Roses Are Red, My Love

Violets are blue..........

Well, not really because these are pink and white and lookee here, these are not blue either but lilac.
And here's another one that is not of the blue.

It's amazing what kind of nonsense people put into lyrics, isn't it? There's, as you probably know, a famous poem, or to be more accurate, song by the Scottish poet Robert Burns about love and roses:

Oh my luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.

Lovely isn't it and oh so romantic, sigh. And it's complete and utter drivel, because at the time Robbie Burns lived, from 1759 - 1796, there were no red roses in the UK, only pink, white and magenta ones. The red (and yellow) roses came to Europe in the 19th century from China, courtesy of one Josephine Bonaparte who imported them for her rose garden at Malmaison.

So why did Robbie Burns write about red, red roses when there were none? Was he colourblind or perhaps not even on nodding acquaintance with the truth? Personally, I put it down to poetic license and cut the poor man some slack. I don't think his poem would have been as popular if he had written: oh my luve's is like a white, white rose or, even worse, like a magenta, magenta rose. Not that there's anything wrong with magenta roses, on the contrary, as clearly demonstrated here.
A lovely rose isn't it, and its scent is pure old fashioned rose scent with bells on. The name of this gorgeous magenta coloured rose? Well, Magenta! So very original, don't you think, whatever will they think of next?


If you're Scottish you can let those R's roll with gusto from your lips when you read Burns' poem out loud. Try that with pink, white or magenta rose. It just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

But enough of the red, red rose because here at Bliss we prefer other colours altogether like this
the drop dead gorgeous Madame Alfred Carriere, a lovely scented white with pink blush climbing rose. Or this
the breathtakingly beautiful and wonderfully scented Sombreuil, white with just a mere hint of apricot. And there's more of course, how about this one, the enchanting Moonlight. Isn't she just absolutely stunning? Such a lovely climber with sprays of tiny fragrant white flowers with beautiful golden hearts.
Here she is, basking in the sun, bless her little golden heart.

There is also a fairy tale about the rose: Sleeping Beauty. For some reason it sprang to mind when I took this picture of the roses in my front garden today. I wonder why. ;-)


And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies.
Christopher Marlowe, 1564-1593