I have to give you a little bit of history about where I found the roses. Sorry I can't include 'smell' in the blog but I hope you will enjoy the pics.
A gardener I am not ...my favourite flowers are roses, poppies & crepe myrtle ...all very much no fuss stuff. It's the old or heritage roses that have caught my attention. They are hardy little devils, especially suited to the dry inland climate where I live.
When we bought the farm there were several roses growing near the house, they were surviving the drought & fairly neglected. The big red rose bush was huge, 8 feet high, the flowers ..magnificent & the perfume ..superb. It's name I do not know. The other little thorny thing reminded me of a rose my mother loved & it grew outside the bedroom window of the house were I raised my two sons. That rose was called Super Star.
About 5 years ago the Bloke noticed an article in "The Land" - our weekly paper of all things agricultural. The story was about the roses at Bishop's Lodge. Firstly - about the roses ...they were old 'heritage' roses, originally planted in by the then Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Riverina. Bishop Anderson developed an extensive rose garden during his time at the Lodge (1895-1925).
The Church sold Bishop's Lodge in 1946 and it remained in private ownership until 1985 when it was purchased by the Hay Shire Council. The building has architectural significance and the conservation of Bishop's Lodge became the Shire's major Bicentennnial project (1985-1989). This also included work on the Rose garden.
Many of the old roses had been lost but Friends of Bishop's Lodge worked with the National Rose Society of Australia to identify the remaining roses. While it was possible to classify the roses, the names of the original roses remain unknown. Roses believed to have been introduced into the garden by Bishop Anderson are budded onto understock and are available for sale at the annual Bishop's Lodge Spring Fair in October or ordered 'bare-rooted' for winter planting.
And so it was, on Sunday 21st of October 2012 we made our third trip to smell the roses.
The town of Hay is in western New South Wales, on the Murrumbidgee River. It is 200 kilometers or 120 miles from home - a nice Sunday drive across the Riverina Plains.
It was a nice change dress-up, pull on the Durango Boots, flash the diamond rings and be driven to a place where I really wanted to go.
The garden wasn't quite as lush as I remembered - drought (10 years of it) followed by two very wet years had taken it's toll on the roses. The Bishop's Lodge roses were not available to buy this year - no grafting had been done for 2 years due to the extreme weather events.
But that was OK - I found 2 interesting Heritage roses to buy....
my big red rose bush
perfect rose from my rose bush
The Bishop's Lodge
Ophelia in the garden at Bishop's Lodge
Ophelia (1912 Hybred Tea)
Shady walkway to the Hidden Garden
One of the original roses - amazing fragrance
'Ophelia' from my garden
In my garden - from Boshop's Lodge
This beauty is 7ft (2.1m) high - in my garden
Flowers from the 'new' heritage rose
and I haven't forgotten the kids
They are waiting for their bottles ...we now have 6 poddy monsters. Kidding has slowed, hopefully not too many more to go. I feel a road trip coming on....
Until next time ...Cheers ....'Old Goatie'
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