I wanted to post something happy amidst these posts counting down to Anne Boleyn’s execution so I thought I would share with you this photo of one of my Anne Boleyn rosebushes. This particular rose started to unfurl yesterday and is in full bloom today. It is breathtakingly beautiful and I think it is very apt that it has opened while I’m immersed in those dark days of May 1536.
Hopefully posting this photo will allow you to enjoy the beauty of my Anne Boleyn rose too – enjoy!
By the way, I bought my rose from www.DavidAustinRoses.com who have websites and outlets in many countries. I’ve got 4 of these rose bushes and lots of buds waiting to open!
It’s beautiful!
I love roses, and I would buy one, except, a) I’m currently living in a flat, and b) Anything I plant has the life expectancy of a dodo.
I would hate to kill Anne’s rose on top of everything else!
This is such a beautiful rose. I see that they are available for pre-order from David Austen Roses, that must go on my to do list!
I have a tendency to kill plants as well!!! Especially in the hot Texas summer sun! 🙁 But I really want to take a chance on such a beautufil flower. I think I’d take extra care of it! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
🙂 Today is my birthday, and I must say, how fortuitous that rose is in full bloom today – it is a beautiful sight to see on this special day!
Happy birthday, Beth!
It is lovely. “dark days of May…” I have always felt that it is ironically painful that she went to her death on likely a lovely, mellow and sweet May day, when it would have made the thought of dying even more horrible. Does anyone know what the weather was like that day, I wonder?
That is the most beautiful rose!! I am so anxious to have a rose garden again–I used to have one several years ago in a different house…I do love them and this one is, well, WOW!!
Thank you, Claire for sharing the rose … it is beautiful!
It is so pretty! I want one too!!!!
It’s beautiful things like that which make me miss having a garden (I’ve lived in an apartment for the last ten years). Thanks so muchfor sharing it with us!
Me too, just reminds me of my profile name and of course not forgetting it was a dynastic name and the name of one of the most prolific people throughout the whole of history and the rose just symbolised that 🙂
how pretty! I love roses and don’t have a pink one, it would go so well with my white florence nightgale one (mom’s a nurse) oh – was looking at his website and i see he has thornless roses but none named for katherine howard – that seems like an obvious name for a thornless rose!
The Rose has been my favorite flower for as long as I can remember. Not only are they may birth flower, but I find them gorgeous and captivating. I will stop on the sidewalk to look or pick one. In fact there the only flower I like. All the others do not impress me in the slightest.
This rose is gorgeous. I really love it and wish I had a bush of roses in my backyard myself.
What is the background of the Anne Boleyn rose? When was it first named, and by whom? I would love to think that maybe Anne herself saw these lovely flowers in her own lifetime, and that Elizabeth might have been able to enjoy them, think of her mother, and smile.
At least it wasn’t like the rose named for former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She was famous for saying, “I was flattered until I read the description – not very good in a bed, but great up against a wall.”
Happy birthday Beth! It is nice to think of beautiful roses on your birthday. I admit that no plant likes me so I always give plants that I get as a gift to my mom.
Thanks for posting a picture of the lovely rose! It brought back many happy memories of my Dad and I working together in our all pink rose garden. He started it for me when I was about 4; recovering from a bout of polio and not cooperating with my physical therapy. But each day I had no qualms or arguments when he said, “Let’s go work on our roses!” It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized just how smart and devious my father was and the rose garden wasn’t his only ploy to get me to exercise my legs in my heavy braces. It took 4 years but I was able to take the braces off and had few problems from the polio. He actually got me out of an iron lung when the doctors said it was impossible. I could only feel in my face so he would pull me out of the iron lung and pinched my cheeks until I bruised. It sounds cruel to that to a child in such a condition but as I cried I would start hitching my breathe – pulling air into my lungs and within three weeks I was again breathing on my own and out of the iron lung. He went on to spent every moment he was not working at the hospital with me, putting heat packs on my damaged muscles, moving my limbs, forcing me to move even if it meant giving me a swat on the behind. I was a very stubborn kid and if not pushed or punished into it absolutely refused to do my physical therapy. Along with the rose garden, he involved me in swimming, dancing, horse back riding, hiking, fishing – anything he could think of that would make me move my body and eventually I walked and played without any aids. I could have been disabled all my life if not for his love and determination. So pink roses of any name have a special place in my heart. Since that first rose garden, I have never been without a rose garden even if it was only a miniture one in containers when I lived in apartments. When Dad passed away, a spray of baby pink rose buds was placed beside him with a note that said, “To my Father – anyone can be a father but it takes a truly loving and heroic man to be a Daddy.” It’s been almost 20 years since he passed and I still miss him daily. Each chance I get I tell this story in tribute to him because the world is a better place for him having lived.
Shoshana!
Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful and inspiring story of your father… He sounds like a very special creature who changed the world in his own unique ways ;*)
I so love your Anne Boleyn rose, Claire. It is truly a sight to behold…
My mother gave me my very first rose bush. It was a Jackson-Perkins “Tropical Sunset” rose that she gave to me for my 1st Mother’s Day. It was glorious and produced giant blooms of pink, yellow, and orange < all in the same bloom! …I miss that rose bush as I had to leave it behind when I moved. America celebrated Mother's Day this past Sunday and, as always, I remember my "mother's sunset". The weather was extraordinary and I was visited by a hummingbird on my balcony. I secretly believe that the hummingbird was my mama…I miss her so much.
…And I too am a "rose snob" ;D
Thank you, Tiffaney. The older I get, the more I miss Dad. Your Mama sounds like the same kind of parent – the kind every child needs and deserves. I am familiar with the Tropical Sunset Rose; it is truly fantastic. If ever you have a chance to plant a rose garden, add Olympia – a blood red rose with long stems, the Oklahoma – a pink with a lovely lemony scent, Blue Girl – a soft lavendar rose you can lose yourself in just staring at the color, and Brandy – an apricot that looks so lovely when displayed with white and pink roses. Also, if you ever can, plant a space with nothing but white roses and white blooming flowers – it is amazing at night! Now my hands are itchy, I must go to the garden!
A most beautiful rose in the memory of a most beautiful woman, Lady Anne Boleyn, Queen of England. Thank you for sharing =]
wow it looks beautiful.
In what type of climate does this rose grow??