Peace

As someone wrote recently, the world has got itself into a bit of a state, what with Greece going down the pan, Ukraine in a  mess, Muslim fundamentalists and the globe warming up, to name the first few. So as my offering for peace & goodwill, I have a peace rose.

This rose has been looking well over the last week or so, with a succession of fine blooms. The telephone completely failed at taking a snap of the whole two bushes, but it succeeded at this single bloom, bringing out quite well the delicate mix of pink and yellow of the mature bloom which I am so keen on. The bushes came from the nursery linked at reference 2.

When thinking of the title to this post, I was thinking of peace and goodwill to all men, the slogan which often appears on Christmas cards, but checking I find that the quote should be 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men', Luke 2:14. Various inferior versions are offered at reference 1.

I call this rose the peace rose as I believe that my mother had them and that is what she called them. The images offered by google are much brighter, with a lot more red than we get, so perhaps there is variation within the cultivar.

I had thought that the rose was invented after the second world war to celebrate the peace, but wikipedia puts me right. The rose was invented by a Frenchman, just before the outbreak of that war and according to the international code of nomenclature for cultivated plants he named it, as was his right as the inventor, 'Madame A. Meilland', after his mother. Subsequently, Field Marshal Alan Brooke was asked if he would allow his name to be used, but he modestly suggested that 'Peace' would be a better name and that is the name with which the rose went on to have the success it did in the western world. Present but not in force at Wisley earlier in the week - a visit which will be the subject of the next post.

Reference 1: http://biblehub.com/luke/2-14.htm.

Reference 2: http://www.hillparkroses.co.uk/.