Shell-Pink Floribunda Rose

Like many gardeners, I often don't listen properly when I'm being given some free plants - particularly if there are lots coming my way. Many of my rose names are unknown as a result of my inattention.

I so admire the gardener who whips out a notebook as the unwanted treasures are being loaded onto the trailer. It's far too easy to stand there nodding wisely when asked 'And would you like a '*******' rose?'

Anonymous Beauties

'Oh yes, please - I'd love one. I've got just the perfect spot for it...' the grateful (but notebookless) gardener gushes, and commits the rose name to instant memory, even if it's one she (or he) has never heard of. Oh dear. And so the '*******' rose is doomed to join dozens of others, anonymous beauties in a mixed garden border somewhere else.

Lately I've been trying to compensate for memory loss by searching through my early journals. Often I'll resort to Google image searching, but typing in gardenerish phrases like 'apricot rose cupped flowers' rarely hits the spot.

And so this lovely rose, a V-shaped bush with stiff, fat arms, and delightful clusters of shell-pink flowers, sits in the Stables Garden, name unknown. Oops.