A Rose By Any Other Name

Would still be a rose, right? But would it still have been a Companion?*

The weather here has been warm, humid and wet, perfect for all sorts of chewing bugs, fungal diseases, and my personal favourite: slugs. So instead of chronicling the Potential Disasters of my garden (because who really wants to go there until they have to) and because the Chelsea Flower Show just ended, I thought I'd show you a few photos from Sheila's Flower Show, which is running all this week.

Come this way. No pushing or picking. Stay on the path, please.

Here we have a perfectly charming little climber: the Guy de Maupassant rose. As FDPG put it, it's really pink. It's also really fragrant. This rose has been moved 5 times in the past three years and some of us around here are surprised that it still wants to bloom, but there's no arguing with the Head Gardener. She gets it into her head to move something and no one can reason with her.
(don't tell her we said that)



And in this corner, nestled under an arch, is a Westerland rose. It's a climber too. I feel like Matt James whenever I see this rose (he's an excitably breathless & extremely earnest Brit who does gardening shows and usually has Richard and I in fits of laughter whenever he utters the phrase 'skimmia japonica') because it has me all breathless and earnest in my admiration. It's so beautiful. So orange. So perfect. And a very reliable repeat bloomer, with hardly any penchant for bugs or black spot.










I feel rather pleased with myself here. And maybe, just maybe a little Nancy Drew-ish in my sleuthing ability. This rose came to me as part of someone's divorce settlement: she was clearing out all the ex's things, including roses, and didn't remember the name of it. Call me totally, completely, neurotically and maybe even obsessively anal but I like to know the names of plants, so I went through two massive books on David Austen roses this winter, comparing all the yellow roses he has to the rose memory I had from when this rose briefly bloomed at the end of the summer. I narrowed it down to two: Graham Thomas or Golden Celebration, although I was leaning towards Golden Celebration because of the scalloping on the outer petals (omg, I sound like a rose geek). Anyhow, I took a bud and a bloom (omg, I really AM a rose geek) into a rose nursery and the Head Rose Geek there agreed with me: Golden Celebration. The difference being that the GC buds have tinges of orange, whereas the GT roses don't.

So there. I need to send David Austen this photo, I think. This is one seriously fabulous rose. The smell is amazing too. I have bowls of them all over the house right now. In fact, I love this rose so much I might marry it. That's what I told Richard the Smartass when he asked me. I did not tell him about going to the rose nursery though. He would start to think I was getting like Matt James.
Here is a snap of the entire bush. I'm making it smaller just in case you start to think I really am obsessed with this rose.

(she is obsessed with that rose - she's just in denial)




The Princess Victoria Louise poppy. I've included this poppy in previous years on the Garden Tour, but it's blooming right this very second out in the front yard so I am giving it a Repeat Performance, because it's a must for your garden. Really. Get out to that garden centre RIGHT NOW. Or ask me for seeds.





And here we have a side view of this delightful poppy. It seems to spread nicely, despite only having been here for 2 years.















Finally, we come to that little rascal of the pot plant world: the pansy. This is Blue Sky Frills (not really, I just made that up) and I think you'll agree that it's a stunner (oh honestly, this is getting idiotic).

It's been lovely seeing you all today, hope you enjoyed your tour. Gift shop is on the right as you exit, and the tea shop is around the corner. If you're nice to FDPG she might give you some Girl Guide cookies.







* A really obscure Doctor Who reference, sorry, couldn't resist.