The Granny Mouse Country House and Spa is blessed with many beautiful flowers and none as beautiful as their roses. Guests often tell our team how much they admire the displays of our roses which are amongst some of the most memorable in the Midlands.
Did you know that roses are often named after famous or important people?
Interestingly, the fashion of naming roses after people started at the beginning of 19th century when breeding company Jackson and Perkins named their first rose Dorothy Perkins. This rose was not named after a celebrity but rather after a granddaughter of one of the owners. The rose turned out to be a huge success, winning a prize at the Royal National Rose Society in 1908. As a result, Dorothy Perkins became famous overnight without having to do anything!
Since then, many rose propagators have named their creations after family members. So, if you come across a rose named after a person but no famous face comes to mind, you are probably looking at rose named after a family member or friend and not a celebrity.
Roses that are named after famous people are typically some of the most special, though. After all, celebrities can be picky when their reputations are at stake.
Some roses named after famous South Africans include:
• The Madiba’ rose which is a fiery orange-red, produced in abundance on a vigorous, healthy bush.
• The Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which bears full, nostalgic, cup-shaped, long-lasting blooms with firm petals. It grows into a loosely branched shrub that sprouts flowering stems from base to tip from spring into winter. A portion of the price of each rose is donated to the Tygerberg Children’s Hospital in Cape Town of which the Archbishop and Mrs Tutu are patrons.
• The Candice Morgan, named for deaf community ambassador and former Miss Deaf SA, who raises awareness of the issues faced by the deaf community. ‘Candice’ is a fairytale variety with the typical flower shape and distinctive perfume of the romantic roses of yesteryear. The colour is a blend of deep cream and pink with a faint striping. This graceful bush reaches between hip and chest height.
• The Fordyce rose, which is named for this famous Comrades athlete (Bruce Fordyce). Fittingly, it is hardy, drought tolerant and disease resistant. Each cream-white based petal has tones of pink that become more concentrated towards the edges. Ludwig’s Rose Farm is one of 130 Parkrun venues across the country.
• The Thuli Madonsela which honours the former public protector. This hybrid tea rose carries its two-toned fragrant pink blooms in floribunda-like clusters. With its glossy, bright-green, disease-resistant leaves, it grows vigorously to chest height.
Then there are the beautiful blooms that are named for international celebrities:
• Elizabeth Arden has a beautiful pink double-bloom hybrid tea rose named after her. This rose has stunning pink petals with darker pink edges.
• Audrey Hepburn has a soft apple-blossom-pink hybrid tea rose that is named after her.
• A stunning cream-color hybrid tea rose with pink edges and a mild and fruity fragrance is named after the late Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly.
• Two years after his death, fans of Freddie Mercury raised £2,000 to create and name a new variety of rose in his honour – yellow roses were his favorite.
• Even the Royal family has flowers named after them. Diana, Princess of Wales, has a peach / pink hybrid tea rose that is reminiscent of a sunset named after her. This delicate blend of blush pink has darker pink colouring on the outer edges of the petals.
• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have given their name to an apricot-coloured rose which fades into white.
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