In a Vase on Monday: Forgiving

I decided to use these roses in my Monday vase because they are so forgiving despite being overlooked and neglected. Climbing rose ‘Parkdirektor Riggers’ is probably the rose that has been in the garden the longest – the wall that the bold borders back onto was built in 2001 so the rose, which is trained (using the term loosely) against it would have been added soon after this. As I tend to be looking down at the borders when I ramble to this end of the garden I often don’t think to look up at it…

…and more often than not, when I DO notice it, it is from the other side, by the greenhouse and cutting beds…

I don’t know when it started flowering (because I didn’t notice!) – but it will go on flowering until the first frosts by which time it will be covered in large orange rose hips because it never gets deadheaded (because I don’t notice it!). In fact, I probably notice the hips more than the flowers because the borders are having a rest by the time they arrive, and indeed the hips are a wonderful sight and have been used several times in vases over the years. The plant does get pruned every year, the only attention it gets, with every side shoot trimmed to 6 inches or so: easy peasy.

A simple foil for the roses is a form of thalictrum which I think is probably the common meadow rue, originating from a sister’s garden and an offshoot taken because I thought it looked pretty: it does look pretty but it spreads too readily and I often ‘rue’ my decision to add it to the garden. The vase is a gorgeously tactile and heavy piece of glass which suggests quality but sadly has no markings to identify it; accompanying it is an ‘Apache tear’, a form of obsidian, which it is believed can promote forgiveness. The white inclusions are perlite, the result of excessive water in the cooling of the lava which formed the obsidian. The name is an informal nickname for this type of obsidian, reputedly relating to a surprise attack against an Apache tribe in the 1870s.

When I do notice this rose in bloom I always intend to watch out for it more frequently, but in practice don’t suppose this will happen, so I am happy to be featuring it to today and hope that it will forgive me, with or without the support of an Apache tear. If you feel motivated to find some blooms or other material from your garden today and pop them in a vase, with or without a story, then please consider sharing them with us by leaving links to and from this post.