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Britain's Oldest Rose Bush
A subject which has interested me for some years, but I've yet to discover the answer in spite of requests on various forums. Where is the UK's oldest rose bush, not rose variety. In 2006 I travelled to Tombstone, Arizona, and saw the Worlds largest rose bush a white 'Lady Banksia'. The original plant came over from Scotland in 1885 and from this one plant the stems spread over an arbor of over 8000 square feet. I know of the World's Oldest Rose Bush, over a thousand years old and growing alongside Hildersheim Cathedral in Germany. But where oh where is Britain's Oldest Rose Bush? Does anyone here know for sure?
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Hi Paul. Have you though tof asking the RHS, or is that a silly question? I found this site http://www.classicroses.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=30094
LOL! Oh dear, I should have checked before posting! When I scrolled down the page of the website I see you have already been there. Senior moment!
No probs. I'm just a bit surprised that I've still yet to find the answer. Perhaps Montisfont knows?
Oh, thats fine. I did contact both the Royal National Rose Society and the RHS and neither knew. Montisfont has the national collection of old roses so I think they are the next step. Graham Thomas, no longer with us, would certainly have known.
I'm looking for that answer too. There was a fantastic big bush grown from a slip of the oldest English rose at a house in the hills above Santa Fe, NM. But when the house sold the new owners, not brits, had acres of old English gardens including that amazing rose. I got a beautiful branch for a walking stick. There were acres of plants all dug up and dump into a big open ditch to die in the sun. Including magnificent heritage roses. A tragic waste. But they may have died in later droughts anyway. Santa Fe and Northern NM were famous for extraordinary gardens shaded by huge ancient cottonwood trees...all dead or blighted by successive droughts now. Global warming deniers have to be the most dedicated fools ever by now.