My rose garden
Columnist’s garden is a spectacle of floral delights
Nearing the end of July, the garden is an unbelievably beautiful sight with approximately 70 different roses showing their colours.
The first major flash of colour was in early July when the rose bush, “Henry Hudson” had from 300 to 500 white blooms on it. Each Henry Hudson rose begins as a pink bud but opens to a white flower with a light fragrance.
Some of the roses performing at present are Lily Marleen, a red, hybrid tea, Intrigue, a purple hybrid tea, Shakespeare, a red rose shrub with approximately 100 petals, the David Austin roses such as Evelyn, Abraham Darby, both with pink flowers and a strong fragrance (the Evelyn rose is used by the company Crabtree & Evelyn for its fragrance; it’s also my wife, Evelyn’s favorite) and Graham Thomas, a yellow shrub.
David Austin is a famous English rose breeder who lives in Shropshire, England.
Others growing include Iceberg, known as the most beautiful white rose in the world, a red Mister Lincoln, a white Jose Carreras, a red Europeana, a beautiful red and yellow mix, Double Delight, a mixture of pink and yellow, Chicago Peace and another perfect, deep red rose, Ingrid Bergman.
Others making a show at present are Red Star, a red hybrid tea, the deep pink Morden Centennial shrub, Morden Sunrise (a mixture of deep red and gold), Morden Snowbeauty, a white shrub and John F. Kennedy, a white hybrid tea rose.
Some of the climbers strutting their stuff are Blaze, Golden showers (yellow), America, a white rose with a yellow center, but especially New Dawn on its trellis, a pale pink, slightly fragrant rose – it’s my daughter Anita’s favorite. The rose, New Dawn, was established in 1936, the year I was born, and it has shiny dark green foliage which is very disease resistant.
In another part of the yard are three outstanding roses, Morden Blush, a very strong pink bush with some fragrance, a Red Knockout bush and a Yellow Jacket shrub which has a deep yellow to it and won the Best Rose in the Show at last year’s Rose and Flower Show held at Armstrong Memorial Canadian Legion Branch 19 in North Sydney. Unfortunately, there is no North Sydney Garden Club Rose and Flower Show this year.
In the garden by the back step we have a beautiful large rose bush known as Rosa Rubrifolia, and its flowers are small, star-shaped pink flowers with white centers.
Out front we have two outstanding, climbing roses, namely Red Corsair and white Ilse Krohn Superior.
Of all the roses on the property, probably the most outstanding rose is Maria Stern, a strong shrub producing orange flowers that are just incredible. Orange roses are very rare.
One of the most original roses in my garden is the Gallica rose; Gallicas are probably the oldest of all garden roses. They were grown by the Greeks and Romans, later by the Dutch and French. They are short, bushy shrubs usually crimson, purple or mauve.
Now that I mentioned some of my favorites, let me explain some of the classifications: Hybrid Tea roses have one bloom to a stem like the red roses you buy, Floribunda roses have more than one bloom to a stem, Polyanthas have many blooms and Grandiflora’s such as the Queen Elizabeth rose have very large blooms.
Because Canada is a rugged country, Agriculture Canada has established strong, Canadian shrubs in Ottawa and at the Research Station in Morden, Manitoba which will survive Canadian winters. These are known as Canadian Explorer and Parkland roses.
The Canadian Explorer roses are called after early Canadian explorers, such as the aforementioned Henry Hudson, Champlain, a strong red rose bush, both of which I have in my garden, John Cabot, David Thompson, Frontenac, Henry Kelsey, Alexander MacKenzie, George Vancouver, John Franklin, Winnipeg Parks and so forth.
More recently the Canadian Artists roses have been established. For example, Emily Carr is a red rose bush; Felix Leclerc is a beautiful pink rose bush and Oscar Peterson is a lovely white rose with yellow stamens in the center, all of which I have in my garden.
There are many others I haven’t mentioned; however, one must see the entire garden and property to appreciate the beauty of these roses, and their spectacular display. I would say the roses reached their peak in mid-July, but many are still performing.
Gordon Sampson founded the North Sydney Historical Society on January 7, 1980 and selected the library as the centennial project out of 10 possible projects in 1985.
He was an educator and administrator for 38 years, the last 28 at the Canadian Coast Guard College. He can be reached at gh.sampson@ns.sympatico.ca