Tottering-by-Gently
Tottering-by-Gently is the name of a rose developed by David Austin Roses to celebrate the 25th anniversary in 2018 of Annie Tempest’s cartoon strip. In the cartoon, Lord and Lady Tottering live a gentle country life in their crumbling ancestral home at Tottering Hall in the village of Tottering-by-Gently. With their black Labrador, Slobber, and working cocker spaniel, Scribble, they enjoy a life that is familiar to many as stereotypical, if somewhat dated, of upper-class Britain.
Daffy, Lady Tottering, often portrayed in green wellies and pearls, with a glass or bottle of something alcoholic close by, is a keen observer and commentator on the foibles of life.
Dicky, Lord Tottering, is a bluff old buffer, a long-suffering husband, and a ‘thoroughly decent type.’
Together, they muddle through a slightly politically incorrect life, dogs at their heels or on their chairs, pondering the vagaries of the modern world.
The David Austin family has been breeding roses in Shropshire since 1961. The original concept was to combine the perfume and beauty of old roses with the vigour and repeat flowering of modern roses.
The Tottering-by-Gently rose is a repeat-flowering shrub rose, attracting bees with its single yellow flowers. The roses have a light fragrance and are followed by hips. It is a very forgiving rose, able to thrive in all soils, in all aspects, and in full or partial sun. It can be grown as a single specimen or as a hedge.
I am not typically fond of comics but Dicky and Daffy and the land and life of Totterling strikes me as enchantingly amusing. While roses do not thrive in my soil (or climate), I do know that David Austin roses have a phenomenal reputation. Fun post!
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