Zanthan Gardens
Garden Essays: Fryer’s Roses, Cheshire

July 23rd, 2007
Fryer’s Roses, Cheshire

Rows and rows of roses at Fryer’s Roses.

On the last day of my vacation, Margaret treated me to a gardeners’ field trip to Fryer’s Roses which is located only a few miles from her house. Fryer’s both sells and breeds roses. It’s been racking up the awards this last decade, receiving in 1999 The Queen Mother’s International Rose Award and then going on to win gold medals at Chelsea Show, Hampton Court Show, and Tatton Park Show. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, rent that movie Greenfingers.)

Established in 1912, Fryer’s remains a family business and is run by Gareth Fryer, grandson of the founder. He lives in a very nice house on the grounds of the garden centre. Margaret and I talk about how disheartening it must be to try to run a nursery business in a cold, wet summer like this one.

The first thing we did when we arrived (free parking! –that’s so unusual in England) was rush over to the roses growing in the fields.

No amount of mud was going to stop us from viewing the roses nor did a the little bit of rain dampen our spirits (although it did make it hard to take photos).

Rather than in display gardens, the roses (mostly Hybrid Teas) are grown in long (labelled, yay!) rows. I don’t grow any Hybrid Teas myself, so almost all of these roses were unknown to me. I liked the form and color of A Whiter Shade of Pale. The Floribunda Alderley Park caught my eye but I was particularly impressed with Champagne Moment with creamy apricot colored flowers and very green and glossy leaves showing absolutely no black spot despite the weeks of rain. And it was very fragrant.

Not all the roses fared so well in the wet conditions plaguing England this summer. This is “Pride of Cheshire”.

I was intrigued by the Fryer’s-bred Belle Epoque which has a very unusual bi-toned color. I couldn’t decide if I like it or not but I think that if I grew it, it would win me over because it is so different than anything I grow now. I got a nice glossy catalog from the man in the rose department to peruse on the airplane. I can dream of roses even if they aren’t likely to be available in the US. The rose man cautioned that roses that grow well in England might not take favorably to Texas. Don’t I know it!

After our tramp through the mud and flowers, Margaret took me to lunch in the cafe. We had sandwiches (I had to try watercress since I was in England) and coffee and a scrumptious dessert. It was raining and the cafe was packed. I can’t imagine going to a cafe in a nursery in Austin but it made so much sense in England where it rains a lot and the general lack of parking makes doing everything in one stop sensible.

After lunch we wandered around the massive garden centre, which includes plants, tools and chemicals, garden books, and a gift shop. (Austinites imagine Breed & Co.) We sniffed the confederate jasmine and I was transported home. We looked greedily at the passionflower vines and the clematis. Indoors, I was especially fascinated by the local foods, marketed as “The True Taste of Cheshire”. I saw my favorite, Tyrell parsnip crisps and discovered discovered Moffat Dollop. I passed, this time, because I’d already bought Moffat Toffee on this trip.

Fryer’s also has a section of glass conservatories, children playscapes, outdoor furniture, grills and heaters (even Mexican chimineas), landscape paving and gravels, pots, and statuary. Of all the nurseries/garden centers in the Central Texas area, Fryer’s reminded me most of Wildseed Farms (although Fryer’s is a bit more upscale…upmarket, they say in England.)

If I lived in Knutsford, I imagine that I’d go to Fryer’s Roses frequently just to have a cup of coffee with a friend and then walk around chatting and picking up odds and ends for the garden or the kitchen and gifts for just about anyone.

by M Sinclair Stevens