It’s as rare as proverbial hens’ teeth to buy something these days that actually lives up to it’s name and its description. Some years passed I bought the rose ‘Everlasting Love’ as a present for my wife on our wedding anniversary (November 21).
It was grown as a standard rose and just on the cusp of flowering with a mere hint of deep red showing. I pinned my hopes on ‘Everlasting Love’ blooming on cue and it did just that. Big, beautiful and perfumed glorious red blooms on long stems greeted my darling on that anniversary day.
I planted the rose outside our bedroom so my wife can have roses when she awakes. The rose is healthy and vigorous and it lives up to its name because it flowers all spring, summer and autumn. A few blooms even make it in our Waitomo winter winds and rain.
Now our anniversary has come round again and the flowers have appeared again for what is our 10th wedding anniversary.
Shane Te Ruki, Waitomo Caves.
‘Everlasting Love’, a rose bred by New Zealander Doug Grant, is also known as ‘Millennium’. It won the 2001 New Zealand Rose of the Year title and was also judged the best floribunda or shrub rose that year. – Susie.
