February 16, 2011

Late Summer Roses

Last week I wrote a post about The Farmhouse garden and how it was struggling with the heat.  The garden must have got wind of this.

Look.

"Peace"

"Peace" is my favourite type of rose.  I love the colours and the fact that it is incredibly tough and just keeps on bravely flowering despite the difficult conditions that sometimes prevail in The Farmhouse garden.

There is a fantastic story behind the "Peace" rose.  Francis Meilland (famous French rose grower) propagated the rose in France in the late 1930s.  Apparently he thought it was the most beautiful rose he had ever created.  World War II was looming and he was worried it may be destroyed if France was invaded.  Hence he sent cuttings to friends in a variety of other countries including the US.  After the war he wanted to name it after a general who had been influential in the Allies victory.  This general told him he would prefer it to be called "Peace".

Such a beautiful flower.

Rose, Doing Its Gorgeous Thing On The Mantelpiece

7 comments:

Emma said...

What a gorgeous story! I have never grown roses but I now feel that I need a pot of peace roses on my front deck!

Makeminemidcentury said...

What a lovely story about that rose.

When they're growing well, roses are quite perfection, aren't they?

I wonder if that one has a scent?

Tas said...

Sigh. My favourite flower. I loved walking past the florist on Valentine's Day and getting to admire and smell all the gorgeous roses. We have some in our suburban garden but there is nothing like a big bunch to breathe in that beautiful scent...

Emma M said...

Lovely post and lovely rose. I am a recent arrival to southern WA from the rose-unfriendly tropics and am looking forward to growing some. This might have to be one of them!

Sydney Shop Girl said...

Thank you for sharing your roses and the story behind them, AFW.

There is so much humanity and a community of sharing with the hobby of gardening.

SSG xxx

Sydney Shop Girl blog

Fiona said...

I am a Rose fanatic!
A few years back I planted in excess of 100 roses, only to find out they couldn't handle our very hard bore water. I have about fifteen beauties remaining who are thriving with our conditions and I've had to plant a variety of other flowering shrubs in between.
Maybe I should have tried 'Peace'.

A Farmer's Wife said...

Emma - They would look gorgeous in a pot.

MMMC - It does have a light typical rose type scent. It's lovely.

Tas - Alas my garden is not at the big bunch producing stage as yet.

Emma M - I would definitely give Peace a chance.... :)

SSG - I am so glad you liked the story.

Fiona - Ours are on soak water if that helps - it is fairly hard but not excessively so.