Heirloom Roses - Summer's Blessing .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

After a few parched years, rain at Christmas heralds a summer blessing this year.  Days of soft drizzle offer a gentle reprieve from the recent humidity and heat.   

The soft rain has generously endowed the mid-summer garden with lovely vignettes:

Brimming bird baths afloat with rose petals;

Luscious blooms of Red Pierre, a modern climbing Hybrid Tea reminiscent of old fashioned roses, decadently be-jeweled with rain drops;

Mrs B R Cant, a Tea rose, glorious in her lightly dusted mid-summer plumage;

Porcelain-like Tea roses, Safrano and  ...

G. Nabonnand, delicately lovely under their crystalline dusting of rain drops;

A splendidly plump bud of the modern shrub rose, Elina, luminous against dark rain clouds;

New plum-coloured growth of the Tea, Mrs Reynolds Hole, promising an abundance of crimson, richly perfumed late summer blooms;

Shy English Mary Rose peeps out, splendid with jewels, from under her shelter of feverfew;

And the exquisitely nodding heads of the rare Tea rose, Carlsruhe Maria Bruhn (purportedly the true Mlle de Sombrieul) are delicately pale and lovely under a drift of soft, summer rain.

Oh, and then there's the perfume of rain showers mingled with fragrant roses ... 
Summer's blessing at Christmas.  

A Christmas Wreath Workshop .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

We love Christmas here AT MY ROSE GARDEN.   

One of our favourite Christmas traditions is making and decorating a Christmas wreath to herald in the season.  And the most satisfying way to do this is to gather (or forage with permission of course) locally grown natural materials.  

(NOTE:  Some plant materials have sap that may be an irritant to human skin, or the entire plant may be toxic, so ALWAYS check that your plant material is safe before you handle it.)

 

A wreath made with fresh greenery greets visitors with the wonderful fragrances of Christmas; Eucalyptus and lemon-scented Leptospermum softened with the mulled perfume of an Australian summer. 

 

 

 

Along the Sunshine Coast, Hibiscus bushes grow boisterously with long, flexible stems; perfect for wreath making.   At our Christmas wreath making workshops we used bundles of these stems, stripped of leaves and flowers.  We added supple summer shoots from our tropical ‘ice-cream bean’ tree.  Woven together they make lovely, textured natural wreath bases. 

 

 

 

And as each workshop progresses, an array of unique, beautiful wreaths begin to take shape, using fragrant leaves and flowers from our collection of locally gathered plant material.  Accents of juvenile silver wattle leaves, seed heads, rosemary, tiny bunches of thyme, and herb flowers are added to give texture and fragrance. 

 

Our own Christmas wreath, stuffed to overflowing with bunches of gathered green leaves and studded with fragrant herbs,  hangs country style on our front gate ... 

 

 

 

On Christmas morning I will sneak a quiet moment to tuck in a fresh rose bud  ... symbolising the birth of the Christ-babe.

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings and joy to all ...

 

Heirloom Roses - An Impossible Choice .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

An impossible choice; deciding on a favourite rose.   

With so many heirloom roses taking their turn to offer exquisite blooms, it is impossible to choose just one;

Perhaps in the cool of the evening I might decide on a long-time favourite; Souvenir de St. Anne’s, circa 1917, reported to be a sport of the Bourbon rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison.  Discovered in a Country Estate garden near Dublin, she has pale pink blooms that appear as though shaped from the finest porcelain, until you snatch a sweet, cinnamon spiked perfume.  But don’t be fooled, Svnr de St.Anne’s is one tough rose, continuing to bloom through drought and heat.

Or perhaps the handsome 1894 French tea rose known in Australia as Francis Dubrueil. Richly perfumed to match his luxuriant velvet-like dark red roses, this is a surprising member of the usually less showy Tea rose family.  An aristocrat in the garden.  

Or in the early morning, just as the sun is spreading over the garden, a warm glow greets your eye.  Not strictly heirloom being an English rose, Benjamin Britten’s coral hues are a surprising blend of bright and warm reds, softly yellow at its base.  The full blooms are strongly perfumed, held tall on prickly limbs. 

  

A new favourite is one of the lesser known Hybrid Musks, Nur Mahal, released by Rev. Pemberton in 1923. 

A deep primrose pink, with a spicy perfume, Nur Mahal is as exotic and beautiful as the Indian Empress for whom she was named.  The influential wife of the early 17^th C Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Nur Mahal supported the cause of women in the Empire, providing land and dowries for orphan girls, even modifying women’s clothing to suit the hot climate.  Brilliantly clever, Nur Mahal used her intellect to promote culture and the arts, increase revenue from trade, influence architecture and create beautiful gardens.  These she opened up for the common population to enjoy.  Nur Mahal is also credited with discovering ‘attar of roses’ through observing fragrant oil floating on water strewn with rose petals. 

I love that three centuries later, in the early 20^th C, a Reverend from the United Kingdom acknowledged this extra-ordinary woman’s intellect and influence.  Had he not, I may never have heard of Nur Mahal’s incredible legacy. 

And so it is for her legacy brought to life through a visionary rosarian, that I planted Nur Mahal amid the heirloom roses.  The lovely semi-double blooms are exquisitely and vibrantly wrought; a worthy testament.

Aaaah, such choices ...