A Floribunda Rose.
2ft-3ft. 1989
GANflo Bred by Douglas Gandy.
This lovely rose will always have a place in our affections as it was bred by the late Douglas Gandy who bred so many famous roses during his lifetime, and supplied us with much of our stock over the years. A great rosearian, many of the roses he bred are still popular today, such as ‘Memories Are Made Of This ‘Father’s Favourite’ and the climbing ‘Creme Brulee. During the middle part of the last century he produced the beautiful luminous pink ‘David Whitfield’ named after the famous singer, and ‘Jimmy Greaves’ a deep cerise Hybrid Tea named after the famous footballer,plus the yellow climber ‘All Gold’ which is still extremely popular today.
In 1989 he introduced ‘Florence Nightingale’ which we still consider to be one of the finest roses he ever bred. It produces trusses of buff blooms shaded and flecked with pink, opening out to silvery white.
Flowers continuously through the summer and will produce plenty more blooms if dead heading is done regularly.
Very attractive and a real head turner plus good disease resistance.
Can be grown in the garden or a container.
Plant in full sun for the best show of flowers but can cope with a little shade. Not a powerful perfume but has a pleasant fresh fragrance.
A very beautiful floribunda which does not get the recognition it deserves.
Named after Florence Nightingale the world famous nurse who helped so many soldiers during the Crimean war.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
(The Lady With The Lamp)
1820-1910
Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 into a wealthy English family and the apple of her father’s eye. A very intelligent child her father took responsibility for her education and taught her Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, history, philosophy and mathematics. As a result she was far better academically equipped for life than most women of her class, as women were not expected to study and join any of the professions. Their expected role in life was just to be a wife and mother.
When she announced she wished to study nursing her family were horrified as nursing was associated with the lower classes. However her father finally relented and sent her to Germany to study nursing. With that experience behind her she returned to England in 1853 to take up a post as superintendent in a hospital for gentlewomen in Harley Street. London.
A year or so later the Crimean War began and reports started to come back regarding the lack of proper medical facilities for British soldiers who were wounded at the front. Sidney Herbert, the war minister at the time, and a friend of Miss Nightingale asked her to take a team of nurses over to Turkey to try and improve the situation. In those days not a lot was known about disease and good sanitation and soldiers were dying in the thousands as they were being treated in such filthy conditions. Even Miss Nightingale and her team of nurses were unaware that poor hygiene was responsible for so many deaths, not just poor nursing. However as time passed they became aware of the importance of hygiene and good sanitation and improved facilities considerably, greatly reducing the death rate amongst the wounded soldiers.
After the war she returned to England and set up The Nightingale Training School For Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. (it is now called the Florence Nightingale School Of Nursing and Midwifery and is part of King’s College London) In 1883 Miss Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1904 she was appointed A Lady of Grace of the Order of St John. And in 1907 she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. In 1908 she was given the Honorary Freedom of the City of London.
During the Crimean war she gained the nickname ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ due to a war report in The Times newspaper.
“She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds”.
After a long and eventful life she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 90 at her home in Park Lane. London.
