If I was ever to be told I could grow only one rose…..it would be a most difficult decision to make. For me, choosing roses has been as much based upon their romantic history as their beauty, scent or growth habit.
When I first began reading about roses, rather than just looking at pretty pictures……(about 23 years ago, once we got into the planning rather than clearing phase at Glenmore!), the story of this one, ‘Quatre Saisons’, Rosa damascena bifera, captured my imagination. I recall reading that it was the one from which all repeat-flowering roses were bred. It’s a Damask rose, who’s form is all loose and ‘muddled’. As to the scent – it’s straight from heaven and pure rose – not musk or apricot; just deeply, deeply rose.
Apparently, a form of Damask rose was first noted in Italy in the 16th Century (and probably made its way to Europe through the Middle East via Damascus during the early Middle Ages). It flowered more than once during the season and was the only rose to exhibit this repeat-flowering characteristic; hence its name, ‘Quatre Saisons’ or the ‘Autumn Damask’.
It’s not the kind of bloom to bring inside, but the kind that nods in the breeze and scents the air all around. As it’s growing in the Kitchen Garden, I’ve been enjoying it all weekend….the very first rose bloom of the season. And I’m tempted to think, it would be the one I could never be without….