Today, Valentine’s Day, is a day for roses. But Tribute Island (which I wrote about here) is doing something special and giving everyone a chance to plant a rose in memory of someone special to them.
I went over to the island earlier today and met Nikk Huett, the designer, as he was constructing a rose bed by the main office to commemorate a variety of people, some famous, some little known – but all of them very important to someone.
You can obtain your own rose of remembrance on the island – and if you would like to rez this on the island itself, you should contact Nikk Huet for assistance.
Or you can do what I chose to, and rez it freely on your own land. If you do that, you can then type /1 then the name of the person to whom you wish the rose to be dedicated (and add a brief note as to who they were, if you wish).
The roses are the breed known as Carris Harmanna and are the adopted tribute rose of www.lastingtribute.co.uk and are also available in real life.
This is what we are told about them:
Bold, bright and beautiful, “Carris” will improve the look of any garden. During six years of nursery trials it excelled in its capability to re-bloom, which it does with tremendous vitality, producing wave upon wave of brilliant scarlet. The colour quality is rich and pure, the scarlet of the fresh blooms softening to cherry red. Planted in any situation, “Carris” will be a revelation. It’s also fantastic to cut for indoors.
So who did I plant my rose in memory of?
It’s for a very good friend of mine called Jeremy Beadle (sometimes he was billed as Jeremy J Beadle, to distinguish him from the UK TV host, who died recently).
My friend Jeremy was a writer & a radio journalist, & he died, at the age of only 39, as he was enjoying his first successes, far far too young. He presented News from the Proms on Radio 3, & wrote one of the definitive works on pop culture – Will Pop Eat Itself?
Now, 13 years after his death, I still miss him – the gossip & the fun, the bright shining wit, the encyclopaedic knowledge, the love of music. I suspect he’d have loved Second Life.
You can read more about him here: http://www.oxmust.co.uk/personal/jeremy.htm
I love the idea of remembrance roses – I’m thinking that my Tuscany home might soon have a quiet little garden attached.
(The photo at the head of this article was taken by Nikk Huett)
Prim Perfect 
Blimey! I can remember that book, ‘Will Pop Eat Itself’, as I, ahem, forgot to take it back to my college library after I read it and it’s in a box of dusty books somewhere in my cellar, waiting for fresh bookcases to fill.
I really enjoyed it, and I remember the appeal was the work was exceptionally well researched and astute in its observations…plus it was obvious he was passionate about his subject.
Thanks for posting the link to his website, I’ll have a read at that:)
=^..^=