At this time of the year, this traditional English climbing rose, a Gertrude Jekyll hybrid, offers us one fragrant bloom at a time and probably will continue to do so until a serious frost in October. During its prime in the late spring and summer, it was covered in blooms.
For those who skipped art history in school, Gertrude Jekyll was a renowned English horticulturist, garden designer, writer, photographer, and fine artist who died in 1932. Her Celtic last name is properly pronounced “GEE-kill,” but many Americans pronounce it “JECK-ill.”
This hardy hybrid named after her was first introduced into the United Kingdom by the famous rose cultivator David Austin in 1986. One of it’s primary attributes is that it smells like a traditional rose – that indescribable, soul-satisfying aroma that many of today’s chemically preserved roses can’t produce. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 6 and 7, 2021.)