August 2026
This little blog about my Quiet Garden has tended to be dominated by the hydrangeas or by the labyrinth, but on the whole, I've said little about the more than forty roses I inherited from my predecessors. Perhaps I've felt I didn't have the right to focus on them, since I can't claim much credit for their presence here. Perhaps it's that maintaining them seems relatively easy compared to the time and effort I've invested in the rest of the garden: who knows?
My parents were keen gardeners and particularly fond of roses, so from my early childhood I was familiar with 'hybrid-teas' as distinct from the bush roses they called 'floribundas' and the 'standards' that looked like little trees. In late autumn I watched them dig over the ground, incorporating seasoned manure to a depth of more than a foot before planting some new acquisition. Established roses were pruned and fertilised, 'earthed-up' like potatoes, and sometimes loosely protected with hessian sacking to enable them to survive our Ontario winters, harsh enough to freeze the ground. Spring brought the ritual of spraying against pests and the dreaded 'black spot', and summer, the constant dead-heading that extended the flowering season. The result of all this dedication was a display my parents rejoiced in. The best examples were cut for the house - the glass 'rose-bowl' being the newly fashionable way, back then, of displaying an individual specimen.
Here's a paradox: what can I say about roses that hasn't been said by others? yet I confess to being lost for words when faced with the beauty of a rose in full bloom. Working in the rose-bed here is a recipe for being, as the saying goes, 'blown away' at the sight of some heart-stoppingly beautiful flower. At such moments, my parents and their love of roses come gratefully to mind. What might they do differently, or not at all, in the conditions and climate of La Laguna? I have no way of knowing, but what I can imagine is the pleasure they would find in discovering some old friends - 'Peace', or 'Margaret Merrill', for example - planted here. Other hybrid-teas, such as 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', 'Just Joey', 'Chandos Beauty' or 'The Times Rose', would be new to them. I think they'd enjoy the 'shrub roses' created by David Austin, of which my favourites here are 'The Lark Ascending', 'Roald Dahl', 'Summer Song' and 'Queen of Sweden'. Photos convey their magic better than words, so here are a few.
Roses:
Top image: Summer Song
Center: The Times Rose
Bottom row:
Chandos Beauty
The Lark Ascending
Just Joey