COVER N. 747 - SPAIN 

Postmark: Correos CTA Valencia 22.07.2026

Posted on the 22nd July;  Received on the 24th July 2026

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The unmistakable sweet smell of roses on your desk... there could not be a better way to begin a day Eva, Moltes Graciès  ...)😉.

I quite appreciate the care you once again put in composing this envelope, with all the various components contributing to a most pleasant end result, from the stamp down to the colour of the envelope...

Roses are not red (and violets are not blue). In fact, if we go by what etymology tells us, Roses are rosa (rose), a colour that sits equidistant between magenta and red in the colour wheel,  the use of which to define a colour was first recorded in 1382. 

Oh, and by the way, violets are... well violet! (mostly)

Roses are, or course,  famous (amidst several other things) for their scent. Rose essence, the fragrance we all associate with the flower (although some roses do smell, while others do not) is mostly produced from an hybryd rose (which is also rose in colour): the Rosa × damascena, derived from  Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata.

In truth, the multitudinal variations of the genus Rose that we know today, which comprises about 100 species of perennial shrubs native mostly to Asia, but also present in America and Europe, comes from the fact that roses easily hybridise and crossbreed.

This fact has led to garden lovers specialising in rose collecting and also to the  creation of rose gardens, all around the world, as the eponymous entry in Wikipedia clearly shows. 

Spain, more specifically Madrid, the Capital, has at least two Rose Gardens of relevance;  La Rosaleda del Retiro, in the Buen Retiro Park, and La Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste, in the Parque del Oeste.

This last one was established in 1956 and was conceived and built under the supervision of the  Jardinero Mayor del Ayuntamiento de Madrid  (the Head Gardener of the City Council) Ramón Ortíz en 1956.

Celebrating the 70 years of this garden which is home to more than 600 varieties of Rose, Correos issued on 14MAY2026 the 2€ stamp on the cover illustrated with an image of a rose tunnel and a legend  with the name of the rose garden, Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste Madrid.

The stamps were issued on a souvenir sheet comprising seven stamps, whose paper is rose scented. The sheet bears a photograph of the garden,  topped by a perforated plan of the garden and a rectangular legend that contains the designation of the issue.

On the cover, further to the stamp, Eva included this particular item as well as a section of the part of the sheet bearing the Rosaleda photograph.

The mechanical postmark is, as usual in Eva's mail, that of the Automated Treatment Centre of Valencia (CTA Valencia).

One again, Eva kindly included a postcard with another of Erica Fustero's photos, this one taken in Berlin in 2025. The subject of the photo couldn't be more in tune... a rose shrub, of course.

All this talk of Roses just reminded me of good old Jacques.... what a fabulous Rose he was... a whole garden of them!