A Rose By Any Other Name.......

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - 1594

I only have a few roses in my garden. The first one is a shrub rose. I am not even sure if the rose that keeps blooming in early summer each year is actually the rose that I planted. I think we had to cut the original rose down and the suckers that came up from the root are now what are flowering. I planted this so long ago that I have forgotten what it was.

I also have a cute little mini rose. A friend gave it to me several years ago. It is growing in a protected spot, so it has continued to come up each spring. I love the light salmon colour!

And finally a beautiful hybrid tea rose called "Woman". I love this rose! It comes up year after year. It has a fantastic fragrance. It is a wonderful light peach colour! The roses are huge, on long stems! This a gorgeous rose to pick as a rosebud and put in a vase. I planted this one over 25 years ago. It keeps coming year after year, even without winter protection. I think it is such a hardy rose because it is called 'Woman". That is the only reason I can think of that makes this plant such a winner!

Roses have sharp prickles. These are often called thorns, but thorns are modified stems, whereas prickles are modified epidermal tissues. The leaves are pinnately compound with toothed oval leaflets. Some roses produce an edible fruit called a rose hip. These rose hips can be made into jams and jellies and are a good source of vitamin C. Aphids are the rose's main destructive pest. They suck the sap and weaken the plant. Lady Bugs are predators of aphids and should be encouraged in the rose garden. It is not a good practice to spray roses with insecticides (and it is now against the law to do so in Toronto) because beneficial insects will be destroyed along with the bad insects.

Family: Rosaceae. Genus: Rosa. Species - There are over 100 species of roses.

Common Name: Rose

Lady's Mantle - Alchemilla mollis

Lady's Mantle is an herbaceous perennial. It does well in my zone 5a garden! I needed a plant to shade the roots of my clematis. I chose Lady's Mantle for its ability to grow in a semi-shaded area and for its almost inconspicuous leaves and flowers. It is not a plant that you will notice right away when you come to my garden. But that is what I like about it. Here you can see it with clematis flowers peeking through. This plant is way in the back of my garden and it is difficult for me to get close enough to take a photo.


Lady's Mantle leaves are large and palmately veined with a lobed and serrated edge. They are a beautiful blue-green colour that blends nicely with other foliage in the garden. This bluish colour has given this plant it's common name of Lady's Mantle. It is named for the Virgin Mary's cloak. After a rain or early in the morning, droplets of water will sit on the leaves. The plants' ability to have water pool on its leaves like that has given it its botanical name - Alchemilla. Early alchemists believed that these little droplets of water were the purest form of liquid and used it in their quest to turn base metals into gold. Folk lore has it that these droplets were used by early women as a facial application. The roots are supposedly edible. This plant has been used for all sorts of medicinal reasons, including menstrual irregularities, bruises and sores and digestive disorders. The chartreuse flowers are held in dense clusters above the leaves. I love this lime-green colour! This plant may not be loud and showy, but it is one of my favourites. Apparently it can become invasive, but mine has never been a problem.

Family: Rosaceae. Genus: Alchemilla. Species: A. mollis
Common Name: Lady's Mantle