Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 25 March 2012

By Any Other Name

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
 William Shakespeare ‘Romeo and Juliet'

I was prompted to post this set of stamps by Viridian’s Sunday Stamps on her postcard blog. She had the 33 pence one hiding in her drawer and wondered how old it was. Here it is in all its glory as part of a set issued to commemorate the Ninth Royal Congress of Roses in Belfast on 16th July 1991. 




Roses have inspired artists and poets for centuries. They are admired for their beaty, perfume and variety. These pictures are of roses in my old garden in Salisbury, Wiltshire. I have no idea what variety they are but the photographs are a pleasant reminder of many happy hours spent there years ago.  We don’t have roses in our garden here in Lanzarote though they seem to grow well here. Perhaps I’ll add some soon.













I  know a bank where the wild thyme blows,  
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,  
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
William Shakespeare ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’


8 comments:

  1. Did you ever visit the rose gardens at Mottisfont? I'm sure you must have.

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  2. Thank you for finding information on my stamp! Someone sent me a reprint of a scientific article, I am sure. Now I know approximately when. Thank you for participating.

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  3. That's a nice set.

    I planted a rosebush last year for the first time. It didn't grow the way it was supposed to grow and I was not happy with it.

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  4. Great set, Nell. Roses are always worn the space for them in any garden.

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  5. Lovely images.
    When the rose season comes along, I take so many photos and I can't help it. Think I could illustrate a rose catalogue by now!

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  6. Isn't it great when connections like this can be made?!
    This is a nice set ob botanical drawings.

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  7. Beautiful stamps!
    I have several rose plants in my garden now but I don't know which varieties are they - they're just planted in one giant pot. On good days, they'll have more than a dozen blooms. I, too, take as many photos as I can :)
    Have a lovely week ahead.

    Postcards Crossing

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  8. A superb way to answer Viridian's question. Roses have such variety, and are as you show, very photogenic.

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