I was invited to give a talk to the local garden club on Queen Anne. Not being a horticultural expert, and not having particularly green thumbs, I decided to leave the care and feeding, pest controls, etc. to the experts. With all the wonderful profusion of roses in the gardens of Queen Anne and Magnolia, I decided "Roses of England" would be a particularly fitting subject for Linda of London. And after all this research, I was unable to give the talk because I had a conflict: I had to judge the hats at a garden party. The winner was a hat decorated with roses!The English rose has been glorified in song and story throughout the ages. In the 17th century, Thomas Campion penned this verse about what an ideal woman should look like: "There is a garden in her face, Where roses and white lilies grow"It's a delightfully romantic description of beauty traditionally called the English Rose, a delicate girl with translucent skin and modestly blushing cheeks. So sought after was this complexion that 17th-century court painters gave their female subjects the pink and white "look" whether they had it or not. The fashion lasted right up to the II World War, with society photographers tinting portraits of debutantes so that even the horsiest, most weather-beaten girl could masquerade as a fragile miss.It's all part of the English love (which in Victorian times turned to obsession) for the national flower, the rose. Understandably, too. The English climate of sun and plenty of rain (almost exactly the same as Seattle) produces some of the best growing conditions in the world. The rose is the oldest recorded domestic flower, and was first brought to England by the Romans, who thought its white petals synonymous with purity. In the 14th century, Lady Knollys, wife of Sir Robert Knollys, put up a bow window in Seething Lane without the sanction of the City of London authorities (city planning existed then, too) who imposed an annual fine or Quit rent of "One Red Rose fresh pluck'd from the garden." The custom was revived by the Rev. P.B. Clayton, and each lord mayor since 1924 has received a rose from the church wardens of All Hallows by the Tower. In the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Rosa Eglanteria, the thorny, sweet brier, was seen as a reflection of her chastity. The miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard used it to denote that love is short-lived in his portrait of the lovesick Young Man with Roses, thought to be the Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth I's favorite, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.In the 18th and 19th centuries, when more species appeared, a gift of roses could mean love, sexual attraction, worthiness, grace or jealousy, depending on the color. But in the 15th century Wars of the Roses, when competing factions for the throne took as their insignias the White Rose (Rosa Alba) of York, or the Red Rose (Rosa Gallica Offiianalis or Apothecarys Rose) of Lancaster, the flower was a symbol of an Englishman's loyalties.Inns became The Rose & Crown, hanging out signs painted with a red or white bloom to show allegiance. Wily landlords had interchangeable ones for whichever army was nearest, and the pub name is still popular today. Lewis Carroll parodies this perfidy in "Alice in Wonderland", with the gardeners painting the Queen's white roses red before she shouts, 'Off with their heads!" The Tudor rose, Henry VII's emblem adopted at the end of the War of the Roses and seen on portraits, furniture and houses of the period, is a stylized version of the red and white blooms, joined to show that England was at peace.Rose-sprigged wallpaper, which began as discreet garlands in Regency times, grew to saucer-like proportions by 1870, when everything was coming up roses. Carpets, furniture, clothes, teapots and even chamber pots were covered in roses. It must have been like living in a giant flower basket. Roses always have been synonymous with England, as indeed it is the national flower. There are more roses in England than people. Every country garden, suburban villa and stately home has its rose garden, as well as the many public rose gardens, open for the enjoyment of all.One of the most famous public gardens is in London's Regent's Park, known as Queen Mary's Rose Garden. It showcases more than 350 new and old varieties. More than 50,000 people a year visit it, and I would recommend a stop there if you visit London. If you would like a list of public and private gardens to visit when in England, drop me a line. Remember, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.TTFN.[[In-content Ad]]
