War of the Roses, 2009
ROSES have always stirred deep human emotions – and now they have provoked a war among British gardeners.
It is the nation’s favourite plant according to a poll, but it has serious enemies.
Some 7,500 people voted online to establish the nation’s gardening loves and hates in a survey by Gardeners’ World magazine.
While some loved the rose’s variety of scents and styles, a long-flowering season and an iconic image of romance, others damned it for “all those prickles and overblown blossoms”.
Roses can also be plagued by aphids and blackspot and can demand high maintenance.
Not that bothered actress Joanna Lumley, herself an iconic English Rose, at the Chelsea Flower Show recently.