Refreshing the Rose Garden

On a day when people around the world are sending roses to signify their love, it seemed appropriate to share with you the new roses we’ve recently added to the rose garden under the Juliette Gordon Low Magnolia in the Historic Tree Grove.

Roses can be very tricky to grow in Florida due to the hot and humid summer climate, which many varieties simply cannot handle. Most varieties of roses also demand a decent amount of regular care, including deadheading, pruning, and fertilizing, and it can be hard for us to find the time to keep our roses as happy and healthy as we’d like. In the last few years, we’ve lost a number of the roses originally planted in the rose garden, so we decided it was time for some fresh plantings. Winter is a great time for rose planting in Florida, as they thrive in the warm but not hot temperatures. Regular watering will help them take hold well by the time the more difficult summer weather returns.

We’ve found it’s best to buy roses grown here in Florida, rather than through mail-order or online rose purveyors, as homegrown roses are generally tested and shown to be able to handle our climate and seasons. The new roses in our garden include:

‘Proud Land’, a hyrbid tea rose developed in 1969

‘Camelot’, a Grandiflora rose developed in 1964

‘Gold Medal’, a Grandiflora rose developed in 1982. This species has blooms that open a deep yellow (left) and fade to nearly white as they age (right).
 

 

‘Frau Karl Druschki’, a hybrid tea rose developed in 1901

Two of the new roses had buds but no blooms at the time of this post, so click the links to see ‘Sonia’, a Grandiflora rose developed in 1970, and ‘Tropicana’, a hybrid tea rose developed in 1960. We look forward to seeing these colorful and sweet-smelling flowers in the garden shortly. We also added a red “drift” rose, a type of groundcover rose that’s become more popular in recent years.

These roses join those that remain in the garden from plantings several years ago, including ‘Neptune’, ‘Belinda’s Dream’, ‘Sunsprite’, ‘Sunstruck’, and ‘Garden Party’. Our best performers with absolutely no care required are the Knockout roses, which we have in single pink, single red, and a newer variety called ‘Sunny’.

If you’re nearby this Valentine’s Day, stop by and smell our roses!