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| Rosa 'Abraham Darby' 27 May 2019 |
Ever since Rosemary and I returned from Italy (now two
months) I have been in a blog rut. I keep postponing. And then I note that I
may be missing about a month’s worth. Is this the beginning of my gradual
decline into not writing blogs at all? I have noticed that my old blogs have
long and detailed content. Of late the content is next to nothing,
I may have one lame excuse. May/June is the season when
roses begin to bloom. After breakfast I
run out into our deck to see what surprises are in store for me.
Today the surprise (and I must add that it has been dependable with me for at least 25 years) is the English Rose Rosa ‘Abraham Darby’ named
after a 18th century Englishman who discovered that when coal was
heated in an oven without oxygen it made something called coke. When combined
with iron ore it made good hard ore. Later coke was used to transform iron into
the even stronger steel.
Shropshire’s Abraham Darby gave us Iron Bridge and then the
building of English railroads and all that ushered in the industrial
revolution.
That a plant, specifically a rose (unlike lupines for
example) can carry al that into what is a five inch wide and extremely fragrant
blossom perhaps gives me license to do nothing for the next while.