At one of our open garden days recently visitors were admiring a group of “Buff Beauty” roses which, despite the scorching heat and weeks of drought, still managed to show a few flowers, and were asking about their origins. I confess to not having known that much so went away to find out.
It turns out they along with several others in my garden including “Penelope” and “Cornelia” are Hybrid Musks, a group developed about a century ago by an Essex clergyman and his sister, and which, although they weren’t that popular then, have not only stood the test of time but become extremely popular and robust additions to the garden.
So today’s post is about that vicar, the Rev Jospeh Pemberton, his sister Florence, and their gardeners Jack and Ann Bentall who were later to carry on their work creating a complete new family of hardy roses.
August is traditionally the silly season in the media, so in keeping with that the next few posts are going to look at garden-related humour, beginning today with the work of Reginald Arkell.
The Garden History Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.