Tuesday, July 1, 2008

More Roses

Years ago I fell in love with David Austin's English Roses. Crosses between modern tea roses and old roses for the most part, they have big beautiful flowers, healthy foliage, and usually form large shrubs. I have over a dozen of these roses. My favorite of all is Abraham Darby, above. it's color is a mixture of pink and yellow and apricot, it smells heavenly and has the hugest, most beautifully formed flowers.
Another favorite is Brother Caedfael, a true pink color. I'll admit I bought it because I love the Brother Caedfael books by Ellis Peters, about a monk in 12th century Shrewsbury. But it doesn't disappoint as a flower.
Buttercup is an English rose that I saw years ago on the cover of the magazine of the Royal National Rose Society in England. But only recently could I find it available in this country. It is a semi double flower which has the advantage of not getting moldy during a period of lots of rain. As much as I love Abraham Darby its huge very double flowers have trouble opening if they get rained on a lot.
And another of my favorites is Graham Thomas, a lovely yellow rose, not quite as large and full as Abraham Darby but truly lovely.

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