Nancy Steen Rose

Nancy Steen was a New Zealand rosarian, and this rose is named after her. It's one of the few roses I brought here from my last garden, specifically because of the New Zealand rose connection.

A Blush Pink Rose

The flowers are usually described as blush pink, though people's blushes are never as subtle as this rose. The last flowers bloom well into autumn, and can be quite a bit darker in colour.

I grow two bushes of the rose Nancy Steen in my front patio garden, under-planted with Stachys Limelight. I like the freshness of the resulting colour combination.

Recently these roses have been suffering, and their growth has been unspectacular. It could be lack of space - the removal of a bulky, pushy flax should assure them of a better summer next year. I suspect that building rubble left in the soil might be spoiling their health, too.

Nancy Steen fits in well with the larger Compassion roses which lean on up the nearby pergola posts. Both roses have the same colour ones.

A Lover of Old Fashioned Roses

Nancy Steen herself worked really hard to encourage the growing of old fashioned roses. Earlier in New Zealand's rose growing history suburban gardeners would have nothing to do with the older style roses, preferring regimented rose gardens full of stiff hybrid teas. How things have changed!

From the Archives...

The photograph below is from the archives, back in the days when the web-master lived at Mooseys and charged around the garden with a point-and-shoot film camera. Again, how things have changed!

Nancy Steen's flower colours remind me of pastel bathroom soaps. That's not a description you'd find in the rose books!