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| Rosa 'Ketchup & Mustard' 9 August 2025 |
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| Rebecca & Rosa 'Mrs. Okley Fisher' |
When people come to my garden they often ask me which is my favourite rose. I always answer, “It depends.”
It may be of a rose that is in bloom in that moment or a rose that was open the day before but is now gone. In some cases it can be a new rose that is spectacularly blooming like this one with that curious but most appropriate name.
But in all finality my favourite rose is a difficult rose to grow that is associated with a portrait that I took of our eldest granddaughter when she was 8. She is going to be 28 in a few days.
The portrait involves a sailor dress I found in Sanborns in Cancún and a yellow single tea rose called Mrs. Oakley Fisher. My Rosemary did not like yellow in our Kerrisdale garden. When she saw this portrait she changed her mind and Rosa ‘Mrs Oakley Fisher’ became our favourite no matter what.
When I see Mrs. Oakley Fisher blooming (and she has been prolific this summer) I consider how many years have passed, and the rose not only reminds me of a young Rebecca but it also has the smiling face of my Rosemary now present in my memory and on the face of this rose.
