Worthy of greater recognition
I WAS interested in your article about wild roses (AG, 27 October). Of all the plants in our garden, the Scottish burnet rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia, also known as R. spinosissima) has long been a favourite. I have taken offshoots with me and given many away each time we moved.
This group of roses is unsurpassed for hardiness and resilience, and they produce masses of fragrant small roses in May and June. The foliage is fine and the compact growth makes them ideally suited as an informal hedge in any cottage garden.
We also have R.s. ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’, double yellow and white burnet roses and R. ‘Dunwich Rose’. Few nurseries stock these roses, but they are worthy of greater recognition. I once lived in the Somerset village of Farmborough, near Bath. At the top of Batch Hill, bordering the road, was a low hedge of double pink burnet roses. I raised some cuttings and offshoots in 1969. One elderly resident told me the hedge had been there as far back as he could remember, and he was born in the 1880s. The original hedge in the village was removed a few years ago. I placed an article on the village website
early this year, which raised interest locally, and earlier in the year we were pleased to travel up from our home in Cornwall and deliver 20 double burnet roses to those who requested them. Robert Jubb, St Germans, Cornwall