Golden celebration

Some pot bound irises had to make way yesterday (Monday) for a new rose - a 'Golden Celebration' from David Austin of reference 1. A chap whom it seems that BH once talked to in the course of a visit to Chelsea Flower Show, an entirely plausible story.

The rose is described by: 'one of the largest-flowered English Roses, bearing rich yellow blooms in the form of giant cups. They have a strong Tea fragrance, developing wonderfully combined notes of Sauternes wine and strawberry. It forms a rounded shrub, with ample foliage – the flowers held beautifully poised on long, arching branches. David Austin, 1992'. Investigating the tea fragrance I find all kinds of stuff, not all of it appearing to be anything to to do with the tea one drinks. You can, for example, get something called 'Elizabeth Arden White Tea' from Fragrance Direct. While I am told by a French parfumier that they no longer bother with mail order to the UK as it has become too complicated with Brexit. None of which is to be confused with the Singapore property company called Fragrance of reference 4.

The pot was bought more than thirty years ago from Notcutt's of Norwich, on the inner ring road, not far from the junction with the A11, off which we lived at the time. At least I thought they were Notcutt's of Norwich, but I find this morning that the place is merely the Norwich branch of a chain.

From reference 3, I learn that the original Mr. Notcutt came from a successful legal family, but as a second son was allowed to pursue his horticultural interests, starting his first nursery in 1897 at Ipswich - where my parents lived after the second world war. So perhaps they visited the place. The business then expanded, through its present headquarters at nearby Woodbridge, to the national chain it is now. Acquiring the Norwich branch in 1976 and the Tunbridge Wells branch - home to another branch of the family - in 1989. Long a limited company, but the Notcutts are still there. Lots of medals and so forth from the RHS.

The sage, far right, is probably pot bound too. But it still does OK on a good year. While top middle we have the yellow buddleja grown from a cutting taken from mid-Wales, very near the source of the Severn. Probably the cross Buddleja × weyeriana known as 'Sungold', although Bing is not saying what the weyariana bit is. And asking Notcutt's about yellow buddlejas mostly yields a mixture of garden equipment and yellow roses. 

I don't think I ever knew that buddlejas were spelt with a 'j'. As they say, one learns something every day.

PS: we get there. From reference 4 we have: 'the Buddleja x weyeriana are large hybrid shrubs, notable for their yellow- or cream-coloured flowers. Their origin is well documented: during the First World War Major William van de Weyer of Smedmore House, at Corfe Castle, pollinated the South American species B.globosa with pollen from B.davidii var. magnifica, a native of China ... The 'magnifica' variety was perhaps the best form of B.davidii at the time, predating the development of modern garden cultivars. Van de Weyer was perhaps fortunate, as the flowering of the two species only rarely coincides, and the more so that it occurred while he was on leave from the Army'.

Reference 1: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://www.notcutts.co.uk/garden-centres/norwich/.

Reference 3: https://www.notcutts.co.uk/history/.

Reference 4: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/sir-roland-storrs.html.

Reference 5: https://buddlejagarden.co.uk/weyer.html.