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| Left - Rosa 'Chapeau de Napoleón' & all others - Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll' - 6 June 2025 |
Gertrude Jekyll VMH (/ˈdʒiːkəl/ JEE-kəl; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote over 1000 articles for magazines such as Country Life and William Robinson's The Garden. Jekyll has been described as "a premier influence in garden design" by British and American gardening enthusiasts.
Because my open garden for the Vancouver Rose Society happened last weekend, I can now snip as many roses as I want so as to scan and write about them.
This English Rose, Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ (rhymes with treacle) had until this year been a reluctant performer. It is now competing with a similar rose (in colour) Rosa ‘Chapeau de Napoleón’ which is right next to her in my laneway garden.
In that past century in Vancouver particularly in the late 80s and early 90s there was an enormous interest in gardening. Our city had many plantsmen and plantswomen (epithets used in England) who were experts on one or more plants. If you went to garden meetings (plant societies they were called), Rosemary and I were subject to lots of relevant information and we could ask questions. In fact because these plantspeople became our friends we would just call them up.
That is now all gone. I called a doctor who was an expert in clematis. There was a fern lady and a dwarf conifer man. My friend Alleyne Cook was my go to for info on rhododendrons and magnolias.
Now when a question about roses, I just look at myself in the mirror and ask. That other expert, my Rosemary is not around. I try to make do.
This scan represents a memory of Rosemary who would tell me, “Alex we have too many pink roses. We need some variety." Note that in the scan here Rosa ‘Chapeau de Napoleón’ is on the extreme left. I could tell you the difference by the scent of by the fact that Chapeau is a moss rose and Gertrude is not.
Chapeau de Napoleón - Moss Rose
