In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

• Ask a question

« Tomato seedling volunteers | In the Garden front page | Your comments are welcome »

May 10, 2007

A rose called Evelyn

For the last three or four weeks, and with no end in sight, I’ve been cutting blooms off of a rose called Evelyn. That’s pronounced EEEEvelyn, the way the British would, rather than EVVVelyn, the way we might.

She’s a David Austin rose, with masses of tightly packed pink petals. They have just a hint of yellow in them. The fragrance is sweet and light.

Austin has bred hundreds of modern roses that look and smell like old-fashioned roses. They have romantic, evocative names like Shropshire Lad, Fair Bianca, Jude the Obscure and Noble Antony. Another favorite of mine is one named for his wife, Pat Austin.

The trouble with many of them, however, is they don’t like our hot, dry summers. They prefer England’s milder weather. Evelyn, however, doesn’t seem to mind the heat at all. She throws up long, flower-laden stems that beg to be cut and brought into the house. Stick your nose in them, and I promise the fragrance will melt your troubles away, or at least make you smile and sigh.

Evelyn doesn’t seem to attract aphids, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen black spot on her leaves. My only complaint is with the weather: late rains beat down the heavy branches until they are laying sideways. To remedy the situation I have to keep cutting flowers for the house until I’ve trimmed the stems back to a length where they can stand alone.

So I'll just keep cutting flowers as long as Evelyn keeps producing them.

Ask a question

Please use the form below to submit your question. Because there is a 100-word limit for questions, a word counter is located directly beneath the box where you enter the your question.