Vanessa Redgrave will be launching the bespoke Natasha Richardson Rose at the Chelsea Flower Show today, in memory of her late daughter.

The Natasha Richardson rose - launched today

The UK-grown rose will be sold exclusively at Dobbies Garden Centres, to raise funds for Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK. Dobbies aim to raise £10,000 for the charity which grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses.

Natasha Richardson rose in bloom

Joely Richardson added: “Natasha was a keen gardener and would be honoured to have a rose created in her memory. Pink was her favourite colour and so we chose this particular rose which is incredibly feminine and joyous, it captures her extreme vitality.”

“Dobbies has pushed the boundaries for horticultural innovation by creating this unique rose, creating an incomparable flower to honour Natasha.”

“Natasha was all about giving, and so it makes her rose especially appropriate that funds will go towards Make-A-Wish and helping others. One of her personal mantras was ‘cast your bread upon the water, it shall be returned tenfold’.”

Natasha Richardson tragically passed away in 2009.

Neil Fishlock, head of horticulture at Dobbies, one of the UK’s leading garden and home retailers, explained: “The flower is a true beauty. It is both generous in size, pure in colour, and elegant in form. The perfume is also a marvel with its citrus base – and very few roses are able to achieve this distinction. The Natasha Richardson is also a very easy rose to grow and to look after as its resistance to disease is excellent, giving the flower a real robustness.”

The rose will be available at Dobbies 29 garden centres throughout the UK from 23rd May 2011 and retails at £14.99, £5 of which will be donated to Make-A-Wish Foundation UK. Use our store locator to find your nearest store.

Visit Dobbies.com for more details on the beautiful Natasha Richardson rose.

Dobbies do more for love than sell roses at Valentines

In fact Dobbies have been sowing the seeds of love in a variety of ways for years.

Speed dating Dobbies style

For this Valentines day, Dobbies Garden Centre Paisley invited the local residents in search of romance to a free ‘speed planting’ event to help love grow. The speed planting event involved a planting demonstration, to ensure that the footloose and fancy free of Paisley could enjoy a cuppa while planting chillies to spice things up. Giving them the chance to possibly meet that special someone.

Lisa Reid restaurant manager at Dobbies, Paisley said, “In order to turn up the heat in Renfrew on Valentines Day it was important to do something different. The idea of ‘speed planting’ is based on speed dating where singletons can interact with each other in a friendly environment. Our garden centre is very much a community meeting place and we are keen to inspire customers from around the area to socialise at Dobbies Garden Centre Paisley.”

Love blooms at Dobbies

It seems that romantic liaisons at Dobbies go beyond organised events. Maybe it’s because of all the fire exits, allowing for a quick escape! Here’s an example of love blooming with a little help from Dobbies:

Keen gardeners Bert and Audrey first met at Dobbies Garden World Dunfermline, where they bonded over tea and scones after connecting through on-line dating.

When their plans to jet-off on honeymoon were grounded by volcanic ash emissions,
plant experts at Dobbies Dunfermline gifted them with a rose garden to help their love blossom.

Staff at Dobbies and family friends alike gifted the couple with rose bushes named Happy Times, Wedding Day, With Love, Bride’s Blush, Cloud Nine, Double Delight and Specially for You.

Although Audrey admits that she wasn’t bowled over by the newly planted rose garden. “It wasn’t exactly love at first sight,” she explains, “as the buds hadn’t fully opened and everything looked a little bit plain”. But the bride soon warmed to the blooming mix of colourful and romantically named roses.

The lovebirds later chose their beloved rose garden to have professional photographs taken, to mark their engagement and commemorate their shared love of gardening.

If you’ve had a romantic moment inspired by Dobbies, and you’re happy to share your story, we’d love to hear from you. So please get in touch by leaving a comment.

Download this free Easy Guide to Growing Roses and learn all there is to know about these beautiful flowers.

Not only do roses look great and smell amazing but they’re actually very easy to grow. This guide walks you through the process for growing roses and offers useful advice to get maximum results.

Click here to download the Easy Guide to Growing Roses (PDF)