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Caroline Victoria |
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| H90xW50 |  | Scent 10 |
| | At first encounter, this light, creamy rose evokes effortless serenity and grace. Few sights in the garden are more conducive of reflection than a perfect, elegant ivory-white rose on a quiet, still day. More detailed inspection is well rewarded, revealing substantial blooms in a high-centred whorl of petals in perfect hybrid tea form. Their coloration responds to variations of heat and light, from delicate amber-blush at early opening, to inner depths of light gold flushed with perhaps a trace of lemon, as the petals reflex.
Perfume is exceptional and long-lasting, with distinct and complex character, seeming to float on a foundation of tropical citrus with raspberry overtones infused by a hint of mint. It is a delightfully fresh and rewarding scent, heady, with no hint of heaviness. When cut for the vase, this exquisite rose will provide tremendous enjoyment and fragrance.
The plant forms a well-branched, erect bush, suitable for group planting in beds, borders or as a low hedge. It is an excellent rose for the garden, and supreme as a cut flower for the vase.
The Caroline Victoria Rose has been created in memory of Caroline Victoria Coldicutt who died tragically at the age of just 17. Caroline was a great art lover and particularly talented at depicting tranquil Californian landscapes. Caroline won regional art awards for her landscapes and her work has been shown in galleries in California, London and Paris. Caroline’s soulful love of the nuance and serenity of landscape scenes and her use of colour is elegantly reflected in the grace and subtle beauty of the Caroline Victoria Rose.
Proceeds from the sale of the Caroline Victoria Rose will be donated to The Royal Theatrical Fund, a charity founded in 1839 by Charles Dickens and a group of actors. Caroline’s mother Liz Coldicutt explains: “The Caroline Victoria Rose was commissioned to honour Caroline's passion for the arts. What better way to represent this passion than through a lovely rose used in support of the Royal Theatrical Fund which lends its efforts in assisting those in need in the theatrical arts and other creative mediums.”
The Fund’s Chairman, Sir Donald Sinden, CBE said: “We are extremely grateful to Caroline’s mother for pledging the money raised by this beautiful rose to the RTF so that we can help people in need. It will be a lasting reminder of Caroline’s beautiful work as well as being a practical help for many people.”
The Royal Theatrical Fund, 11, Garrick Street, London WC2E 9AR (registered charity 222080) will receive 10% of sales receipts from the Caroline Victoria rose. Tel. 020 7836 3322 email: admin@trtf.com | | |  |
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Helen Robinson |
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| H110xW60 |  | Scent 6 |
| This candy-pink hybrid tea seems to bloom almost all summer. It bears abundant, medium sized flowers, typical diametre as much as 10cm when fully open.
Often, the blooms are carried in terminal clusters of 2 or 3 per stem, and occasionally they appear singly. Their perfume is rich and fruity, a perfect riposte to the groundless notion that modern roses have lost their scent.
The flowers open in the timeless, classic hybrid tea style, but with none of the awkward ‘pointy’ look of some older varieties. These blooms are a joy to behold, they create an impression at once sumptuous and stylish, while fulfilling a valuable role in the garden landscape.
Growth is tall and erect, foliage is deep coppery purple when young, maturing to glossy green. It is a rose for group planting in borders, ideal as hedging, and excellent to cut for the vase.
Helen Robinson and her husband Dick created Hyde Hall which they painstakingly developed from a neglected farm to a major garden with an international reputation. Thirty years after the garden was started it was donated to the Royal Horticultural Society to use as a centre for gardening in East Anglia and for horticultural education.
Hyde Hall is particularly noted for its fine collections of roses, trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, all maintained to the highest standard, at first largely by Dick and Helen themselves.
One of Helen's greatest loves was roses. At Hyde Hall they planted huge beds of Hybrid Teas and Floribundas as well as borders of shrub roses old and new, and a fine, long rose pergola. These were all pruned and maintained personally to very exacting standards. The training of the climbing roses on the old barn is particularly cited as a fine example of how this should be carried out to obtain the best from the plants.
Apart from her involvement with Hyde Hall, Helen was for over 20 years a Council member of the Royal National Rose Society, and a Judge of the international merit trials for roses. Helen also became involved with the RHS, serving for some 20 years as a member of Floral Committee A, eventually becoming Vice Chairman, as well as Chairman of the Floral Trials Committee that judged all trials of herbaceous plants and annuals at Wisley for many years.
Helen was very highly regarded as one of the finest, all-round amateur gardeners of the day and this was recognised by the RHS with the awards of a Gold Veitch Memorial Medal in 1989 followed by the Society's highest award, The Victoria Medal of Honour in 1995. Helen died in September 2004 | | | |
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Fetzer Syrah Rose |
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| H125xW80 | | Scent 10 |
| At last year’s Chelsea Flower Show, visitors will be able to smell The Fetzer Syrah Rosé which has the aroma of its namesake wine. It is unusual in the horticultural industry to have a rose named after a specific wine. This stunning highly fragrant rose has a colour and scent that so closely matches the Fetzer Syrah Rosé wine that it is a match made in heaven.
The rose came into being after wine expert Jilly Goolden hosted a rose and wine “nosing” session at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Wine tasters and rose experts use many of the same terms to describe fragrances and taste. By a happy chance, this rose mirrored the limpid depths of the Fetzer Syrah Roséwine, while the wine itself seems infused with the perfume of the rose.
