Lawinia

Where to plant. Arches, pergolas, south-facing walls, wooden fences; ideal as a specimen or in a duo with a contrasting climber (Florentina red + Lawinia pink — a 'wedding arch').

Climate. Down to −20 °C — in Ukraine: south and centre without protection; north with moderate protection for young plants.

Care. A classic climber — prune in summer (after the first flush); tie in horizontally for more flowers; seasonal disease prevention.

Name. 'Lawinia' — a female name; a marketing decision by Tantau, with no public story about a specific person. Tantau traditionally gives melodious female names (Landora, Heidetraum, Anna Pavlova). 'Lavinia' and 'Lawinia' are the same variety under two spellings of one code, TANklewi. Do not confuse with the historic 'Lavinia' roses from other breeders.

Breeding. Bred by Mathias Tantau Jr. at Rosen Tantau (Uetersen, Germany), 1980 (breeding and market release in the same year). Code TANklewi (sometimes TANklawi). Parentage not published (typical Tantau practice).

Significance. RHS Award of Garden Merit (reconfirmed in 2012 in the latest review of the AGM list). One of the best-known pink repeat-flowering climbers of the 1980s, still produced commercially — a rarity for a variety of that period. A transitional form between old once-flowering climbers and modern repeat-bloomers — it changed the approach to climbers in the late twentieth century.