He also used that description for 'Hillieri'. See excerpts (look for italics) in thread here on 'Geranium' and 'Highdownensis'.

bboy,
Thanks for that.
Any feel for where GST first found that most descriptive word?

Here is a link that might be useful: For the Hilleri description.

It's not from Gertrude Jekyll? I'm in the middle of rereading the country house book, and I'll try to keep an eye out for it. Though that one isn't nearly up to Miss Jekyll's usually level of adjectives since it had a co author.

It's definitely Shakespearian.

Here is a link that might be useful: mention of murrey....

Google sent me to Wikipedia, where "murrey" is a term used in heraldry to denote a color between "gules" (red) and ???(purple.

How delightful.
I suppose that would be "Tyrian Purple," the color reserved to Royalty, as it was so precious.

Jeri

When in doubt, consult an American dictionary . . . :)

Main Entry:
mur·rey Listen to the pronunciation of murrey
Pronunciation:
\ËmÉr-Ä, ËmÉ-rÄ\
Function:
noun

Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French muré, from Medieval Latin moratum, from neuter of moratus mulberry colored, from Latin morum mulberry  more at mulberry
Date:
15th century

: a purplish black : mulberry

... Webster.

GST was sometimes felt to be pedantic when trying to find exact and concise ways to describe flower colours - and much else. But we have to remember that most photography in his day was in black and white, and writers had to work harder to convey these subtle tones.

Perhaps his particular enjoyment of 'murrey' came from the four ancient mulberry trees he walked under each time he entered the walled garden at Mottisfont.

Best wishes
Jon

Thank you, Jon, for adding a wonderful visual with the four ancient mulberry trees.

And MadGallica, I wish I had your instinct for where to look.
A search for murrey 1850-1950 (thanks to Google) found this in Gertrude Jekyll's Wood and Garden (apge 226) (which is available on line full text)

"Much to be regretted is the disuse of othe old word murrey, now only employed in heraldry. It stands for a dull purple-red, such as appears in the flower of the Virginia Allspice and in the native Hound's Tongue, and often in seedling Auriculas. A fine strong-growing border Auricula was given to me by my valued friend the Curator of the Trinity College Botanic Garden,Dublin, to which he had given the excellently descriptive name, "Old Murrey." "

Somehow I would not describe the flower color of Roserie de l'Hay as dull purple-red. To me it seems a bright purple-red or a slightly blued magenta. IMO there is simply no 'dull' in those blooms. I guess that it is all a relative difference. In any case, I love the new color term and the etymology lessen. Thank you Jon and Ann for another informative discussion.

GST's writing is the only place I've read that name used to describe a color (for some reason I had it in my mind as murray, not murrey), but I think I have heard people say something is mulberry-colored, which I guess is just the modern equivalent. I think I've read all of Gertrude Jekyll's works, so if she mentioned the same color, then it just didn't stick in my mind as well as it did after reading Thomas' work.

Excellent information, Jon, and adds a little more "color" (or colour) to the whole topic.

--Ron

The huge shell mounds near Tyre explain the origin of Tyrian Blue and some of the other colors that can come from there as well as a search for a blue that explains a religious yearning to understand the origin of that blue.
(My apologies if you learn more about the madness of King George than you ever wanted to know.)

It's interesting to me that trying to figure out what a color really was has researchers going after origins and answers.
The purple, violet red, murray, and blues , even Pliny the Elder wrote about them.

Here is a link that might be useful: The mutability of blue