The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Not all is rosy in garden bid to honour varsity founder
Horticulture: Hope it will be third time lucky for Bishop Elphinstone rose
Gardeners are hoping it will be third time lucky when they replace a rose named in honour of Aberdeen University’s founder.
A Bishop Elphinstone bush was planted in 1994 at the head of the cleric’s monument outside King’s College Chapel.
It was created by local breeders to mark 500 years of the academic institution.
But a puzzled local history enthusiast contacted the university after seeing a plaque pointing to the specimen – but no rose.
Ground staff said there had been problems keeping the plant – a floribuna type – alive in the rather shaded spot.
The original died off and was replaced after five years but its successor also failed to thrive and eventually met a similar fate.
While a hardy enough variety to withstand temperatures as low as -10C, a series of particularly harsh north-east winters may have proved too much, the university’s ground staff believe.
They ruled out vandalism as a cause of the plant’s demise.
Now a fresh attempt is to be made this winter to nurture a new bush in the empty spot beside the plaque.
It records that the original was planted by worldrenowned rose breeder Anne Cocker, of Aberdeenbased James Cocker and Sons.
The Bishop Elphinstone rose is described as a bushy, deciduous shrub with thorny stems, glossy, toothed, dark green leaflets and large clusters of lightly fragrant, fully double, crimson flowers. It usually grows to be around three feet tall.
A university spokeswoman said: “We plan to replant the rose later this year and hope that it will flourish. Hopefully the north-east climate will be kind to us during the winter months.”
The Royal Horticultural Society’s chief horticulturalist, Guy Barter, said roses “will grow in almost any well-drained soil in good light”.
He advised that hoeing should be avoided in favour of weeding by hand. And he added that annual pruning would help produce the best displays of flowers.
The monument was created in the 1920s as a replacement for the damaged tomb of the bishop – who is buried in the chapel.
It proved too big for the interior so was moved outside in 1946.
“Its successor also failed to thrive and eventually met a similar fate”