Mieke Vanlommel passed away in July 2016. Several of her friends wanted to pay tribute to her. Wilko and Helen Karmelk from the Dutch nursery Ferdinandushof, Ann and Rudy Velle-Boudolf from the nursery Lens Roses, Ghislain and Stéphanie d’Ursel, the organisers of the Hex Castle plant fair, and Jinge Lim, editor-in-chief of your favourite magazine, Eden.
Many of you knew the lady from Evergreen and met her at numerous plant fairs in Belgium and France, with her elegant stand and collection of hats, complemented by jackets, gloves, boots and other casual chic clothing. A veritable Aladdin's cave filled with luxury products for anyone wanting to combine beauty with quality. Mieke was from Limburg and adored England, Scotland and Ireland, where she regularly sourced stock for her stand and her boutique in Leuven. She was self-taught, discreet, generous, strong-willed, a woman of firm conviction and strong character. With unparalleled refinement, she simply wished to guide her customers and friends towards… beauty. No more, but certainly no less.
The rose
The rose ‘Mieke Vanlommel’ is the result of friendship and work. One day, it appeared in the garden of the Ferdinandushof nursery in Overslag, north of Ghent. Wilko and Helen sowed some seeds taken from the rosehips of Rosa ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’. That renowned large rose is the mother plant, and another famous rose growing nearby, Rosa ‘Constance Spry’, is the father plant of the new rose. Two true monuments of the rose family. The first is a liana rose measuring 6 to 10 m with delicate, olive-green leaves that disappear completely in mid-spring beneath countless little pompons of semi-double, fragrant flowers in ivory-white with a hint of pink. The second, ‘Constance Spry’, is none other than the first “English rose”, introduced by the famous David Austin. An exuberant, almost voluptuous shrub rose, with large, round, cup-shaped flowers in a delightful soft pink that release an irresistible myrrh scent. These two roses are not repeat-flowering; they bloom only once a year, during the summer months of June and July.
Various seeds germinated and after about three years Wilko and Helen saw that two seedlings were bearing flowers. In honour of Mieke, they kept the prettiest one, which had inherited the best of both parents. From the father ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’, the new rose has the vigorously climbing trait with growth shoots of 1.5 to 2 m per year and the summer-flowering large clusters of small flowers. From the mother ‘Constance Spry’, the cup-shaped to almost spherical, soft pink semi-double flowers, with a charming fragrance. At the end of summer and in autumn, these are followed by clusters of orange rosehips. Helen and Wilko immediately succumbed to the charming natural traits of this completely unartificial rose, just like Jinge, who recounts that the flower lasts exceptionally well in a vase – or like Ann, who has grafted them in her nursery and remarks: ‘The giant clouds of small cup-shaped flowers bring romance to the garden, opening up to reveal their stamens.” So this is truly a rose that resembles Mieke. She opens her petals to show her heart.
Article from: Eden Magazine
Marie Noëlle Cruysmans
Ferdinandushof Helen and Wilko Karmelk
Rode Sluisweg 13, NL-4575 NE Overslag www.ferdinandushof.nl
Lens Roses Ann and Rudy Velle-Boudolf
Redinnestraat 11, B-8460 Oudenburg www.lens-roses.be
