Rosa 'Boscobel' 8 June 2025

 

Rosa 'Ghislaine de Feligonde' 8 June 2025

Today I saw a rose I purchased this year, Rosa ‘Boscobel’ in bloom. I researched the name and it seems that there was a mansion in England that began in the mid-1500s. I was a bit disappointed in the name of this English Rose. Had David Austin been alive he might have named it with a more romantic name.

The rose is beautiful. What could I possibly write here about it? I had an idea related to my extensive collection of books.

When we were about to move to Kitsilano from our Kerrisdale home I had close to 6000 books. I knew there was no room for all of them in our new house. I gave some of my mystery books to a then used mystery bookstore on Hastings. Nobody wanted my books. The public library was not interested.

At the time our Kerrisdale neighbourhood was being changed by new arrivals from abroad. They were tearing down the houses to build homes with many bathrooms and a garage for at least 4 cars. In front of those teardowns there were massive metal containers. I would fill the trunk of my Malibu and then I would personally throw the books into those containers. I have an unhappy memory of saying, “Dostoyevsky, It was nice knowing you. Goodbye.”

I realize that buying books when there is no more room for them and that at my advanced age I might not read is similar to buying roses when have little room for my small  deck garden. There is the fact that every year a couple of roses do not make it into spring.

That may have been the reason whys Boscobel is now blooming in my garden.

The second scan is of a rose that has a better name. It was named after a 2-year-old girl.