The roses are blooming!

It is that time of year when the

roses are starting to come out

in the Rose Garden. The display usually lasts about three weeks

so do make sure you come and

enjoy the scent and the blossoms.

Francis Gibson (1805-1858) was the main creator of Bridge End Garden, but it was his father Atkinson Francis Gibson (1763-1829), who started the initial work and particularly the Rose Garden: this fits with the historic development of English rose gardens.

Roses were grown in ancient Chinese gardens and later by the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. By the thirteenth and fourteenth century there was a successful rose perfume industry in France. Roses have long been part of English gardens but more for medicinal or cooking purposes, perfume and rosewater.

It was Henry VII (1457 - 1509) who combined the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster, after the War of the Roses, to create the Tudor Rose. Not an actual rose, this was more a heraldic emblem, symbolising peace and unity between the two houses. The Tudor Rose emblem is still used today, for example, by the national football and rugby teams.

Rose production was slow in the eighteenth century but towards the end and into the nineteenth century there was a significant increase in rose breeding and sales to the public.

This was just at the time that Atkinson Francis Gibson was creating his garden. There is an illustration by Humphry Repton (1752 - 1818) that could have been the inspiration for the Rose Garden in Bridge End Garden. In the illustration, the outer circle has a trellis with climbing roses and there are formal geometric beds with roses that fan out from a central feature.

France was the main producer of roses at this time which is why many roses of this period have French names. Our roses include Rosa 'Madame Plantier', Rosa 'Comte de Chambord', Rosa 'Jacques Cartier' and Rosa 'Charles de Mills'.

The Rose Garden requires a lot of maintenance over the year, probably more than any other part of the Garden, so please come and appreciate it at this time of year!