with five deep-red petals with a pink blush and light, fruity fragrance. Christened in 2004 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of World War I, it was named for a song written in 1916 by an English soldier and set to music by Haydn Wood. Since then, the song has travelled the world and been recorded by more than 300 singers, including Frank Sinatra and Yves Montand.

Discover Local Characters

In 2014, as if providing a symbolic counterpoint to the blood-red Rose of Picardy, the regional council created the pure white Rose de la Paix (Rose of Peace). And Picardy as a whole is forever producing new rose varieties, in celebration of famous inhabitants or historical sites, including the heady red and yellow Jules Verne, the striking Henri Matisse, and the pink Palais Impérial de Compiègne – the latter with a colour somewhere between sugared almond and porcelain, giving it an apparent fragility that belies its true Picard characteristic: hardiness!