to growing as a standard. The long trailing blossom covered stems trail softly and are actually
reminiscent of a ballerina's skirt dancing in the summer breezes. In my herb garden I have ballerina standard roses underplanted with dwarf lavenders and it is really beautiful. The lavender supplies the scent these roses lack and the pinks, purples and greys complement each other.

Cardinal de Richelieu *** because its purple and scented

This is another double floppy one with rich velvety purple blooms and a beautiful scent. This one is a Gallica rose derived from the original Apothecary's rose.

Blue Peter *** because it is small beautiful and blue

Blue Peter is a miniature or patio rose and I just couldn't resist it because it has a very unusual colour for a rose. It is almost blue. In the garden it forms a lovely compact little bush.


CLIMBING ROSES

I have only got five climbing roses at the moment. I have two old favourites Albertine and Compassion both pastels and scented and another which I don't know the name of. I chose this unknown rose for a quirky corner of weird contrasts. It is a climbing miniature rose with bright orange flowers and it grows with a huge purple flowered clematis giving quite a strange effect.

Handel *** for its stunning beauty

Handel is one of the most spectacular roses I have ever seen it is so gorgeous that it doesn't look real. When it is in full bloom it is white but the wavy edges of the petals are painted a rosy pink. On the way to flowering there are hints of other colours too yellow and orange.

Handel is a climbing floribunda rose. Floribundas are 'many-flowered' roses which have clusters of small to medium blossoms throughout the season..

Zéphirine Drouhin

Zéphirine Drouhin is a climbing bourbon rose. Bourbon roses are a cross between damask and China rose and are large flowered and fragrant. This is my favourite rose and it must be one of the most special roses in the world.

It is a lovel
y vibrant pink and it smells absolutely delicious, reminding me of the taste of Turkish delight. Actually the scent conjures up thoughts of eastern delights of all kinds, of the perfumed garden variety.

This rose flowers profusely, in bursts, throughout the season. It is usually the first and last rose to bloom in the garden. Zéphirine Drouhin, is famous for being the thornless rose so is an excellent choice if you have young children or for trailing over arches where people might otherwise be scratched by thorns.

Vigorous but not uncontrollable, I have had mine for about 15 years. At first it was growing round the window of my study in a shady corner but now it graces the trellis and arch. It occasionally suffers from black spot but always seems to recover. If you only have room for one rose you won?t be disappointed if you choose this one.

EATING ROSES


Rose hips

Rose hips contain more vitimin C than any other common fruit or veg, much more in fact than even oranges. Rose hip syrup is made from the hips of wild roses and it is the only commercial product which is made from hedgerow produce. In addition to making rosehip syrup which can be used to flavour puddings, yoghurt etc, hips can also be used to make hedgerow jelly along with hawthorn berries, and crab apples etc. Also in sauces and wine. There are plenty of recipes on the internet.

Rose petals

Rose petals, along with many other flowers, are edible. Simply remove the white bit ,the heel, which is bitter and use the petals in salads, to decorate drinks. They can also be candied, crystallised for decorating cakes and sweets or used to make jam or flower vinegar.

"Jill Murphy asked me to write about one of my favourite things to help her celebrate her fourth anniversary of cancer-free living and to remind ourselves of all the nice things in the world. It takes more muscles to make a frown than a smile you know. If you'd like to
join in, whether you've only just joined dooyoo, or you've been here ages, you're more than welcome. Just write about one of YOUR favourite things, make your title "A Favourite Thing: [your choice]" and include this paragraph at the foot of your opinion. And post before Friday, 9th August."

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