spring into summer

IT WAS EXACTLY 6 MONTHS AGO THAT THIS WAS THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW?

This impressive white Wisteria is a stayer called 'Snow Showers'.  It is the very last of the season to flower heralding the end of spring.  Saying goodbye-bye spring/hello summer, it's white petals drop all over my bricked courtyard garden just as the early roses start to flower!!   

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Not to be outdone, this mauve flowered Rhododendron ponticum is also one of the last species to flower.  One of springs greatest species in it's infinite  varieties, sizes and styles, it is mostly native to the region of the Himalayas - and Asia,  although there are some to be found in North America. 
But this common variety,  R. ponticum has become invasive in parts of Scotland and North America  becoming a nuiscance.  Even here in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, R. ponticum has spread very easily in certain areas where branches droop and root into the ground creating their own mini woodland.    Yet there is a sculptural quality to their trunks and branches, and their fallen petals create a stunning mauve carpet as they die away, which certainly tells us spring is about to depart.  A carpet more beautiful on the ground  than on the bush, they announce that

SUMMER IS A COMIN' IN
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Hybrid Musk Rose - 'Penelope'

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  AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT SAYS

​SUMMER QUITE LIKE ROSES!

 suddenly pink is everywhere - many shades of pink!!
 
From the gaudiest of cerise pink to the softest pale china pink in hundreds of types and varieties.  So many that we can't possibly know the names of them all - and I certainly don't!  
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 But I do know the name of the first rose of the season to flower in my garden!  It is 'Penelope' (see above)  which flowers early and in profusion - a soft apricot pink in the bud opening to cream with pink edged petals.  ​It is a hardy hybrid musk rose, which can be trimmed as a bush - preferably a large shrub, or allowed to climb if it has somewhere to climb to.
In my garden it started off as a bush, but then gradually crept up a nearby Camellia sasanqua shrub.  And why not - Sasanqua Camellias are evergreen and tough, and can cope with roses climbing up through them flowering away in summer while the host bush itself is leafy green.  C.sasanqua has it's own moment of glory when it flowers in late winter/early spring.  So when you allow a rose to clamber up through this tough evergreen shrub in summer, you get a double whammy!​

​Then there are those gaudy pink blooms
which some of us must learn to love

Nancy Hayward

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Unknown modern variety but looks like a David Austin rose.

So which is the gaudiest pink of these 2 roses?
And does it matter?
This cerise pink single flowered climber - 'Nancy Hayward' is always a favourite with it's seven perfect petals clustered around the stamens.
On the other hand if you are into ruffled muddly and multiple double blooms of a very pinkish hue, you might prefer this  sweet smelling David Austin favourite pictured above.  If only I could remember it's name!

AND THE PALEST OF ROMANTIC BEAUTIES
which you can't help loving despite yourself

Souvenir de St. Annes

 Then later on, during the early 20th Century Souvenir de St. Anne's, was discovered by the head gardener as a sport alongside Souvenir de Malmaison in the garden of St. Anne's, Clontarf in Ireland. ​

Souvenir de la Malmaison

 The Bourbon rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison  was created in 1843 by Lyon rose breeder Jean Béluze for Josephine's magnificent garden at Chateau de Malmaison where she entertained Napoleon. 

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THE SIMPLICITY OF THE OLD ROSE GONE MODERN 

The simplest form of Wild rose consisting of only five petals can be also quite diverse in colour and form.  They originate in the northern hemisphere from Europe to Asia to North America.  But in recent years breeders have shown a lot of interest in Rosa persica, a species which is native to the countries of Central Asia and western China, and which I have been lucky enough to see myself growing in the wild in Iran.  They are the simplest form of wild rose, and are distinguished not so much by form as by colour.  Other single 5 petalled roses often called dog roses  originate in Western Europe and are usually white or pale in colour unlike Rosa persica which originates in eastern Europe and Asia and which is bright yellow, red or even orange in colour, often with a splash of darker colour around the stamens.

'For Your Eyes Only'

-It took three decades of breeding using Rosa persica to produce a rose with a fixed contrasting colour spot at the base of each petal, giving it the appearance of an ‘eye’ reminiscent of poppies and peonies. 
Jack Harkness in the UK began experimenting in 1974 to combine the eye of Rosa persica into modern roses to create a new style of rose. Unfortunately, the “persica” seedlings were weak, prone to disease, but fear not - the rose breeding world persisted and continued to investigate that most exotic of species - Rosa persica and in recent years have come up with the 'Eyes' series.  Looking back to recent additions to the rose repertoire such as  'Eye of the Tiger', 'For Your Eyes Only' and 'Eyes for You', we can see that they have all been bred from Rosa persica.  They take the same simple form consisting of 5 or 7 petals and many such as 'For Your Eyes Only' feature that distinctive coloured blotch at the centre of the bloom. 

'Eyes for You'

It is easy to become ho-hum about yet another new introduction to the rose world, as there seem to be infinite varieties out there which just keep coming, but these latest introductions have made me sit up and take notice!  I am hooked on the simple form of the  latest 'eyes' varieties with the blotch around the eye and would recommend them for any garden.  

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