Flower of the Week, 13th June.

When we moved into our house 25 years ago the garden was largely composed of lawns and rose beds. We reduced the amount of grass until we had none but even before that we’d dug up and disposed of every rose bush. I suppose that was our reaction against a style of garden we didn’t want, not a sign that we didn’t like roses themselves. In recent years we’ve reintroduced roses as part of our mixed planting and they are undoubtedly beautiful.