Into May and soon away.....

“According to Milton we owe our prickly roses to the Fall of Man. This is an insight shared by others long before his time, for St Ambrose in the 4^th century AD was equally sure that roses are smooth in Paradise, while the Zoroastrians of ancient Persia held that no thorns existed before Ahriman, the spirit of evil, came into the world.

“Unappealing they may be, yet even prickles can be a pretty adornment, as anyone who has seen young shoots on the Wing Thorn rose will know. What these stories illustrate is the abiding fascination with roses that overrides boundaries of time and place, drawing people of many nations to write about roses, to grow them, depict them in all sorts of ways, and above all to love them.”

From a foreword by Peter Harkness in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Roses, Mary Moody, ed. Headline Books, London. 1993.

A Final Round of Roses

Happenstance.

Butterscotch.

Butterfly Wings.

Rainbow’s End.

Goldfinch.

Happy Wanderer.

Earthsong. Cadenza.

Folksinger. Country Music.

Danses des Sylphes.

Calypso. Satchmo.

Radio Times. Roundelay.

Ballerina.

Café. Pax.

Deep Secret. Smooth Friendship.

Frühlingszauber. Morning Jewel.

Cuisse de Nymphe.

Mother of Pearl. April Moon. Surpasse Tout.

Alchymist. Old Blush.

Love and Peace.

Die Weisse Rose

In thinking about roses, in looking through catalogues and botanical histories for intriguing names, I was reminded of the many cultures and eras where the rose has taken a special place. As a symbol of love, passion, beauty, grace, joy and nobility that is forever embedded in poem, story and song, and featured in art, in perfume and in design, it knows few rivals. This floral élan is so often reflected in the names that people give to the ever evolving plant and blossoms that are the rose. But as the old saying goes,  “Every rose has its thorn…”

Or perhaps in this case, its bittersweet side. 

As a form of resistance during the Second World War, young Germans began publishing leaflets, alerting their fellow citizens that not all was well in the Reich and that terrible acts were begin committed. To publish such material was considered subversive, treasonous and punishable by death. When they were caught, many were executed. Their last leaflet was smuggled out of the country into the hands of the Allies who edited it and airdropped millions of copies over Germany. This group of students and intellectuals was known as the White Rose – die Weisse Rose….

These days also I’m contemplating the limited freedom of speech and expression that many friends, artists, writers and journalists are experiencing around the world right now and the creative ways they are finding to make their position known.

Word petals...
gathered and dried...

Looking Sideways

I like watching people stop to read this and then I try to read the expression on their face...

The explanation....

The sign on the fence read:















It's an attempt and I was going to edit it.
It's also gone from the fence already.
Time for it to be replaced by something else.
And many of the rose words have had their blooms blown away by wet and wind.
More than half gone...More to come...

Peace.
Fragrant Cloud. Duftwolke. Nuage Parfumé.
Cocktail. Rinascimento.
Mignon. Gloire de Dijon.
Gruss an Teplitz. Eglantine. Red Moss Rambler. Mousseline.
Reine des Violettes. Bermuda Mystery.
Climbing Bourbon. Ispahan. Peace.
Garden Party. Double Delight. Soleil d'Or.
Rödhätte. Dainty Maid.
Tuscan Sun. Comanche. Montezuma. Tequila Sunrise.
Rouletti. Petite de Hollande. Mollineaux.
Wife of Bath. Red Fairy.
Explorer. Parkland. Emily Carr. Felix Leclerc.
Climbing Peace. Compassion.
Mermaid. Missoni. Breeze Hill.
Stainless Steel. Shot Silk.
Absolutely Fabulous. 
Hot Cocoa. All My Love.
Aladin. Amberlight. Apricot Scentasia.
Beehive Gold. Black Jade. Brilliant Pink Iceberg. Blue Moon. Blackberry Nip.
Best Friend. Birthday Present.
Glorious. Happy Child.
Eye Opener. Lest We Forget. High Hopes.
Crepuscule. Night Time.
Dear One. Erotica.
Land of the Long White Cloud. Serendipity.
Thank You. Violet Hill.
Luminous. Old Port.
Burgundy Iceberg.
Racy Lady. Red Flame.
Purplicious. Moody Blues.

A rose

is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose...

 It was clear and cold in the morning...

 Wet and white in the night.

Hopeful names

 Always more hopeful

















                                                                                              Inviting delight

Something good to come

Something hard to describe

Consider...

 Ditto'd pages. Rusty staples. 

A spring snow dusts the yard 
and slicks the streets.

Advice for the would-be rosarian 
never goes out of fashion.

As evocative in black and white as they are in colour.

The Question is: What unites these words?

There's a bit of a spring drizzle outside, maybe just enough to encourage them to bloom. These words herald not just spring but early summer, they are a bouquet gathered from a human pastime whose end result is joy and beauty, not suffering and destruction.
Would that all human endeavours had as their aim something so ephemeral and sweet....