BRITAIN’S FIRST ROSE CHRISTENING
In many countries it is common for new roses to be ‘christened’ – usually with beer or champagne poured over them by a gardener, breeder, celebrity or even European royalty. On Saturday Rochester Cathedral saw the first such naming ceremony in Britain.
The Dean of Rochester, Dr Philip Hesketh, sprinkled holy water on three bushes of a new rose from Warners Roses – ‘Always in my Heart’ [CHEWrepose] – blessing them with a prayer.
After splashing water over them with the cathedral’s aspergillum – a small mace-like tool with holes – the Dean joked about the risks of watering plants from above. He said: “If these get blackspot, don’t come complaining to me!”
It was particularly fitting that the ceremony should take place during a visit of the Rose Society UK to the cathedral, which was the home of Dean Reynolds Hole. Hole was the founding president of the National Rose Society when it was formed 150 years ago and one of the 19th century’s most popular writers on the rose. The name of the rose was also apt.
Dr Hesketh said: “Dean Hole wrote that if you want beautiful roses in your garden, you must have roses in your heart. So, it’s highly appropriate that we’re going to bless them and they’re going to live here.
He prayed: “Lord God, sanctify these roses. May their fragrance be a joy and a pleasure to those who look upon them. And may their beauty remind us of your grace and your love.”
Exceptionally free-flowering and healthy, though with only light fragrance, the floribunda has already won an award at the Rochford’s International Rose Trials and been given an RHS Award of Garden Merit.
The rose was bred by 89-year-old Chris Warner – Britain’s oldest professional breeder. Catherine Shaw, MD of Warners Roses, said: “At the Rochford’s Rose Trials, where it was first registered as CHEWreflection, it just bloomed its head off, wowing the judges. The buds can be quite large and bright red – like love hearts – and then they open to cream, with hints of peach and pink.”
She added: “The name was inspired by the poem and choral song ‘I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart’. Chris and I felt that the name ‘Always in my Heart’ worked as a romantic gesture for the living but also satisfied an important need for a universal remembrance rose that worked for whether you are remembering a mum, a dad, a friend or a much-loved pet.”
Chris Warner said: “The rose is a cross between ‘Mind Games’ from Colin Dickson, and ‘Any Love’ by Colin Horner. ‘Any Love’ is a product of the species rose breeding programme that I was part of in the late 1970s. The sharing of information and seedlings among that group brought new healthy lines into rose breeding across Europe and that important work led to this rose and many others.”
‘Always in my Heart’ will now be planted in a new bed at the cathedral for roses bred by winners of the Dean Hole medal – the highest award in the rose world. Chris Warner received the award four years ago. Other winners since its inception in 1909 include David Austin, Wilhelm Kordes, Peter Harkness, Peter Beales and Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.
‘Always in my Heart’ can be purchased from Pocock’s Garden Roses, click HERE to go directly to their website.