Explorer roses including William Baffin in Christine's garden. She picks up the story ..............
I take my evening wander through the mid-June garden, by Winsome laced
with lavender Sweet Pea, from an old seed, dropped there about ten years
before. A survivor. Past the Hybrid Perpetuals, not spent but past
their best, then by the Hybrid Musks with their mix of delicate little
blooms, some a bit old, but mostly fresh. Down the path - a path
lined with rock and softened with chipped up rose prunings, to the
gazebo with its surround of pastel floribundas. Then over to the Row
of Reds - a side by side comparison of ten or so varieties, and across
the bare land.
On to the edge, this bit of land still sunny, defined by a rim of bed
rock which falls off like a cliff on the far side. And within this
rough red rim are the three Explorers.
In the
middle, John Franklin, 3 1/2 feet tall by 5 feet, blooms a deep reddish
pink, almost red from a distance. Still lots of bloom amid all the
spent receptacles.
To the left, John Cabot, a deep pink, somewhat near to red when fresh,
shading to a mauve-pink with age. To the right, William Baffin.
William Baffin File#_d5512
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William Baffin #d5526
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William Baffin's
blooms are by far the prettiest of the three explorers- a deep mauve-pink with a
narrow rim of white surrounding golden stamens. A lovely effect. But
William Baffin is also the first one to finish, bearing now only about a
quarter as much bloom as the others. They should both get much bigger
with time, but four years after planting William Baffin is 4 to 5 feet
tall with about an 8 foot spread.
