[1] Rosa pimpinellifolia 'Red Nelly' (also known as 'Single Cherry') was a cultivar discovered by the famous German rose breeder Wilhelm Kordes II in the 1930s.
There is a romantic story, perhaps apocryphal, that he found this lovely rose in a forgotten corner of an old garden, and named it 'Red Nelly' after a beautiful dark-haired maiden whom he admired.
He named it after his friend and patron, the Finnish botanist Dr Gabriel Poppius, director of the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture.
Joy initially named his creation ‘Mirjam Makeba’, because he greatly admired this famous South African singer.
It brings to mind Moominmama's garden and particularly the roses she paints to console herself in Tove Jansson's bittersweet masterpiece, Moominpappa at Sea (1965).