Day 4 of the Rose Advent

One of the small, infrequent joys of these dark mornings are a couple of tiny blooms glittering optimistically on a rose which continues to soldier on through the wet and cold of this UK winter. I was reminded of her in when she appeared in the Day 2 rose as a background to Mannington Mauve Rambler.

Today’s rose is pretty, elegant, multi-coloured (in a good way), rambling, nearly evergreen, not too spiky, December-flowering (not what it says in the books, but every year that I’ve had her here, she’s been a wintery bloomer so far- only a few blooms in December but a few is better than none at all), pink and peach and apricot and amber white, pastelly, fragrant.

Look at one bloom, then move your gaze around as the video moves, and look at another … and another ….. hypnotism in a flower. This short film was taken back in July, and as I look at it, I’m filled with hope for things to come, and forget for a moment the darkness and low temperatures outside.

Rosa ‘Ghislaine de Féligonde’ - the name conjures up so much, and is romance itself; rose names hold so much mystery and intrigue within them. But who was ‘she’, this Ghislaine?

The story appears to have originated in the war, that a Ghislaine de Féligonde saved her husband during World War I by crossing enemy lines to pull him from a barbed wire fence after his fellow soldiers left him to die. But the dates don’t tally, and it’s far more likely that this was some fishy marketing on the part of the rosebreeder - a Monsieur Turbot.

Here are some family memories courtesy of the Association de Roses Anciennes:

"According to Ghislaine de Féligonde's direct testimony, it was a friend of her parents, Mr Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier, then director of the gardens of the city of Paris, who, in 1916, chose the young Ghislaine (born on 14 October 1914) as the godmother of a rose." Mr B. de Féligonde

“Charles de Féligonde was seriously wounded during the First World War (a major war invalid) but was obviously not helped by his daughter in the cradle or by his wife. Of course, these Ghislaine roses spread widely throughout the Chantemesle area where a magnificent specimen used to climb one of the North towers. My mother died in 1994. She is buried in the Féligonde family vault. We planted cuttings of this rose which grew well along the cemetery chapel. There were extraordinary gardens at Chantemesle… What was magnificent was the vegetable garden and above all the orchards because my grandfather was passionate about fruit trees." Mrs S.F., daughter of Madame Ghislaine de Féligonde

The mystery- the mysteries…