The Gold Standard.

Last October my rose was awarded the world Gold Standard.

This is judged in Cambridge over 2 years, by the breeders themselves, in terms of the toughest criteria and the greatest qualities.

There are few roses which ever achieve this, and I am so happy that Rosa Susan Daniel has done so.

I judge roses internationally, but have no idea what happened there.

Before Christmas I was in Milan, to work with my coach, talk to La Scala and see many great friends especially Lorenzo Borghi who makes the most beautiful hats in the world.

When I arrived in the evening Carlo Marinoni met me in front of the roses and the theatre. They were all in bloom and well above my head....... under his chin and 6 foot high! I laughed because I was so amazed. This was late November.

In the dark the scene looked like the woods around Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

I ran about my business for a few days and then decided that on my birthday I would try and paint this site in front of La Scala.

I'd last attempted a sketch 12 years ago and gave it to a new friend whom I was about to meet. Since then the piazza has been completely repaved and planted, in time for The Queen's State visit, and after that my roses went in all around the statue of Leonardo da Vinci.

Before I'd finished the picture, the plants had all been pruned down to about 3 feet. I think that someone heard that I was about, but drawing away this time, almost no one hung around me watching........... thank goodness.

It was too cold and rainy!