Naked in the Roses: A beginning at long last...

Monday, December 28, 2009

A beginning at long last...

Seven months ago I set out to share my experiences as a rose gardener, but the garden is an unforgiving taskmaster, and has kept me occupied. As I began my winter cleanup and pruning in the garden, I returned finally to the notion of sharing the experience of a rose garden with you.

Rose pruning holds a mystique that for many is daunting. I hope to help demystify this process for you, to give you confidence that you can do it—that anyone can prune. More importantly I hope to explain to you why pruning is not a requirement, and how it may in fact do less good than bad for the plants.

My challenge (a challenge I put to myself every year—so far without completing the task) is to prune 4000 rose plants in the next 80 days. I'll have a bit of help; some days with Juan who works with me at Vintage Gardens; some days with Teresa, and others in the Friends of Vintage Gardens, who will come to give me a hand. I won't prune every day, as the demands of running Vintage Gardens nursery will occupy much of my time. I'll travel a bit as well, to talk about roses, old and new, and to teach my ideas about rose pruning to others around the country. Perhaps one of you out there may want to join in and help prune some of the 4000 one day as well. Just let me know. Can I do it this year? We'll see...

1 comment:

CorinaFebruary 13, 2010 at 9:52 PM
Very interesting and hard task, and a great ideea to share it with us, the oher rose lovers.
I am very interesting in your posts ad mostly in pruning old roses, as i have some myself.
Keep up informing us so nicely.
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Preserving a Garden of Old and Rare Roses—Can it be Done?

Preserving a Garden of Old and Rare Roses—Can it be Done?

In my garden I grow over 4000 rose plants of all classes and types. Like a museum of roses, the garden tells the story of roses from the most ancient to the most recent. But, unlike a museum, it is a living organism, always growing through cycles of bloom and renewal. Along with the roses live gophers, hummingbirds, pigmy rabbits, the occasional deer, and a host of other life forces—some welcome, and others not. The garden and its collection of rare roses are known by many rose lovers around the world, and have been shared with other gardeners and gardens for the past 26 years. Today it stands on the edge of disappearing, and in this blog I hope to share with you both the peril that threatens it and the effort that has begun now to preserve it.

The Friends of Vintage Roses
A garden is a temporary thing, it is often said, destined to disappear with its creator. But I do not agree. A garden is an idea that once experienced lives in the minds of those who can imagine it. It belongs to no one and to everyone. Once I understood this my garden began to live. It has lived for many years now in the minds of those who have visited it, and those who have only imagined visiting it. It has the power to elevate all of us to Cloud Eleven.

Roses are powerful life forces, pulled from the imaginations of artists over many centuries of human existence. They speak to us, and if we listen and can hear them, they have much to say. They transcend their creators, their admirers and their custodians---they transcend us and inspire us. Their powerful sway bore fruit in a gathering of people who wanted them and heard them calling---the Friends of Vintage Roses. This scattered group began to coalesce about a decade ago one May in the garden I had built. These people have pulled together once again for the roses to keep alive a vision, a dream and an inspiration. Their hard work and pragmatism account for the survival of so many beautiful beings, and they work now to spread the word, the joy and the delight of old roses.