There are perils and pleasures to opening one’s own garden to a select public from a plant society. We opened our garden every year beginning in the late 80s to such institutions as the Vancouver Alpine Garden, the Vancouver Rose Society and others including that of Ballet BC. At one point people came in leased buses and we had to worry about the destruction of our lawn that was trampled.
Those days
in that big house in Kerrisdale are gone and this is our second year in our Kitsilano garden which is part deck
but has three flower beds. Because we do not use our garage we have a laneway
garden that is rather nice.
The problem
with opening one’s garden, particularly when it is the Vancouver Rose Society
(this year and in a few days) is that the roses are in full bloom. When many of
your roses are once-blooming Gallicas is serves no purpose to deadhead the
plant (what you do with remontant roses). Rosemary is all stressed out!
There are
certain protocols that are part of the tradition of visiting the garden. An odd
one (when you consider that many of the visitors are of a certain age) is not
being able to use the facilities. One protocol that I happily practice is serving
my special iced tea accompanied by English-style cucumber sandwiches. My
youngest daughter, Hilary usually bakes cookies. Her youngest daughter Lauren
makes a few signs indicating on the street where the garden is.
One of the resulting
pleasures of opening one’s garden besides the one of having pleasant social intercourse
is that we are forced (and in particular Rosemary) to neaten up the place to
perfection (my Rosemary’s standards are stiff).
And best of
all at our ripe age, the idea of mating roses with other plants in big pots is
an experiment that brings some delights but also disappointment. The lesson
learned are then practiced for the next year.
Next year my Rosemary will see how big our new rose will get. It is a special rose that was hybridized by Bill Forsyth who used to be in the Park Board many years ago. He is dead but this rose should be his legacy. In a visit to his garden with Alleyne Cook I marveled at what looked like Rosa glauca except the blooms were almost twice the size.
Next year my Rosemary will see how big our new rose will get. It is a special rose that was hybridized by Bill Forsyth who used to be in the Park Board many years ago. He is dead but this rose should be his legacy. In a visit to his garden with Alleyne Cook I marveled at what looked like Rosa glauca except the blooms were almost twice the size.
I know that
Forsythe gave a plant to Cook and then all reference to the rose disappeared.
Forsythe died and every time I asked Cook about the rose he could not remember.
A few weeks
ago my Rosemary in a visit to Free Spirit Nursery found the rose which is
called Rosa glauca Bill’s Rose.
 |
| The Bill Forsythe glauca rose |
I have no
idea if the folks at Free Spirit know where the rose came from. I know! Forsythe
told me he crossed Dainty Maid with Rosa glauca.
