Interesting items

The rose

The green thumb of the North

That’s how the geography of Canada was described in the early part of the 20th century. In fact, it grows beautiful gardens here, but the perception that Canada is a rough and hostile land still persists in the minds of many people… The first impression of a the seventeenth century colony is trendy.

In hopes of reproducing the gardens they left behind on their new land, the first settlers brought various plants and flowers. Of course, many of these precious species have succumbed to winter. However, the Europeans found that Canadian soil was not sterile at all and that the country had beautiful flowers to offer, some of which were even very popular with native people for their nutritional and healing properties!

A long trip​

Gardeners started growing roses in Canada almost 300 years ago. The first varieties, which came from France, did not tolerate winter very well. They then went in search of more resistant species. Today, one of the most common roses found in the garden of Canadians came from China.

But it was not a nonstop trip … In the 1890s, Father Hugh Scallon, an English missionary priest in China, discovered the golden rose. Fascinated by his delicate yellow flowers, he sent a rose bush to his friends in England. When the gardeners saw their surprising resistance to the cold, they sent Father Hugo’s Rosa (Rosa Hugonis) on the other side of the Atlantic to the settlers in Canada.

Considered the most vigorous of the yellow-flowered roses, this shrub produces flowers in abundance, even when still young. At maturity (2.5 m), it offers a striking explosion of colors. These flowers, among the first to hatch in the spring, are always beautiful and pleasant to cultivate.

50 cents coin

Composition :
92.5% silver, 7.5% copper with selective gold plating​

Finished:​
Numismatic proof

Reverse:
Father Hugo’s Rose in full bloom, by Christie Paquet​

Avers:​
Effigy of Queen Elizabeth II (by Susanna Blunt)