Rebecca and Lauren - 2 July 2006 with Rosa 'Sexy Rexy'

Today I went to my local nursery on Broadway near Macdonald called David Hunter. I went with the intention of getting some slug bait as one very nice and large hosta, Hosta ‘Northwest Textures’ has lots of holes. I want my garden to look as perfect as possible when I open it for the Vancouver Rose Society next week.

Glen Draper and his Hosta 'Northwest Textures'

I did find the slug bait but I also bought some hostas(!) and a rose.

Why?

In English we have the word whim and we use it as “in a whim I…” In Spanish we have a word antojo (the verb is to antojar) which is a combination of two words before/eye. What this means is that when you see something you sometimes fall for it. In Mexico the word antojo more often than not applies to food you want to it. These can be tacos,etc. In Mexico this food is called antojitos.

Why did I buy a rose when I really have no more room on my deck?

My whim was measured by memory and nostalgia. In our Kerrisdale garden one of the roses that was there when we bought the house in 1968 may have been that rose. Or perhaps I bought it a few years after. The rose was called Rosa ‘Sexy Rexy’. It is a nice rose that for me was all about that womanizer Rex Harrison that I liked as an actor. I quickly found out that the Irish hybridizer, Sam McGreedy who moved to New Zealand. He came out with the rose in 1984 and named it after a friend.

So we had the rose in our garden and I even used it to photograph my two granddaughters as you can see by the photograph in this blog. I have no memory on how it disappeared.

So for that past memory, those rosy times when our granddaughters would spend Saturdays with us, a memory that included the bucolic times share with my Rosemary, will be back when my purchased rose will bloom in perhaps a week.

 Somehow I never did scan a Rosa 'Sexy Rexy'. I will now have a chance. And that makes me smile.