Rosa 'Sweet Juliet' 7 September 2022

O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.

Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

For me it is impossible not to think of Evelyn Hart’s Juliet in Prokofiev’s  ballet Romeo and Juliet when I spot the fragrant, apricot English Rose, Rosa ‘Sweet Juliet’ in my garden.

Evelyn Hart

 

There is that moment where she spots the special potion on a little table that will put her to sleep. She tiptoes ever so elegantly towards it and then wavers and tiptoes back. It is at that moment that this Argentine/Latin macho can feel tears.

The rose, a very large bush, used to be in our Kerrisdale garden by the 43 Ave boulevard. There was lots of shade but she was and is shade tolerant.

A couple of days ago I spotted some blooms here in my kits garden and I snipped them to scan them. I know there will be more blooms in a bit. But anytime you spot a rose in September you wonder if it will bloom again in the year. Is it its last bloom?

Rosemary loved white and blue so she adored white roses. But it took her a while and eventually she grew to like red, orange, yellow and apricot coloured roses. She thought I had too many pink ones.

Every plant in my Kits garden, every day reminds me of Rosemary. When it begins to decline (now) I associate it with her own decline before she died on 9 November 2020.

I cut Sweet Juliet and enjoyed scanning it. Scanning puts me at peace but at the same time I feel that melancholy that I cannot share that with Rosemary.

And all because of a rose which reminds me of Evelyn Hart.