Rosa 'Betsy Sinclair' 29 June 2021

One of the pleasures of being a gardener is to discover a new plant and particularly a new rose. Today I went to Mandeville Garden Works to meet up with Vancouver Island rose grower Robin Dening. He was delivering his one gallon potted roses which are carefully propagated by this man who is all good manners and grace. It is no surprise to me that when he grows his roses they like him (I believe in this sort of stuff). The new rose I bought is named after his wife, Betsy Sinclair.

Dening has been on a hiatus until recently. He somehow weathered the storm of the decline in nurseries when people started buying barbecues for their condominium balconies instead of plants. For years I visited his lovely nursery, Brentwood Bay Nursery, which was not far from the Victoria ferry terminal.

It was neat to see Dening in his then trademark white hat tending to his plants.

Like America, Dening is back. He has a relationship with Mandeville Garden Works manager Darrell Dzielke to whom he bring his healthy plants.

Robin Dening at Mandeville Garden Works - 29 June 2021

This is a very good thing for Lower Mainland rose gardeners. We will no longer have to depend on buying iffy roses that come from either Texas or back east.

But added to the pleasure of chatting with Dening (he had to leave in a hurry to catch a ferry back to Victoria as he had to water his plants due to the terrible heat) was to finally see his own rose Rosa ‘Betsy  Sinclair.

Of the rose all Dening could tell me is that he found a tiny seedling a few years ago and it grew to be this rose with very nice scent and a delicate apricot colour that my Rosemary would have loved.

Sometime this evening I will plant my Betsy Sinclair. I tip my hat to the grower.