Love might well be in the air on February 14th, but is it true romance without a red rose? If we can measure love by the rose, isn’t a dark one more passionate than a bright red? I have a hankering for the darkest red rose. Before I talk about that, let me first bemoan the fact that supermarket roses have little scent and that also dark red roses suffer the same fate. The breeding out of scent is a sad affair. It happened to sweet peas too at one time until breeders realised – yes we gardeners love scent. It seems more important to the cut flower market to have long stems and thornless stems (I’m for the latter, pricking your thumb is a sign that love is not going well). Florists also have a habit of dipping flowers in ink, the ink rises up the stem and can colour the flower. Ah the tricks of the trade. Does your love need a dozen red roses, a single rose or a bush to plant in the garden that with due care, love and attention will provide roses for years to come. Of course you’d have to forego Valentine’s Day as no rose bush flowers on Feb 14th. If I’m being cynical – what me? I’d say that St. Valentine’s day as a celebration of love has no substance. After all there are many St. Valentines and the celebration is trumped up commercial nonsense like so many things we celebrate these days.
What is a rose without scent? As Juliet said the immortal words of Shakespeare
‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene II)
yet I am annoyed that florist’s never label their roses by name, and if you inquire invariably shrug their ignorance off their broad shoulders.
The romance of the rose is ubiquitous, nothing else really gets a look in. Romance is not dead, as I stated in 2001, it has just turned a shade deeper. Black roses are for the new romantic. The black rose not surprisingly is a figment of the imagination. It is thought that the term ‘black rose’ originated because the petals of old red gallicas turn blacker as they age. You can see this in plates of Redoute’s watercolours. Most dark reds have their connections with the old red gallicas.
There is an immense choice of red roses, but not so with the darker ones that are still few and far between. Some red roses are misleadingly dark in bud and can open up to a blowsy red like ‘Deep Secret’. It’s vigorous, hardly knowing when to stop. It is nicely scented by the way and a very generous rose in flower offering wide blooms. Others have deep mysterious near black depths and it’s these that set my heart fluttering all the faster. ‘Barkarole’ is a demure velvety affair, whilst ‘Black Magic’ is much redder than you would imagine, with deep shading – a seductive beauty. ‘Black Beauty’ is more sultry, a come hither rose. ‘Black Baccharat’ is one of the roses often sold by florists for its alluring, deep colouring. ‘Louis XIV’ is a throroughbred, highly strung, passionate rose. I’d always make room for ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’ as climbers are welcome, especially when they waft their fragrance through the air and it’s nice to have a souvenir of love when the heat has passed. ‘Guinee’ is another handsome climber with a touch of gypsy in its blood. One of my favourites has long been ‘Josephine Bruce’ a deep velvet red with class. It’s often best as a climber although you can choose the hybrid tea. If the rose you grow under this name has a weak neck, then you are growing one of its parents. Scented, intense, it was my first love affair with roses and will be my last. Constant as always. You don’t send me flowers any more, but we won’t go there.
Black roses are featured in my book Black Magic and Purple Passion third edition, available from the shop All photos copyright Karen Platt 2011. ‘Black Beauty’, ‘Black Baccharat’, ‘Souvenir du Docteur Jamain’, ‘Guinee’.
