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Article Listing
- Thomas Hobb's Seasonal Rose Picks - December 2008
- The Gift of Christmas Roses - November 2008
- Roses on Ice - October 2008
- When "big hips" are Great! - September 2008
- Plant Roses now for 2009 spring and summer bloom! - August 2008
- Floral Designer Falls Under Spell of the “Black Rose” - August 2008
- Festival and Convention summary text for a newsletter, website, or article
- Visit the Festival Blog to post comments on the articles and for updates from Brad Jalbert, Select Roses and other contributing rosarians
December 2008
Thomas Hobbs' Seasonal Rose Picks
Vancouver’s own garden guru, nurseryman and best selling author, Thomas Hobbs, revealed his rose-related roots in 
the floral trade when recently asked about holiday displays and gift ideas. Diligently multi-tasking in his super stylish gift store Hobbs, he rattled off his rose favourites for the festive season while expertly putting the finishing touches of imported ornaments on a divine copse of bare branches.
“If you are looking for a gift certificate of rose types my absolute no-fail favourites right now are the new shrub type roses from David Austin.” Pick number one is Rosa ‘Jude the Obscure’. Even Thomas Hardy would have to agree that this medium yellow, highly fragrant and repeat bloomer fits the gift bill nicely whether in the hilly Dorset landscape or in a diminutive Vancouver garden. Rose selection two is called ‘Teasing Georgia’, a multi-petal, cupped flower that is a saffron yellow in the centre fading to the softest moonlight hues on the outer fringes. Strongly scented and a good 
grower, who could ask for more? “I sell thousands of roses every spring at my nursery Southlands and these two rose varieties fall into the no fail category and give great customer satisfaction.”
As for some old standards that have stood the test of time, Tom easily identified roses including the white Sally Holmes, Golden Wings and the deeply apricot coloured Leander.
And what does the famous Thomas Hobbs suggest for those of us wishing to create our own special “rose bowl” for the holiday table? “I would stick to a range of colours for interest such as salmon pinks mixed with coral oranges adding some artfully placed hypericum berries. Simple but beautiful, just like Nature itself.”
We couldn’t agree more!
Southlands Nursery – 604-266-6411
Hobbs Gift Store – 604-261-5998
November 2008
The Gift of Christmas Roses
It’s hard not to be disheartened by the headlines over the past months and with the normally over-abundant Christmas season looming just around the corner many thoughts are turning to more affordable gift purchases this year. Being the child of Depression era parents I was raised to give practical but thoughtful gifts, ones that either fed the stomach or touched the soul.
A display of fresh roses during the holidays can never go wrong. Most florists and floral designers will be more than happy to take one of your sparkling cut glass or silver vases or bowls and fill them with a scented gift of greenhouse grown roses. Not only will this save on cost but the roses will convey the giver’s good thoughts in two sensorial ways- through fragrance and visual beauty.
Truly what can be more simple and elegant that a shimmering bowl full of roses amidst candle light on a dining room table, mantel or an aromatic nosegay at your bedside? The hip new Madison Avenue-style Quince Fine Florals in Vancouver’s MacKenzie Heights shopping district is using roses in an array of new ways. Last year’s Christmas craze starred the previously much maligned garnet-coloured carnation whose densely positioned heads covered orb-shaped oasis which were then displayed on large glass flutes. This year rose heads and hips will be featured not only in delightful balls but in artfully fashioned mini pillow-like wreaths and centerpieces for the home’s interior spaces.
For the garden rose lover, now is the time to discover those rare outdoor plants that are still giving their blooms even during the darkest months. What better gift than a nursery gift certificate from Select Roses for, say, Rosa Mutabilis, a species plant that has never failed to produce enough single blooms to be placed on my holiday table’s crisp linen napkins.
And for the real rose aficionado in your life, excellent stocking stuffers should include tickets to the World Rose Festival in Vancouver June 19- 21, 2009. This cornucopia of rose related events will include an internationally attended rose show, rose lectures, garden displays, marketplace, culinary treats, art and more.
What better way to say “Merry Christmas” throughout the year!
Ticket information for the World Rose Festival: www.worldrosefestival.com/tickets
October 2008
Roses on Ice
By Terri Clark
You may think that the coming winter weather means an end to enjoying the blessings of the sultry season and all that the flower garden had to offer. But that would be wrong because even when we are months past the “realm of the rose”, the fall harvest includes this metaphor most popular for love, in a most curious culinary way.
It has often been said that great gardeners are usually great cooks - being a natural transition from veggie patch to the kitchen door. After all, this is where kitchen gardens got their name. But garden herbs and flowers have also long been pressed into service for medicinal purposes and sur la table.
I am what my grandmother used to call an “old fashioned girl”, a culinary throwback who spent many teen years, not collecting every Rolling Stones and Beatles album, but rather learning how to cook at the hip of the Galloping Gourmet after school. Later I graduated to the gospel of my “true” kitchen mother, Julia Child, who spiced up her presentations with frequent allusions to cookery methodology long past.
