A Rose Garden Beyond Compare

Posted in Gardens and Collections on November 3 2010, by Plant Talk

Peter Kukielski is the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden Curator.

One of the best things about a rose is that it is the longest blooming perennial plant there is. Roses begin blooming in late May and can continue to bloom until the first frost. The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is a perfect example of this and continues to bloom even today–the second day of November! This is amazing considering this year’s peak bloom occurred in the third week of May. ‘Easter Basket,’ a variety that is planted along the main alley of the rose garden and newly planted at the top of the stairs, hasn’t been out of bloom since late spring.

Fall is a wonderful time to stop and smell the roses. The cooler air seems to intensify their fragrance, allowing it to linger in the air. The main entrance to the garden is flanked on either side by an incredible collection of English Roses, which are famous for their scent. Other varieties such as ‘Julia Child,’ ‘Quietness,’ ‘Bolero,’ ‘The McCartney Rose,’ ‘Eternal Flame,’ ‘Mister Lincoln,’ ‘Double Delight’, ‘Tiffany,’ and ‘Marie Louise Marjan’ are all incredibly fragrant, and ‘Queen Mary 2’ smells slightly of bananas!

In fall, the sun sits lower in the sky and the light it casts in the Rose Garden adds a degree of romance while the colors pop even more boldly. As the days become shorter and the temperatures cooler, the garden slows down–blooms seem to be suspended in time, opening ever so slowly, and lingering on the bush.

Rose hips, the bright orange red fruit, begin to form. These hips contain the seeds of the rose, are a natural source of vitamin C, and add ornamental interest to the landscape throughout the winter months. The plants themselves begin to take on the colors of fall as leaves change. Some of the species roses show incredible fall color, even rivaling the trees! Look for R. virginiana and R. majalis with their brilliant yellow and orange leaves. The Hybrid Rugosa ‘Teresa Bugnet’ sheds its leaves to reveal beautiful canes that become a brilliant red for the winter months.

This collection of roses–designed nearly a century ago by the eminent landscape architect Beatrix Jones Farrand–boasts more than 600 varieties and over 3,700 plants. But it’s not just beauty we’re aiming for in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. We’re working to transform it into one of the most disease-resistant rose gardens in the world. Hybridization efforts from all over the world can be seen with new, hardy roses, chosen particularly for their disease resistance, long flowering time, and easy care.

It’s not just people that work at the Garden that think the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden is incredible. In fact, the Rose Garden was inducted into the World Rose Garden Hall of Fame this year! In addition, it was also recently awarded the Best Public Rose Garden display in America by the All American Rose Selections (AARS).

So come visit the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden before it closes for the season on Tuesday, November 9 and marvel at the beauty, longevity, and diversity of one of the world’s best-loved flowers. What other flower can provide over six months of interest and act as America’s National Flower and the State Flower of New York? Only the rose.