Today, I'd love to share two lovely stories related to my favorite flower, the rose.

Have you heard about a French painter, Henri Le Sidaner? He is considered one of the impressionists. He was good friends with a world-famous sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Rodin recommended Sidaner to live in a city called Beauvais, and there was a tiny village named Gerberoy close to the city.

One day, Sidaner visited the village, which had been seriously damaged by religious battles. He instantly fell in love with the atmosphere of the village and the following year, he moved there. He dreamed creating a beautiful rose garden in his new house. He had also a close friend, a world- famous impressionist painter, Claude Monet, who had a breathtaking garden of his own. Inspired by Monet, Sidaner also considered to create a garden of his own. So, he started planting rose bushes.

His rose bushes gradually grew and covered over his house. Sidaner planted many varieties of flowers and eventually created an Italian style garden. Some villagers were deeply inspired by his beautiful rose garden, and they started following him. Sidaner encouraged them to plant rose bushes in their own gardens. He shared his rose cuttings with them and taught them how to plant, grow, and take care of the roses. He even taught them the color theory and how important the color harmony was. Sidaner and the villagers worked together and transformed the damaged village into one of the most beautiful villages in France.

When I first heard the story, I thought it was absolutely wonderful. A single painter influenced all villagers and they completely changed their whole village's image.

The village is now famous for the roses. When you visit there during the rose season, you can enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

A few years ago, I attended a Sidaner's art exhibition in Kyoto with my daughter. We immediately loved his painting style. I've shared some photos of his paintings with you here. I've become a big fan of his soft and gentle colors on his paintings.

If you are curious about the village, you can enjoy watching the video here. Visiting the village is one of my bucket list!

When I shared the story of Sidaner and his village with my friend from Texas, he shared a song related to yellow roses, which is famous as The Yellow Rose of Texas. The flower, "yellow roses" reminded me of my rosa banksiae in my garden. He also shared the song, and when I listened to it, I found very familiar music. Without knowing the name of the song, I've already known it. According to him, the song is one of the folk songs of American South. From now on, whenever I see my rosa banksiae, I'll think of the song.

Here is the song, The Yellow Rose of Texas.

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