Roses in Words
from Focus on Flowers Hosted by Indiana Public Media
In February, it is appropriate to think about roses. Here is what Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) wrote: "There is scarcely any rose that we can wish to have in our gardens that is not also delightful in the cut state. A china bowl filled with well-grown hybrid perpetuals, grand of color and sweetly scented, is a room decoration that can hardly be beaten both for beauty and for the pleasure it gives, whether in a sitting room, or on the breakfast table. The only weak point about cut roses is that their life is short." William Fitzroy (1851-1924) wrote: “The houses I love best are those where warm old red bricks and old roses seem to melt into each other.” Margaret Millfield in 1931 had this advice: "Plant your rose in a good square hole, keep it weeded; prune it once a year, thoroughly; apply a spade of manure in February and you will have blooms the rest of your life." And John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1909) wrote this verse: "The red rose whispers of passion, and the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, and the white rose is a dove. But I send you a cream- white rose bud, with a flush on its petal tips; For the love that is purist and sweetest, has a kiss of desire on the lips."
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