'ROSES CAPTURE MELBOURNE'S ESSENCE'

On a street like many others in the Melbourne, Australia area, the red, yellow, and apricot shades of roses cascade from the yards. They bloom in violet and pink from the tops of fences and behind wrought iron railings. Sometimes they squeeze together in front yards only five feet wide.
On this particular street, Lyndhurst Crescent in suburban Hawthorn, one rose garden grows in homage to the late postman. As Hawthorn resident Felix Carrady tells the story, the old postman adored his roses, and his daughter keeps them blooming in his memory (photo above). The rose gardens photographed here are a small sampling on a few blocks of just one suburban street.
Melbournites view more formal rose arrangements in Melbourne’s more than 100 parks during spring. For one, the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne boasts more than 200 different species and varieties of roses. The flowers appear against a backdrop of buildings (photo, right).
Some roses have foreign origins; others, Australian bred, have Aussie names, such as Onkaparinga. According to the website, Burke’s Backyard, the roses withstand the country’s climate extremes, including summer days when temperatures climb to 40 degrees centigrade (104 Fahrenheit ).
Last Australian spring (November) followed years of drought so severe that just “a teaspoon of water is left at the bottom of what was a river,” exaggerates Hawthorn resident Zieta Carrady, Felix‘s wife.
The rosy panorama survived the droughts, and Nancy Bekhor continues to mediate on roses. Nancy, who describes herself as a metaphysical Melbournite, says she recalls their scent during meditation. She affirms the roses “capture the essence of Melbourne."
Photos and story by Carola C. Reuben
Copyright 2011, Carola C. Reuben, Earthy Reporter
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