Friesia Rose

Forget the soft butter and egg yolk yellows of the David Austin roses. Friesia is bright and strong - a yellow that stands out in the summer rose garden.

Friesia rose has a modern, unsubtle look. Mine is a standard, and I've carefully planted it separately from my other roses. Its nearest colour neighbour is bright purple (a perennial verbena) - aren't yellow and purple supposed to be good together? It's a very happy, healthy rose - a gift from a lovely ex-student of mine who was quite irrepressible and very loud - quite symbolic, really!

If I seem a little lost for words (for once) that is because the rose Friesia is not listed in my Botanica's big book of roses. Eeek! Does this mean that I've totally got the name wrong? I'm sure I haven't - watch this space!