| WEBLINKS |
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David
Austin Roses Ltd
Company website with a search facility allowing you to search
for types of roses.
June Tabor
Find out more about June and her music.
The BBC is not responsible for the content
of external websites. |
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| SEE
ALSO |
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Folk
on the BBC Shropshire website
BBC
Radio Shropshire
Find out more about the presenters.
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| FACTS |
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This
feature was inspired by a BBC Radio Shropshire programme suggested
by singer June Tabor
the
programme took a brief look at the rose, its origins, its
history and the folklore and myths surrounding it.
June’s CD Rosa Mundi provided the music, from standards such
as Roses in Picardy through to traditional English folk songs.
The programme was a celebration of one of our most beautiful
flowers, giving a glimpse into its history, its poetry … and
even its pests.
Genevieve Tudor, who produced the programme, was ably assisted
by Michael Marriot, who works with champion Shropshire Rose
grower, David Austin.
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Never
a rose without the thorn … not to mention blackspot, red spiders,
rose leaf hoppers, saw flies, rose chafers, Japanese beetles, leaf
cutter bees, rose midges, aphids, thrips, chlorosis and mildew …
wouldn’t you rather grow marigolds?
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| The
queen of flowers |
The
English rose … an inspiration for poets, singers, playwrights,
artists, and cooks over the centuries, and a trial and tribulation
to gardeners. No-one knows the story of the very first rose but
fossils found in Japan, America and Europe are some 35 million years
old.
The very first rose picture is said to be of a 6 petalled flower
on a fresco at Knossos in Crete. This dates back to 1500 BC. Five
hundred years later wild roses were brought back as the precious
spoils of war. Three centuries later Sappho referred to the rose
as the queen of flowers.
Stories,
myths and folklore abound. Here’s a riddle for you:
On
a summer’s day, in sultry weather
Five brethren were born together
Two had beards and two had none
And the other had but half a one
The
rose has been used as a symbol of beauty, of purity, of immortality
and even of secrecy. The Romans believed Cupid dedicated the rose
to Harpocraties, God of silence, an appropriate gift because the
petals cover the stamens the way the lips cover the mouth. At banquets
roses were hung from the ceiling to encourage guests to show the
same discretion. Nothing should be repeated if conversation was
Sub Rosa. Centuries later plasterwork roses served the same purpose.
I
will heere adde a common Countrey Custome that is used to be done
with the Rose. When the pleasaunt and merry companions doe friendly
meete together to make good cheere, soon as their Feast or Banket
be ended they give faithful promise mutually one to another that
whatsoever hath been merrily spoken any in the assembly should be
wrapped in silence and not be carried out of doores.
In
Shropshire we are lucky to be the home of the foremost rose grower
in the country. David Austin Roses is based at Albrighton near Shifnal.
It was founded in the 1960s by David Austin, who is famous worldwide
as a breeder and grower of English roses. David has just been awarded
the highest accolade possible from the Royal Horticultural Society,
the Victoria Medal of Honour, for his work in breeding English Roses.
The
rose, it should be crowned with pearls of Arabia and Lydian gold.
Better and sweeter are these flowers than all other plants and rightly
called the flower of flowers.
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