Wedding Of Canna

Hampton Court Flower Show 2011: The best roses

Hampton Court celebrates high colour, from the tropical to the traditional. For roses this is the finest flower show of all, whether you want to browse, buy, or just inhale the heady fragrance. Eleven rose nurseries jostle for space in the Rose Marquee and, for many, this is the only place to exhibit. This year’s theme is Alice in Wonderland and sculptor Jim Coplestone adds to the atmosphere with his bronze statues of the grinning Cheshire cat, the dodo and (of course) the beguiling Alice.

A suitably dressed group of young actors from the Chichester Festival Theatre, who have just staged Alice in Wonderland, will present the award for the Rose of the Year 2012 to 'A Moment in Time’ (Korcastrav). This repeat-flowering, bright red floribunda with dusky foliage was bred by the ecologically principled German nursery Kordes Roses, also winners in 2004, 2006 and 2011. They specialise in breeding healthy roses that survive without spraying and this compact rose (2ft) would make a fine container specimen close to a doorway. Although introduced by Mattocks Roses (01728 745100; www.mattocks.co.uk ) 'A Moment in Time’ will be widely available from this autumn.

Philip and Robert Harkness of Harkness Roses (0845 331 3143; www.roses.co.uk ) are fifth-generation rose growers. Their nursery just outside Hitchin in Hertfordshire is 138 years old this year. These two far-sighted brothers abandoned fungicides more than 15 years ago and their homebred roses (just like those of Kordes), don’t receive chemical support, making them suitable for organic gardeners. Every year 25,000 seedlings are raised, but only one per cent are considered good enough to find their way into the breeding programme.

Harkness launch 'Virginia McKenna’ (Harsong), a rounded, soft-yellow rose that has taken nine years to raise. “It’s incredibly healthy,” says Philip, “yet it has an old-fashioned look reminiscent of a hybrid musk in scent and form. Clusters of dark buds open to reveal loosely formed blooms that fade to clotted cream around the edges. It’s floriferous, repeat-flowering and it reaches 4ft so it’s suitable for a hedge or the border, especially when grown near blue delphiniums.”

Pocock’s Roses (01794 36700; www.garden-roses.co.