Roses at Ben Lomond

 

Ben Lomond is a nineteenth century plantation house near Manassas, built in 1837.    It is now a historic site open to the public and showcasing its role during the Civil War.

 

  In 1861 and 1862  it was used as a military first aid post to help large numbers of gravely wounded Confederate soldiers from the Manassas battlefield, less than five miles away.

 

Much of the land which belonged to the plantation is now built on but there is a lovely historic rose garden divided up with grass paths,  featuring many varieties of very old roses.

 

Some of these Alba rose varieties date to the early nineteenth century, around the date of the current house (which was built on the site of an earlier, wooden plantation house).

 

 

Some of these roses were dense flowers with closely packed petals and quite beautifully scented.  Others more closely resembled wild roses..

 

 

Many of the roses were covered in tiny fuzzy thorns, which initially  looked like a bad infestation of greenfly..

 

The peonies in the garden were also coming into bloom..

 

 

A beautiful garden.  More about the house and it's rather grisly reconstructed interior another day..