That moment I saw sheer perfection and beauty

Many people ask me "Why are you so into roses?" only a few people know my entire answer to this question because it's a very personal thing. Since I was a child I always had this urge for beauty. But what's beauty you might ask? Well for me beauty is something that can make me do a full stop. The whole world around me stops when I detect beauty. It can be something I see, hear, feel or smell. It overwhelmes me totally and I get tears in my eyes and start to cry in silence. I grasp for breath as I'm incapable to breath in normally. It can be something I see in nature, in art, in my garden... It can be anything visible. But also a piece of music, an opera aria, a song.. Frankly it can be anything my senses can detect.

When I saw the rose that started my rose journey back in 1994 ALL my senses got wild. It was at Hex castle in Flanders. The château has world famous rose gardens, vegetables gardens etc.. Each year they host a garden fair in June and September. On that June day back in 1994 I stumbled upon a rose called Yellow Charles Austin, a sport of Charles Austin from David Austin. I was perplexed by its color, it's shape, it's petals... and when I smelled it my senses said: Perfection! Sheer beauty! 

This flower, this combination of stardust, managed to be so incredibly beautiful as if God itself created it. 

That day changed my life forever. The rose had put a spell on me, a love spell, an enchantment. There are many many plants, flowers I love but the rose has it all. To me she's a feast, an orgasm to my senses. So that's what makes roses so special for me. All my hobbies compelled me. Gardening, roses, Classical music, Tropical fish, antiques and even foods or wines. But the rose has the strongest embrace and when the years pass by it only intensifies.

Yellow Charles Austin