Simon Legge at Fetzer Vineyards comments: “When Jilly compared four old fashioned roses and four wines we were so struck by the similarity between this rose and the Fetzer Syrah Rosé wine that the rose was named for the wine.”
Simon continues: “We are delighted with the beautiful, exceptionally fragrant flower. The Fetzer Syrah Rosé rose reflects the intense raspberry character, light strawberry flavours and hints of lavender and violet that can be tasted in our dry Fetzer Syrah Rosé wine. I will certainly be planting some in my garden.”
Wine and roses are perfect natural companions, fusing colour and perfume borne from the soil and the sun. Both are best enjoyed in an unhurried mood on a fine day, when they may easily add to the quality of life; and both reward patience by improving with age.
The Fetzer Syrah Rosé rose has perhaps the richest perfume of all our roses. Its ruffled blooms in pinkish ruby are borne on plants that grow with exuberance and vigour, forming an open, long-stemmed, well-branched bush. It is a strong, healthy grower suitable to set among mixed borders where there is a plenty of space. When planted in a row, the Fetzer Syrah Rosé rose will make an irresistibly perfumed hedge the like of which is seldom seen, and it will yield armfuls of long stems, perfect for fragrant display indoors.
The Fetzer Syrah Rosé rose will look very well growing in shrub borders, hedges or mixed beds, where it will form a large, shrubby plant, ideal for bearing its perfumed harvest. | | | |
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St. Richard of Chichester |
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| H100xW80 | | Scent 3 |
| This rose will add poise and grace to the summer garden, and is surely destined to win many admirers.
Its golden-amber blooms are capable of impressive size, yet they are delicately formed. When fully open they reveal loosely cupped quartered centres, delightful in their intricacy. Such stately looking blooms borne by handsome plants promise a ‘garden feeling’ that many roses aspire to, but few succeed in realising. Scent is fresh and subtle, blending grassy, herbal notes with a light spicy overlay.
With its above average vigour this makes an ideal garden shrub for combination planting in the mid-to-background of mixed borders, or to set in small groups. It will make a fine display when cut for the vase, best allowing its perfume to float gently in the air.
The St. Richard of Chichester rose will raise money for Chichester Cathedral Restoration and Development Trust, primarily for the restoration of the Lady Chapel. Rather fittingly a magnificent rose window has already been restored and looks down on the works to be undertaken. The cost of restoring, conserving and cleaning the stonework and other windows of the Lady Chapel is estimated at £870,000.
The rose is named for a much loved thirteenth century Bishop of Chichester who has been remembered through time as a compassionate man with a deep spirituality and a strong sense of humour. Richard loved to graft the cuttings of trees, indeed, the famous fig trees of Tarring are said to have been grafted by him. As an early ‘fund-raiser’ for the Cathedral, who left money in his will to the Cathedral Fabric Fund, this is a superb way to raise money for restoration of the Cathedral, whilst bringing lasting pleasure.
The Chichester Cathedral Restoration & Development Trust, (Registered Charity 280328), The Royal Chantry, Cathedral Cloisters, Chichester, W. Sussex PO19 1PX will receive 10% of sales receipts of the St Richard of Chichester rose. | | | |
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Varenna Allen |
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| H80xW80 | | Scent 3 |
| The Varenna Allen rose is a step towards a future where roses flower more freely and need hardly any maintenance. The connection between plant health and improved flowering is dazzlingly clear. Plant health favours growth, and a rose that keeps on growing keeps on blooming. As a spin-off, reduced maintenance arises from not needing regular fungicide treatment. Varenna Allen is a delightful golden-apricot floribunda, and has naturally high resistance to diseases. It produces myriad clusters of semi-double blooms that open wide to show pretty coloration in their centres. It will be an absolute winner in the garden landscape. Growth is compact and bushy, ideal for any general planting situation that requires a mass of colour. Robert Harkness comments: “Harkness Roses’ goal as rose breeders is to create roses that give great results without demanding great effort, so that anyone planting them can be confident of a top-quality showing. Although we cannot yet claim immunity from disease for our roses, we can claim advances in the line of naturally healthy roses emerging from the nursery, of which Varenna Allen is an outstanding example. These latest advances certainly translate into better performance in the garden.”
The rose has been created to mark Varenna Allen’s 30 years of hard work as Chairman of Allen Power Tools and is especially poignant as Varenna has a lifelong passion for roses. Varenna comments: “Roses are one of my gardening passions and to have one named after me is a dream come true. I am looking forward to seeing a bed of beautiful plants flowering in my garden next year – now that I am no longer Chairman at Allen Power Tools I shall have much more time to enjoy them and to spend more time in my garden.” Allen Power Equipment is a family run company that has been involved in the production and maintenance of outdoor garden maintenance equipments since the late 1800s. Today the company supplies gardening machinery for everyone who has an area of grass to maintain, be it a wide-open expanse or a small awkward space. The company prides itself on its long established reputation and excellent quality of products as well as exceptional customer service. Varenna Allen took over as Chairman of Allen Power Equipment after the death of her husband John Allen in 1975 and over the last 30 years has moulded the company into the market leader it is today. | | | |
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