its not just about roses!

It's also about a forest of thorny twigs and bare skeletal branches in mid-winter. 

And here at Beverley Park Heritage Rose Garden in winter, it is also about a luxuriant carpet of Hellebores beneath the thorny  twiginess.

A forest of thorny twigs and branches does need to be sorted, and mid-winter when the bushes are bare is the best time to do it.  Rose pruning time!   And the Friends of Beverley Park Heritage Rose Garden are just the team to do that.  A loose group of garden lovers formed from our local Englefield community as well as rose lovers from further afield, we make up a formidable team.  

Some of our trusty pruning team at Beverley Park Heritage Rose Garden. Left to Right - Henrietta, Michael, Irinka and Hilary - ready for action!

It looks as though I am trying to demonstrate wielding a pair of loppers but they seem to be laughing at me!!

​I am never quite sure whether rose pruning is a winter or spring pursuit, but we start off by gathering the troops together late in July.   Here are some of our rose lovers  quite rugged up with scarves and jackets at the end of July when these photos were taken, which means winter!  But by the time we finished the rose pruning 3 or 4 weeks later, buds were starting to swell and the weather was warming up.
Towards the end of August, it felt as though we had morphed into spring.

Michael wielding the hedge trimmers over some of our shrubbier varieties. Quite a bare wintry scene with hardly a leaf or any green in sight. Even the Hellebores look frosted, droopy and sad. This will be quite a different view in midsummer when the rosebush, *Ballerina" which Michael is trimming back is in full flower.

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From the end of July through till the end of August, it is amazing the way the days brighten.  The light changes from winter dimness to brighter and lighter, and there is a sense of hope - that life is returning 

We can see here that by halfway through August, when the pruning was well underway, that the light was brighter as it touched the newly and elegantly pruned roses. The Hellebores beneath look happy too, lit up under more light.

Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) and Leucojum vernum (Snowflake) flower early in the border facing outwards to the Park

After a week of sunny days, the bright blue of Muscari (Grape Hyacinths) and white Snowflakes began to appear beneath the bare roses in the border facing outward to the park.  The roses had not yet started to leaf up, but that didn't stop the Grape Hyacinths and Snowflakes making an appearance.

Typically spring - just as everything started to flower responding to spring warmth, the weather plummeted again, and winter returned with snow on the mountains and frosts but - no matter - spring bulbs keep flowering despite the fickle weather.  

'Yoshino' is the Japanese name of the flowering cherry at the entrance to the garden - its botanical name is Prunus Yedoensis

And by September the Yoshino cherrys at the entrance to the Rose Garden are flowering.
Now we truly know that spring is here!!
Two Yoshino Cherry trees either side of the pathway mark the entrance to garden, and  there are also 2 more planted in the lawn at the front of the garden which frame the rose garden. 
​Soft pink, light and dainty with single flowered blossoms, they are reminiscent of bridal veils, and many think that these are the most beautiful  of all the cherry blossoms.
This is the same variety which is planted around Hagley Park, and they are native to Japan - hence the name - Yoshino Cherry. 
The botanical name, Prunus yedoensis, is not quite so romantic. 
The pruned roses can hardly compete with the delicate beauty of the Yoshino Cherry which surrounds them in spring, however even they  are softened by new seasons leaf growth, starting to burst forth.
And still the Hellebores keep giving, looking fresh.  They flower nonstop from the end of June through to September.  We love them!  And even the early Snowflakes, now more green than white, are still persisting.  

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And here is a photo of the fruits of our labours  from last year, in mid-December 2019 - a view of Beverley Park Heritage Rose Garden in full bloom​.

A symphony in pink - the reward we were waiting for, and a taste of what we have to look forward to for this year as well in December 2020

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​Above varieties
​'Gertrude Jekyll' - english rose - climbing up through the metal rose supports.
​'Ballerina' - hybrid musk - bushy rose with single pink flowers in clusters in the middle ground . 
Rosa glauca 'Carmenetta' - species - a great arching bush in the foreground with single pink species blooms nestled amongst it's attractive glaucus foliage

​Note - If you would like to become one of our volunteers and learn about heritage roses while helping in the garden, you would be very welcome.  We would be pleased to hear from you!!
Contacts
Robyn Kilty   ph. 03 9651281  m. 022 1039802. - email  - [email protected]
Henrietta Hall  m. 027 4512315 - email - [email protected]