Tuesday, July 10, 2007

THE ROSE

A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa, and the flower of this shrub. There are more than a hundred species of wild roses, all from the northern hemisphere and mostly from temperate regions. The species form a group of generally prickly shrubs or climbers, and sometimes trailing plants, reaching 2–5 m tall, rarely reaching as high as 20 m by climbing over other plants.



The name originates from Latin rosa, borrowed through Oscan from colonial Greek in southern Italy: rhodon (Aeolic form: wrodon), from Aramaic wurrdā, from Assyrian wurtinnu, from Old Iranian *warda (cf. Armenian vard, Avestan warda, Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr).
Rose hips are sometimes eaten, mainly for their vitamin C content. They are usually pressed and filtered to make rose-hip syrup, as the fine hairs surrounding the seeds are unpleasant to eat (resembling itching powder). They can also be used to make herbal tea, jam, jelly and marmalade.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Friday, July 6, 2007

VOTE FOR ANGKOR WAT as One of the New 7 Wonders of the World

Vote online here: http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=315&L=0 – all you need is an email address to register! You get 7 votes and use it all for Angkor.

Vote by phone: Call +44 870 062 3748 (UK) Your calls will be charged at normal international call rates. During the call, you can vote for two of the 21 final New7Wonders candidates. The Angkor Code is 03. Phone voting will only take 30 seconds!

Vote by SMS: (for US mobile users only) Send ANGKOR to 9444.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Rosa 'Peace'


The Peace rose is the most famous and successful garden rose of all time. Over one hundred million plants have been sold. It is a Hybrid Tea rose with very large flowers and a light yellow to cream color. It is very hardy and resistant to disease making it popular in gardens as well as in the floral trade.

It was developed by French horticulturist Francis Meilland in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. The rose became known as 'Peace' in the following way. Early 1945 Meilland wrote to Field Marshal Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke), the principal author of the master strategy that won Second World War, to thank him for his key part in the liberation of France and to ask if Brooke would give his name to the rose. Brooke declined saying that, though he was honored to be asked, his name would soon be forgotten and a much better and more enduring name would be "Peace".



The name "Peace" is a trade name; its formal cultivar name is Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland'. The adoption of the trade name "Peace" was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note that read "We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace".



Peter Beales, English rose grower and expert, said in his book Roses, "'Peace', without doubt, is the finest Hybrid Tea ever raised and it will remain a standard variety forever".

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Rosa 'Mister Lincoln'


Mister Lincoln is a large flowered (hybrid tea) bush rose introduced in 1964. (AARS 1965). This tall red rose is renowned for its strong fragrance (in still air it can be detected up to 10 feet away) and its deep, uniform red color. It grows to about 1.2 metres high and 1 metre across. The leaves are matt dark green. The buds are deep red and open up into large, velvety red, double blossoms. It has typically around 30 to 35 petals per flower. It is a vigorous plant that performs well in all climates.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Friday, June 22, 2007

Hybrid Tea


Hybrid Tea is a Cultivar Group of roses, created by cross-breeding two different types of roses. Grown one flower to a long stem, they are supported by long, straight and upright stems. Most can be as tall as 1.8 metres and are repeat flowering. Each flower can grow to 8-12.5 cm wide. Hybrid Teas are the world's most popular type of rose by choice due to their color and flower form. With their long stems, it gives them the advantage, over others, as cut flowers. Most varieties, however, lack fragrance and can be difficult to grow in the home garden due to a lack of disease resistance and susceptibility to cold temperatures.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Botany of Roses

The leaves of most species are 5–15 cm long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. The vast majority of roses are deciduous, but a few (particularly in southeast Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.

The flowers of most species roses have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, which often has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and are usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea, four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. The ovary is inferior, developing below the petals and sepals.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Friday, March 30, 2007


Lace is a lightweight, openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.



Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Welcome to Laces & Roses

A picture blog of the most beautiful laces and roses in the world.