bewitchingbritain:

    Mottisfont Abbey Gardens, in the southern county of Hampshire, England. Here we have rose Veilchenblau and other climbers clambering provocatively around pergolas and walls from a thirteenth century Augustinian friary. ROSES ON THE WALLS OF A THIRTEENTH CENTURY FRIARY. I can’t even

  So, these fancy flower gardens contain the UK’s collection of old fashioned roses, with some varieties dating back hundreds of years. There are roses such as the alba and damask, gallicas, centifolias, rugosas, early china and hybrid perpetual. Then there are the Talking Roses that mumble to themselves about the dreadful weather, the Stalking Roses which will scuttle furtively behind your crush while emitting a tell-tale scent for you to follow; the Walking Roses which parade proudly through the streets at night, the Calking Roses which keep stuffing themselves stubbornly into crevices of walls, and of course the Balking Roses, who refuse to do anything at all.

    (image by UKGardens on flickr).