June 10th, 2024
Corn Hill Chronicle
The other day I was immersed in a veritable forest of rhododendrons and azaleas. I felt it might be possible to overdose on the fragrance. Peonies are now floral bombs exploding into red, white, pink, yellow and multi-coloured blooms that vie with any other for sheer size. Some have sweet scents, some strange and unique. And, as if they had caught an early train, the roses have arrived, and with them, the fragrances that have been cherished by royalty and paupers for centuries. Some of the headiest emanate from the old garden roses such as Mme. Plantier, Cardinal Richelieu, Apothecary and Maiden’s Blush, or as the French called it ‘Cuisse de Nymphe’ or Nymph’s Thighs, a name considered by the Victorians as quite naughty. The perfume of Maiden’s Blush has been luring gardeners and encouraging propagators to continue providing them to those gardeners since the 1400s, as this is an ancient rose by horticultural standards. That’s staying power.
Today’s roses are more selected for copious blooms throughout the season. Repeat flowering is a trait that was once quite rare, found only in a few species. However, breeders have been able to use those genes to create a staggering array of roses that bloom from spring to fall. With the exception of a few, most modern roses are not very fragrant. However, the bright light for future roses is that there are now breeders fixed on combining repeat blooming, called remontancy, and fragrance.
Our society seems rather focused on having more of everything. If a rose is once blooming, many will turn away from it and ask for a continuous bloomer, even though they will later pick out a rhododendron, which blooms for but two weeks, instead of the rose’s six weeks. Those gardenrs will not get to smell the most fragrant of roses.
The ephemeral nature of flowering can be seen as a disappointment, or as an unfolding of the wheel of life where everything has its season. Thus, we have the anticipation, pleasure and sadness of fading flowers, but we can shift our thoughts to future pleasures that await their turn.
In the garden, a massive bloom of Lemon Chiffon peony has just opened. It is one of the very few yellow herbaceous peonies. Its bowl of soft yellow petals cradles a spectacular boss of golden stamens. Breeders are a persistent lot who challenge themselves to create plants that are thought beyond their abilities. Take the Japanese breeder Ito. He crossed the hardy herbaceous peony most of us are familiar with using the pollen of the more tender but spectacular tree peonies. The results of this hybrid line s are now called Itoh hybrids and sport massive blooms in brilliant yellow, purple, apricot and white petals that turn lavender at their bases.
In the garden massive rhododendrons try to outdo each other with the size of their trusses. The air is filled with the scent of a Rosy Lights azalea. We are in the moment when the world goes carnival, the apex of colour and scent. This will all end, but next spring we can again eagerly await the opening of the first fragrant rose blossom and the unfolding of the first daylily bud. Nature does not stand still, but the wise will watch and cherish as much of the show as they can.