DEADHEADING

Heirloom
Rose "KATHLEEN"

Growing on Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
July 2023
Click image to enlarge.

Heirloom
Rose "HANSEAT"

Growing on Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
July 2023.

Deadheading is the one profoundly rewarding war. It tidies away the signs of death and encourages yet another show of flowers. It was wonderfully understood by Vita Sackville-West in her garden at Sissinghurst Castle. 

"Deadheading roses on a summer evening," she wrote, "is an occupation that carries us back into a calmer age and a different century. Queen Victoria might still be on the throne. There is no sound except the hoot of an owl and the rhythmic snip-snip of our secateurs." Vita Sackville-West

Source:

Robin Lane Fox, English writer
Thoughtful Gardening
Perseus Books Group
2010; New York.