In short, cooking and then gardening became a passion fitting together like the proverbial hand and glove. About this time, my fascination with Victorian molds took hold. I scoured old book stores for bespoke recipes and antique shops for the elegant and functional molds, contraptions in shapes both classical and bizarre.
Finally I found a small volume entitled Victorian Ices & Ice Creams with 117 original recipes first printed in 1885 under the title The Book of Ices by that marvel of London ice queens Agnes B. Marshall. Discovered between this volume’s pages is an era when almost anything that was edible, fruit or vegetable, could be re-imagined as glorious sorbets, mousses, iced soufflés and ice creams.
With today’s wide variety of ice cream machines, there is so little effort in these recipes that the drama is often left to the mold. Even a simple container can offer an impressive presentation when released onto an elegantly tiered cake plate or serving platter.
So as you are planning your trip to Vancouver’s World Rose Festival in June 2009, why not put this little tasty treat on your menu while rose leaves are still clinging to the vine (remember not to use leaves that have been sprayed with any pesticides).
Rose Water Ice
Take a half pound of fresh-gathered rose leaves; pour 1 pint of boiling water on them with 4 ounces of sugar and keep closely covered for about 5 minutes. Then strain off and colour the flavoured water with a little liquid carmine (natural colouring available at specialty stores). Freeze in a conventional ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
Ices are perfect as course palette cleansers at a special dinner party or great thirst quenchers on a hot day.
Recipe from Victorian Ices & Ice Creams
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Scribner’s Sons
September 2008
When “big hips” are great!
We all have heard that old saying “a moment on the lips, a life time on the hips” but there is one area where over indulgence does not apply to a hefty hour-glass figure– when it refers to roses. Everyone knows that the rose appeals on a variety of levels either through numbers of petals, blossom shape, colour and, most sensuous of all, scent. But how many of us fully appreciate the stunning second act of the species roses where before the season’s curtain call they take a final bow in the guise of beautiful hips.
Rose hips have long been the subject of apothecary lore and delicious foodstuffs but now we can appreciate these seed heads as an added bonus to the garden landscape, especially if we are not too assiduous in the pruning department.
Every garden can have at least one rose bush that produces showy hips, perfect foils for the cooler landscape and wonderful grist for the mill when it comes to making seasonal wreaths and arrangements to brighten the darker months.
When you purchase rose bushes this fall, be sure and ask who has the biggest hips and enjoy them while not adding one ounce to your own!
Pictured here are the elongated, flagon-shaped orange hips from the vigorous Rose moyseii. Though a vigorous plant with almost single smallish blooms, this beauty shines in two seasons and is often preferred for their delectable hips.
Another good selection for showy hips is the hardy, easy to care for and very scented Rose rugosa. Seen here are the globular tomato-red hips of R. rugosa ‘Frau Dagmar Hartopp’ whose pink flowers keep producing through the summer yielding a pleasing mix of hips and blooms in unison on the bush.
August 2008
Plant Roses now for 2009 spring and summer bloom!
The heavy morning dew signals that summer will soon give way to autumn and this is the perfect time to plant for carefree and vibrant rose blooms in 2009.
Get your garden or balcony blooming in time for next June’s World Rose Convention (June 18-24) and fabulous first-ever for Vancouver, World Rose Festival at the newly expanded Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre (June 19-21).
Fall is the optimum season for planting either bare-root or potted roses. The cooler temperatures and more consistent availability of water in September and October help tender rose roots “put their feet down” before the ground freezes. By late May and June 2009 your plants will be all the more ready to put on their scented performance without shocking their system.
Contact one of Canada’s many bare root rose suppliers like Select Roses at www.selectroses.ca or Pickering Nursery at www.pickeringnurseries.com or check your local garden centres and nurseries now for reduced prices on potted roses.
Check out how easy it is to plant bare root roses by reading this recent article from Canadian Gardening - www.canadiangardening.com/plants/roses/plant-a-bare-root-rose/a/1285
August 2008
Floral Designer Falls Under Spell of the “Black Rose”
Ask Jessica Blossom Clark what her prospective brides are mad about these days and she’ll give you a short answer. “There are those few brides who step outside the box when it comes to a bouquet for her special day but invariably roses play a starring role.” Clark is the new owner and operator of an elegant store located in Vancouver’s residential area of Mackenzie Heights called Quince Fine Florals.
Trained as a young teenager when Clark volunteered under the tutelage of Thomas Hobbs, she later worked for Hilary Miles and the floral guru to New York’s best celebrations, Charles Mason in Manhattan. When asked which roses are her preferred choices for stylish bouquets this season, she does not hesitate. “Black Baccara – really a dark crimson colour with a velvety texture and a moderate size bloom. It is a perfect foil to other shades and stands up under summer’s often warmer than desired conditions.” Other roses that are on Clark’s fav list include the ever popular white Avalanche and the two-toned orange of Cherry Brandy.
Note: Black Baccara, long grown for only the florist trade is now available through the nursery trade for home gardens. It is a hybrid tea long stem rose.