Portland is in the midst of celebrating
our annual Rose Festival.
So for the month of June,
Paint it Rose!
photo courtesy of wikipedia.org
Our roses are gorgeous and range in color
from white through the deepest darkest red.
My personal favorite is the Peace Rose
for the complexity and freshness of its palette —
— yellow, cream and pink.
photo courtesy of seniorhiker.wordpress.com
Things are always more interesting
to me in combination.
I love the Peace Rose for
melding the richest creamy yellow
with ivory and pink in a luscious palette.
photo courtesy of imagekind.com
Here, a bedroom as
light and fresh as the Peace Rose —
— perfect for floating-on-a-feather dreams:
photo courtesy of perpetual-perfection.com
• • • History of the Peace Rose • • •
The history of the Peace Rose is as magnificent as the bloom. In 1935, the third-generation French rose breeder, Francis Meilland, tagged one of his promising seedlings 3-35-40. While war clouds gathered in Europe, he introduced the unnamed rose to friends and professional rose growers who responded enthusiastically. His nursery faced the threat of destruction when Hitler invaded France. To ensure his promising seedling's future, Meilland hastily sent three parcels of 3-35-40 budwood out of France, including one that was smuggled out in the diplomatic bag. (I mean, seriously, who thinks about smuggling roses?!?)
In America the Meilland's agent planted the rose in his own trial beds and gave it to other rose growers for testing. The rose did so well that they decided to release it in the United States. With war still raging in Europe, the launch date was set for 29 April 1945. Coincidentally, on the same day that two doves were released into the American sky to symbolize the naming of the Peace Rose, Berlin fell and a truce to the war was declared. (source)
photo courtesy of sadieandstella.com
Peace returns.
Exhale.
Inhale...
Exhale.
photo courtesy of desiretoinspire.net
For more inspiration, check out our Pinterest boards.
*header photo courtesy of Tanaka Juuyouh.