TRICKY things, roses. I recall a former colleague beaming with delight when her hubby, on a business trip to America, despatched a bouquet of roses to her at the office. Her smiling visage faltered though when a more cynical colleague opined: "I wonder what he's been up to if he feels the need to send flowers?"
But these were the cut variety. Grown in some foreign soil such as Kenya then put in cold storage en route to Britain. If you prefer your blooms still living, then Glasgow has one of the best displays of roses in the country. You probably didn't know that. You see, they are in the east end of Glasgow, that faraway place that West Enders or even South Siders, rarely visit. They are in Tollcross Park which, thanks to the new M74 extension, is really very easy to get to for those who have "Here be dragons" etched on maps of Glasgow past High Street.
Just inside this beautiful park, on a south-facing slope, are 18 beds of roses, cut into the grass so that the beds, taken together, resemble a giant rose head as if it had been designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh. It wasn't until drones with cameras were invented that the full effect of the beds could be seen. Until then the only person who really saw their full splendour was the pilot of the police helicopter which has been known to venture into the east end occasionally.
Last week though the beds were swarming with about 60 people, like human bees gathering around the flowers, who were studying them intently and scratching numbers on a scorecard. Every year one of the beds, with up to two dozen varieties, is judged as part of the International Rose Trials, with prizes awarded to the breeders of the best varieties.
As Derek Wells, natural environment officer with Glasgow City Council, explained to me, every year commercial growers are invited to send examples of new varieties to the park where they are planted in a bed where they will be cultivated for 10 years. Each year one of the beds is chosen for the rose judges to mark, taking into account their colour, fragrance, blooms, disease resistance, and vigour. The only proviso is that they have to be commercially available, so that the public, if they see a bloom they covet, can readily grow their own.
Park staff - there are four whose duties include looking after the roses - weed them and dead-head them, but the disease control and feeding is all done with items you could buy at any nursery or garden-shop. There are no secret ingredients to fool the public.
Says Derek: "Some of them do fail after a year or two, but at least that tells the growers that Scotland is not the key market for that variety. This year was a wet cold start, but there was a bit of heat at the start of the week so a lot of the heads have just opened. It's been a good year for the roses."
And he managed to say that without breaking into the Jerry Chestnut country song made famous by Elvis Costello, so well done Derek.
But flowers. In an east end park? Without being prejudicial, have they ever suffered from vandalism or even sneaky rose pickers? "Well Valentines Day is in February, and roses don't bloom here until June so that's not a problem. Some youngsters run around the beds thinking it's a maze and we have to warn them to stay off the roses - so that they don't get hurt. They have thorns.
"You don't want to go in after a ball if you value your legs from the knees down."
It's the colours that seize your attention of course. From the classic deep reds, through to the daintier pinks and yellows, to the pristine whites. Some have stand-alone rose-heads such as the hybrid tea varieties, others have clusters of flowers. Some have the same colour from the centre out to the tips of the leaves. Others have gradings of colours like a living kaleidoscope. The leaves can be tightly curled as if guarding the centre of the plant, other are lazily wide open.
Although only one bed is being judged, all the beds are full, apart from one which is kept fallow on an annual rotating basis. There must be some 4000 rose plants here and the public can simply stroll in at any time to see them, but come of course between June and September when they are actually flowering. The council gardeners are happy to talk to you about how to care for them, how to prune them, when to dead-head them.
I stop to chat with one of the judges, Paul Rochford, president of the Royal National Rose Society, who praised Glasgow council for its commitment from the top officers down to the gardeners for this annual display in a quiet corner of Tollcross which is on par with some of the more famous gardens in Britain.
But Paul points out that there is more to it than simply flowers. "Some of the younger members of staff here work for Land Services, and six months later could be working on bin lorries. But horticulture is a great way to give young people, particularly in cities where they might not know much about it, skills ranging from dealing with plants, but also dealing with the public, and even the simple stuff of having a reason to get up in the morning. There are so many benefits of horticulture."
We are then interrupted by a Clydesdale horse slowly clip-clopping along the path heading to the park's children's farm. Towards the trees, a fox quickly scuttles past.
Sometimes nature should be seen and breathed in, so next time you want to do something for your partner, bring them to Tollcross Park instead of buying cut flowers. Not only cheaper, but it might make them less suspicious.
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