Yesterday, I went with some friends to see Vera Sackville-West’s  spectacular gardens at Sissinghurst Castle, about an hour’s drive from my place. I took a lot of photographs and hope to publish a blog about the day later this week. Before that though, I thought I’d show you my little Lewes garden before it gets totally upstaged by the sensational display at Sissinghurst.

As you can see, all my roses have finally made it into bloom and I rather liked it out there this morning.

As I’ve written before, all my roses are David Austin varieties and they were all planted seven years ago as small stems when I completely redesigned the garden. I think they’ve now declared my small town garden their home. If you want to find out more about them, I’ll introduce them to you by name.

It seemed a good idea to take my coffee out there to enjoy the view. Look out for the Sissinghurst photos coming later. I had a wonderful day there – you should catch the Sissinghurst roses while their at the very best.

The post More Bloomin’ Roses in my Lewes Garden. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

Last week I showed you my first red, red rose and now I can unveil the second rose to flower in my Lewes, UK garden and, yes, folks, it’s white.

The red rose is the solitary bloom at one side of the garden, the white on the other. You’d think they were enemies.

The white one is the David Austin rose, Iceberg and it will soon, I hope, cover one of my fences with many of its crisp white flowers.

The red one, as reported last week, is another David Austin rose, Danse de feu. 

I’m reminded of that scene in Shakespeare where the medieval English Yorkist and Lancastrian nobles fall out over who should be the rightful King of England. They took opposite sides and chose their emblems,  one side a white rose, the other a red one. Then they began to beat the hell out of each other, in 1455,  in a civil war known at The War of The Roses.

The Wars of the Roses may look pretty in these pictures – especially below,  in the nearly contemporary image of the ferociously fought Battle of Barnet, I remember thinking the knights looked like jelly babies, but the war was a bloody affair ending the Plantagenet dynasty with the death of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and putting the first Tudor monarch, King Henry VII,  on the English throne,

Tudor Rose

I’m hoping my roses will live together much more peacefully but their rivalry will end soon with all my other roses come out between them. Then there will be a whole range of different colours when the many buds out there open into bloom.

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Here is the first rose to flower in my Lewes garden this year caught in the early morning sun. There is something special about this moment and every year I celebrate it with a slight leap in my heart-rate.

This David Austin rose is Danse de Feu – it grows and thrives without fail on my shadowy and sun-starved North-facing flint wall where the flowers manage to shine out like rubies even on a dull day.

Today, with the sun shining on this new arrival, my single red rose has the promise of so much more to come. It is no coincidence that the first swallows started their pirouettes over my garden too this morning. Summer is well on its way – we just need the temperature to rise a bit more.

No wonder the Scots poet Robert Burns was inspired to his lyrical best by the sight of a red, red rose – “newly sprung in June” – well, mine has beaten Mr Burns’ rose by two weeks but the poem still deserves its turn in the sun.

Red, Red Rose

by Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

The post The First Rose Of Summer here in my Lewes Garden is a ‘Red, Red Rose.’ appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

After a week of rain and miserable low temperatures, I just love it when the sun comes out and never more when it knows to shine on my roses. The rose Danse de Feu knows how to find the spot lit too. A memorable moment in my Lewes garden.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

The post The sun knows where to shine in my Lewes garden. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

This is Danse de Feu (Fire Dance), one of my David Austen roses. It has burst into flame this week in its unlikely place at the darkest part of my small Lewes garden on the mostly shadowy North facing flint wall. It is well-named as it lights up this sun-starved corner with its lively bursts of fire.

 It puts me in the mood for a real fire dance – something that makes me think of countries with hot climates and a sense of extravagant fun. Already I’m hearing Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s most famous piece – the Ritual Fire Dance. As it’s a holiday weekend, what used to be the old Whitsun Holiday,  this weekend, we should all be in the mood for a dance and no one does joyful dancing better than the Spanish.

The Ritual Fire Dance  (Danza ritual del fuego)  is from Manuel de Falla’s ballet score for El amor brujo (Love the magician), written in 1915 and it’s danced as a seductive ghost exorcism by a village woman who dances until he’s consumed by the flames.

 Cirque du Soleil’s phenomenal fire dancer Paris-based Srikanta Barefoot has a way with fire too – You might burn more than your fingers if you try this at home so better just to watch Mr Barefoot from a safe distance.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

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