Tuesday, October 04, 2011

 

English Rose, Rosa 'William Shakespeare' & English Rose Rosa 'Spirit of Freedom'

In the last year my granddaughter Lauren, 9, has shown an interest for details that quite amazes me. One day Rosemary bought a container of liquid hand soap and put it in the guest bathroom. She told, “ I bet Lauren notices it.” As soon as Lauren and Rebecca arrived some Saturdays ago (they visit us all day just about every Saturday) she immediately went into the bathroom and came out and asked me,” What’s the container in the bathroom for?” Any diversion from my usual route in the car will immediately make Lauren ask,” Where are we going?” or “Why did we turn on this street?” She has a very good sense of direction.


Of late she has spent much more time in the garden than her sister who maneuvers with both hands, her phone and her iTouch, upstairs. She likes to be in the garden as Rosemary and I fidget trying to figure out when the garden is officially last year’s and we can begin to tear up beds and change things. Casi the cat is with us and he plays with Lauren. Lauren looks for roses that might be in bloom. With clippers we cut them and she arranges them artistically into a vase that we use to decorate our Saturday dinner table. Last Saturday had few pickings. Previous week's  Rosa ‘The Fairy’ was no longer in bloom but the flowers were still fresh in Lauren’s arrangement. We found that Rosa ‘ William Shakespeare’ had one yet to open bloom but that Rosa ‘Spirit of Freedom’ had one flower that was at least one day past its prime. We cut both and we decorated our arrangement using some of the long and now most aggressive canes of the species rose  sericea ssp. omeiensis f. pteracantha .

Lauren in garden, fall 2011

Today I looked at the arrangement and Spirit of Freedom’s pink petals were all over the table cloth but William Shakespeare was looking very good.

It is impossible for me to forget my special affinity for Rosa ‘William Shakespeare’ who is not a frequent bloomer and, indeed, was delisted by its hybridizer, David Austin when he introduced a supposed better version called William Shakespeare 2000. That number, 2000 does not sit well for me with the glorious name of a rose that is a rich crimson that darkens to maroon as it ages. Even Mexicans might object to such a name.

Mexicans and Latin Americans in general have a thing about foreign names. In Mexico City there is a nice statue of the father or the United States. The statue is in a plaza with the name Jorge Washington. For some years I lived on Calle Guillermo Shakespeare.

As soon as Argentine birth record officials found out Sean was John which in turn was Juan, few in Argentina could ever be called Sean unless some money was transferred under the table. All in all a Rosa ‘Guillermo Shakespeare’ sounds a lot better than the one with the number. This is why I have such an appreciation of my good old Rosa ‘William Shakespeare’ whom I believe is saying good night to us all until next spring.