Our Rose Garden was virtually taken over by the brilliant zinnias for a while; they are trying to make a come back, realizing the zinnias have passed their prime and some began to wither (see photo below)
Today (August 22) in 1485, England King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses.
Rose, the queen of flowers, either “O, rose of May!” (Hamlet, Act 4 Scene 5) or the last one in summer, inspires poets to produce beautiful verses and lyrics throughout the ages. Shakespeare is no exception; he mentioned the rose at least 70 times in his plays and sonnets.
How could such an exquisitely beautiful rose, emblematic of being fair and lovely be linked with a war? Shakespeare is the one to blame. The 30-year War of Roses was actually the Civil War of England fought between the two branches of the same family 1455-1485: House of York and House of Lancaster. It ended with the Battle of Bosworth, in which Shakespeare’s great grandfather might have fought, as John Shakespeare (the Bard’s father) claimed; of note, Bosworth was only 30 miles away from Stratford-upon-Avon—the Bard’s hometown.
There are always certain more memorable scenes in each of Shakespeare’s plays, such as King Lear wandering in the storm; the love scene at [Juliet] Capulet’s orchard, or the Temple Garden in Part 1 Henry VI, in which Shakespeare gave the name of the War of Roses.
In Part 1 Henry VI Act 2 Scene 4, the contending factions gather at the Temple Garden, plucking red or white roses to choose sides. The king maker, Earl of Warwick, dominates this conflict, and fittingly has the last lines of this famous scene.
Will I upon thy party wear this rose.
And here I prophesy: this brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden,
Shall send between the red rose and the white
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
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