Lilac-coloured roses

Lilac-coloured roses are not common here, not unless you are used to receiving bouquets of roses as presents ever so often. I have never paid much attention to roses before as we seldom see them grown in gardens here. So I have always associated roses with the commercialism of the various occasions where people pay premium prices for stalks of these flowers for their girl friends on Valentine's day; their mums on Mother's day and their wives on wedding anniversaries. But when three colleagues presented me with this bouquet, I was really touched and the flowers became more than just a table adornment.

These roses are imported and are so lovely that I was prompted to look up a book I bought some time back called "The complete encyclopedia of roses" by Nico Vermeulen. This hardcover book contains over 1000 colour photos of roses. I had not realised before that there were that many types of roses until I chanced upon this book that was on sale for a mere $10.00. What an amazing find! But as I browsed through the book, I found that there were just too many varieties and it was a book that only a rose lover would enjoy. But my interest in finding out more about these roses made this second reference to the book an intriguing exercise. With all the beautiful photos of the roses, I was still unable to identify this particular rose. The closest resemblance is that of a rose called the "Rosa Blue Bajou" but I cannot be certain, not being an expert.

The flowers that complement the roses in this beautiful bouquet:

Poem on my website