As an avid gardener and Jane Austen enthusiast, I have been waiting patiently for this…a rose named after one of my favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice!
It was inevitable that some rose breeder would cash in on the Pride and Prejudice bicentenary. I am just surprised it took them so long to name a rose after one of the novels or characters created by my favorite author Jane Austen.
Huzzah! Just announced by Harkness, a specialist rose growers in the UK, Pride and Prejudice, a floribunda rose in pale peach. WOW! Here is the description:
Pride and Prejudice
- Family: Floribunda
- Star Rating: 5
- Scent Rating: 4
- Flower Diameter: 8cm
- Petals: 35
- Flowers Per Cluster: 7-11
- Plant Size: H90cm x W60cm
- Colour: Pale Peach
We are delighted to introduce the new Pride and Prejudice rose, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s classic book. The detail and characters are so well constructed in the book, the dialogue so elegant with scenes capturing the essence of the period.
Not sure if they ship to the US, but it is great to know that someone FINALLY named a rose after the most popular classic in literary history.
For those who want to continue on the P&P rose theme, here is something fascinatingly creative…a paper rose made from the pages of Pride and Prejudice.
Etsy artist HBixbyArtworks has cleverly crafted roses from paper, and in this case from the pages of Pride and Prejudice. Imagine a bouquet of P&P paper roses? Stunning! Artists description:
This listing is for one vintage book paper rose which is about 3- 3.5″ in diameter. This paper rose is fashioned from the pages of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, (which is a very popular book,) and I made several dozen paper flowers from it!
The rose is on a 8″ wire stem, so can be put into a vase, or can be made into a brooch for a small extra charge, or you can buy several and have a whole bouquet!
A complimentary ribbon can be tied around the stem upon request :)
P&P roses and ribbons? How delightful!
AND…who could forget the Pride and Prejudice cover resplendent with roses by Harper Teen from 2009? It is eerily familiar to the designs for the Twilight book covers, but I think that was the point…to entice younger readers to read the classic mentioned by Bella and Edward.
For those not lucky enough to be a climate where the roses are already blooming, like the rose garden at my favorite place in the world (so far), The Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, California. This photo of their famous rose garden, where I have spent many happy hours enjoying the sights and scents, is a delight. Hope you can visit there too!
Happy May Day Janeites!
Cheers,
Laurel Ann
Images courtesy of © 2013 Harkness, © 2013 HBixbyArtworks and © 2009 Harper Teen; text © 2013 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose
Austenprose 
Laurel Ann,
how beautiful are these roses! I must tell to my janeites friends.
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Love the rose! :)
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Such a lovely surprise Laurel Ann! I really liked the color, so delicate!
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I would love to add this to my garden! Fingers crossed it will be available in the US soon!
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The rose is perfect. I’m currently living in Los Angeles (though I’m moving back to Chicago in a couple weeks) and the roses out here are in full bloom and massive. It’s crazy.
Thanks for sharing!
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What an incredible color the P & P rose is! If I could be so bold as to offer a relevant link to the greatest rose garden my wife and I have ever seen: The Biltmore Estates rose gardens in Asheville NC! I spent an hour just smelling and comparing countless different fragrances and endless varieties.
https://www.google.com/search?q=biltmore+rose+garden&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Nr6DUcTADYei8ATdjoHQCQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1093&bih=614
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It was nice to know about a rose being names after Pride and Prejudice. It’s one of my favorite books! :-)
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Like you, we are very excited about the launch of the Pride & Prejudice rose at Chelsea on Monday, May 20th. However we would like to make it clear that Harkness roses have not “cashed in” in on the Pride and Prejudice bicentenary, but responded to a suggestion we made for a rose to be named after this much loved book, in the bicentenary year. They have gone further than that and are giving a donation to Jane Austen’s House Museum for each rose sold.
Sadly this will not be available in USA initially, but all visitors to Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton will be able to see the rose in our garden.
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We just live to have our ears boxed by Jane Austen’s House Museum, “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”
I am glad to know that the new P&P rose is associated with the museum and it is being grown in their garden. We shall see it this September when we visit Chawton. Huzzah!
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