A Rose by Any Other Name

 

Today, Fatality in F, the fourth book in the Gethsemane Brown Mysteries, goes on sale. A momentous occasion! Four books makes #gethsemanebrown an official series instead of a trilogy. This time out, Gethsemane has to save Frankie from charges he murdered his rival in a rose-growing competition and from a stalker—who may be out to recreate a decades-old murder case.

I learned flowers were big business while writing Fatality in F. Did you know flower industry revenue totals more than $34 billion? Or that $1.9 billion is spent on flowers for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day? I learned about roses, in particular. 30-35% of cut flowers sold in a year are roses. The oldest record of a rose is from China 7,000 years ago. 200 million roses are given on Valentine’s Day.

Two of my favorite research resources were the David Austin catalog and American Rose, the American Rose Society’s magazine. I not only learned about rose competitions, the history of roses, and rose growing tips, I learned about the different types and names of roses. In Fatality in F, Frankie’s prize rose, an Old Rose, is named ‘Sandra Sechrest’ after a reader who won a naming opportunity in an auction. He also named a rambler for Gethsemane, ‘Fearless Brown’.

For a chance to win a signed copy of Fatality in F, test your knowledge of rose names. Leave a comment telling who, or what, the following roses:

    Lichfield Angel

    Eglantyne

                                    Gentle Hermione

                                    Louise Odier

were named for. I’ll choose one winner from the correct answers and announce them on this post tomorrow, Wednesday, 2/27. US winner, only.

You can buy Fatality in F, in hardback, paperback, ebook, or audio, on

Amazon: amzn.to/2EpERvJ

Barnes and Noble: bit.ly/2rvIeZC

iTunes: apple.co/2CtfohL

Kobo: bit.ly/2APlKrQ

Comments

[Susan Neace]

Sorry, can't wait for a contest. Order placed for your new book. Today is a good day.

[Celia Fowler]

Without googling them, I can only guess on two of them: Eglantyne from Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Gentle Hermione from Harry Potter?

Congratulations on the release of Fatality in F -- your Gethsemane Brown Series!

[Mark]

Congrats on the new release!

[Alexia]

Hint: this is not that Hermione.

[catriona]

Congratulations! And good luck with your roses this year. It's worth it.

[Photogema]

I've grown two of these! I'm actually looking for a new eglantyne to start in a pot at this apartment. I used to have Louise Odier outside of my house.

Litchfield is named for a relic found in the Litchfield Cathedral that depicts the archangel Gabriel.

Eglantyne is also sweet briar, and is named for the apple scent.

Gentle Hermione is named for Hermione in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

I'll admit the Louise Odier had me stumped, because I knew it was an old Bourbon rose from the 1850's, but I had no idea who it was named for. This is what I found:
But who was the real Louise Odier? Her mother was Wilhelmine Sillem, one of Jerôme and Wilhelmine Sillem's daughters. She married the banker Jacques Odier who, like his daughter Louise, loved flowers. A Pelargonium variant is named after him. Louise later married Eugène Cavaignac whom history remembers as the liberator of Paris. The general ended the regime of the Commune in Paris in 1848.

From here: http://www.sillem-family.com/odier-en.html

[Alexia]

Here's what David Austin has to say about his English Shrub Roses (Handbook of Roses 2019, 20th USA Edition)--Eglantyne is named for Eglantyne Jebb, who founded the Save the Children Fund. Gentle Hermione is named for The wife of Leontes, King of Sicilia, in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Lichfield Angel is named after an 8th century limestone sculptured panel discovered in Litchfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, UK. He doesn't say anything about Louise Odier's namesake because he didn't name it--this Bourbon Old Rose was bred in 1851 by Margottin--possibly. According to Brent C. Dickerson in The Old Rose Adventurer: "[Dickerson speculates] that this rose was named after the wife or daughter of James Odier, nurseryman of Bellevue, near Paris, who was active at the time 'Louise Odier' [the rose] was introduced. Monsieur Odier was indeed also a rose breeder, having bred and introduced the early (1849) Hybrid Tea 'Gigantesque'. He may well thus have been the actual breeder of 'Louise Odier', Margottin later purchasing full propagation rights from him."

Photogema was right about Lichfield Angel and Gentle Hermione. The truth about Louise Odier is probably lost to time--wife or daughter of Monsieur Odier is as much as we'll ever know.

Photogema wins the signed copy of Fatality in F. Congratulations!

[Alexia]

Photogema, Please contact me on my website, alexiagordon.net, and let me know where to send your book. Thanks!