My grandparents’ house was like a small English island in the middle of a vast American sea. They went back and forth to regularly to visit English relatives and the relatives, in turn, sent gifts of impenetrable black fruitcakes every Christmas. A biscuit tin bearing the likenesses of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth sat on the cookbook shelf, the complete works of Robert Browning had pride of place in the living room and a recording of Winston Churchill’s wartime speeches, read by the man himself, was played frequently. I never asked my grandmother, but I am sure that wherever they were on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, they participated in the festivities via radio or television.
Now the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee has taken place, marking her sixtieth anniversary on the throne. Many American Anglophiles have found ways to mark the occasion. I did it by buying a rose.
My husband will tell you that if I could, I would mark every occasion, from April Fools Day to National Pickle Week, by buying a rose. He is wrong; I am much more selective than that. However, there are times when only a rose will do, and the Diamond Jubilee is one of those times. Besides, I was walking through the garden center, minding my own business, when one of David Austin’s ‘Jubilee Celebration’ roses almost reached out and grabbed me. I had no choice but to grab it first.
‘Jubilee Celebration’ was actually created in 2002 to mark the Queen’s fiftieth anniversary on the throne, but is in the garden centers this year to help rose lovers like me celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. It is a beautiful shrub with glossy, dark green foliage and salmon pink blooms with touches of yellow. Each of the flowers on the plant I bought shows several shades of salmon. ‘Jubilee Celebration’, which can mature into a shrub that is four feet tall and equally wide, has a pronounced fruity fragrance as well. It looks to be an eminently worthy garden rose, even without the aristocratic connection.
The garden at our summer cottage is also home to another great royal rose—‘Queen Elizabeth’, a floribunda bred by an American, Dr. Walter Lammerts, and introduced in 1954, just two years after Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Most sources agree that the rose is named in honor of the current Queen, but at least one gives the distinction to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The plant is truly regal–statuesque with big, full pink blooms. Mine can easily reach six feet when it is happy, which is most of the time. The thorns are few and the leaves are glossy and almost leathery. If ‘Queen Elizabeth’ has a flaw, it is the flowers’ light fragrance. However the plant is beautiful and, in my occasionally-tended garden, a very strong grower.
Queen Elizabeth the sovereign is well known for her ability to stand for hours in all kinds of weather and her namesake rose has equal stamina. Over the last few years mine has survived a couple of hard central New York State winters with no protection and soldiered on through periods of drought as well. It does not get black spot in sticky summers. When I am on vacation I try to douse it with soapy dishwater every few days to keep bugs off the leaves, but the plant shrugs off most pests without my help. The long-stemmed flowers are also excellent for cutting. Every serious rose grower should have ‘Queen Elizabeth’ in the garden.
Peter Beales, an English rose authority and breeder, introduced ‘The Queen’s Jubilee Rose’ at the recent 2012 Chelsea Flower Show. The result of ten years of breeding effort, the sturdy rose is too new to be available here. It was officially presented to the Queen when she made her annual visit to the Chelsea show, and features peach-flushed white petals clustered into double flowers that are described in one article as “goblet-shaped.” As befits a celebratory rose, it is also fragrant. The Beales firm’s exhibit at the Chelsea show won a gold medal and also featured two other new, non-royal introductions. I hope that ‘The Queen’s Jubilee Rose’ will make its United States debut soon. It will look lovely in my garden alongside ‘Jubilee Celebration.’
Whether you love or hate the British monarchy, the roses dedicated to the current Queen are eminently worthy in their own right. Try at least one—they are all easy to care for. And you never know–the fragrance of ‘Jubilee Celebration’ might give even the most zealous Anglophobe a craving for tea and shortbread.