Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' 22 May 2026

 

My Two Alexandras

 Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel
 

This very large rose which is more than five inches wide was one of Rosemary’s favourite as the name reminded her of the name of our oldest daughter, Alexandra.

I am not sure if I suggested the name or it was Rosemary who wanted to prolong my name.

My would-be godmother, Inez Ariosa, adored my mother but the strict Roman Catholic clergy said she could not be my grandmother as she was divorced. Her very young daughter (17) Inecita became my godmother. Inez’s husband Alejandro Ariosa was not divorced so he was my godfather and that is why I was given the name Jorge Alejadro. In 1942 foreign first names were not allowed. My father was called George.

Sometime when I was a little boy I became the Alex that I am now.

Rosa 'Doctor Huey' 22 May 2026

The Cycles of My Life
 

I recently wrote this blog (link above) about cycles and how we all humans go through them and that they rarely coincide with those of our family and friends.

Today I saw these three blooms of Rosa ‘Doctor Huey”. I have written before how this rose is disparaged by keen rosarians as the good doctor was used as sturdy root stock for grafting on them “better” roses. Rosemary, before she died, brought the rose from our Kerrisdale lane garden (before the house and garden were demolished. I told her that we had never planted a red rose on the lane and explained that a rose had died and Dr. Huey had then prospered.

In this scan you can see the rose just about to be past, the second one, really past and the third on its dying cycle with the petals falling off. If I were to print the scan the members of the Vancouver Rose Society would not quite understand my purpose nor would they see the beauty that I see here. It is as if seeing a compact view of a mature human on their journey to non-existence and oblivion.

Rosa 'Benjamin Britten' 21 May 2026

 Grace Kelly's Neck

Because my mother was a snob (good taste) she took me to see films that she liked. That is how I came to appreciate Joseph Cotten, Lesley Howard, Gregory Peck, Elsa Lanchester, Audrey Hepburn and (AND) Grace Kelly. By the time I saw her last film (The Swan in 1956) I had a complete dislike for that man she married in Monaco.

A couple of months ago I read Susan Sontag’s posthumously published On Women. In it she comes to the conclusion that by 1975 (when she wrote the book) women had not advance much in the world. In a nutshell she wrote that “old men have character and old women are ugly”. I came to the conclusion that not much has changed now in 2026.

Social media is full of photographs that say, “Who is this lovely young girl who became a famous actress? Now that she is 82 you will gag as to how she looks.”

Because Grace Kelly was dear to my heart, I am almost glad that she died before she might have been photographed and be gagging material.

I was much in love with my Rosemary all of the 52 years that we lived together. I found her attractive and we indulged I stuff up until a few months before she died.

I would also assert that my old wife had lots of character.

In a way this scan of the lovely Rosa ‘Benjamin Britten’, one that Rosemary loved reminds me that here is a rose with lots of character.

Rosa 'Darcey Bussell' 22 May 2026

One of my very best red roses is English Rose, Rosa ‘Darcey Bussell’ is named after the now 57 year old British Ballerina. As far as I know this is the only rose named after a ballerina. With the graceful shape of so many roses you would think there would be more of these.

In Morden Manitoba a nursery there hybridizes roses to survive in most Canadian winters. I have one of them, Rosa ‘Emily Carr’. I would kill for a white rose from Morden called Rosa ‘Evelyn Hart’. Will it ever occur to them to name such a rose?

This rose, a bit after its prime, shows that dark red blackness that I find spectacular. There is an equivalent in the world of hostas. For the Washington DC American Hosta Society Convention the convention hosta was called ‘Potomac Pride’. There are not that many around but I have one which I smuggled in my  luggage wrapped in wet newspapers. 

Hosta 'Potomac Pride' (dark green) - Hosta 'Fortunei Aureomarginata' and fallen leaves from Rosa 'Zéphirine Drouhin' - 3 August 2025

Rosa 'Reine Victoria' Summer of 2001

 

In 1991 my Rosemary told me, “Alex, tonight we are going to the Vancouver Rose Society meeting at the Floral Hall at the VanDusen Botanical Garde". A few minutes into the meeting I told Rosemary, “I am seeing 100 terrible and boring slides of roses and I am sitting on an uncomfortable chair. Why have you brought me here?” Rosemary persisted and soon I was a happy rose fan and particularly keen on the interesting story of where roses came from and the names they were given.

But I vowed that I would never photograph individual roses and would only photograph the very nice rose beds of our Kerrisdale garden. Then one hot summer day of 2001 I found myself bored and I came up with the idea of placing a rose (Rosa ‘Reine Victoria) on my Epson scanner. Now in 2026 I may have at least 4000 scans of roses and other plants from my garden.

I firmly believe that I must show respect to what a rose is. I like to show it with it leaves. I abhor those macro photographs that isolate roses to the point that even their leaves are not shown. Rugosa roses have interesting leaves and many roses have early new shoots and leaves that are brilliantly red. I think that my scans of roses show that respect I have for their beauty. Rosemary did and would understand to this day. She would smile of this my first plant scan.

And now I must admit that I have photographed roses recently using a device called a LensBaby on my digital camera. The device was given to me by my genius photography friend Jeff Gin who is currently the manager of the Kerrisdale Cameras branch in North Vancouver. I first used the Lensbaby when I went to Venice and Florence with Rosemary. Here is the link below.

Venice and the Lensbaby 

I found a few days ago that by using the Lensbaby and purposely overexposing on a sun drenched roses I achieved something that I really like.