The Chelsea Flower Show is renowned for it’s gorgeous blooms, and this year was no exception, but one in particular had a story to tell. As part of the Roald Dahl centenary celebrations,The ‘Roald Dahl’ rose was unveiled by Dahl’s wife, Felicity Dahl,  and Sir Quentin Blake. The chosen peach-coloured rose has been created by David Austin roses and is a tribute to Dahl’s love of gardening.

“Whilst planning the centenary celebrations I focused on what Roald’s passions were, and gardening of course was one.  It was a natural next step to name a rose after him as it has universal resonance around the world just like the man himself.  We were honoured that the prestigious rose breeder, David Austin, agreed to be part of our plans”. – Felicity Dahl on roald dahl.com

The rose takes centre stage in the David Austin Roses display, which includes a giant copper peach sculpture, etched with Roald Dahl’s words and Quentin Blake’s illustrations, and is an homage
to Dahl’s first major success as a children’s author with James and The Giant Peach.

Felicity Dahl wanted to name a rose for her husband’s centenary year to highlight his passions – one of which was gardening.The David Austin Roses stand, which picked up a gold medal, has the rose as the central focus and features a giant copper peach sculpture as the backdrop, etched with Roald’s words and Sir Quentin Blake’s illustrations from the story.