Rose-coloured masses

Credit: Katherine Rowlands

I realize this is a shocking confession from a garden-magazine editor, but for years I distained roses.

As our very talented art director Susan Minton Green grumpily pointed out to me on several occasions, my favourite plants mostly consisted of “ugly, weedy things” like mints, mallows, sorrels and scruffy edible greens. Roses simply did not make the cut, as I regarded them as useless prima donnas requiring continual primping and pesticide baths. Give me hardy herbs, easy edibles, and staunch and steadfast perennials.

So why have I added a rose to my garden and now find myself pining for more?

Simple. Roses are staunch and steadfast perennials, hardy herbs and easy edibles. It’s just a matter of choosing the right one for your own garden conditions. Happily we have Christine Allen and Brad Jalbert on our GardenWise team to coach us on just what roses we should grow for boundless beauty, healthy hips and easy-care elegance. Roses can be tough as nails and unceasingly generous with profuse blooms, unforgettable fragrance, exquisite foliage and ample hips. Thanks to Christine and Brad, I have been hopelessly won over.

Which is why you found me with my daughter Katherine in the sea of roses at the World Rose Festival at the Vancouver Convention Centre this past June. As Brad Jalbert reflects, “The show had a mystique and brought home just how many thousands of types of roses are actually on the market.” Certainly, we were mesmerized, and justifiably trigger-happy with our cameras as you will see from the accompanying barrage of photographs.

The World Rose Festival was a complete and total indulgence in roses, featuring display gardens, floral-art displays, a rose-themed fine-art display, a children’s garden and a central exhibit of “A Picnic in the Park,” featuring vintage cars and an Antebellum maiden by the BC Floral Art Society.

Close to 1,000 rosarians from around the world added to the magic with entries to the many competitions. “Best in Show” went to Japanese exhibitor Teizo Yoshiike, rumoured to have purchased an airplane seat for his beloved roses.

Find a complete list of the Rose Show winners in the Rose Show section at www.worldrosefestival.com.

World Rose Festival photo gallery:

Yellow and apricot rose: Rosarians, novice and pro, competed in a variety of World Rose Show classes including floral art; this piece was inspired by the Japanese art of Ikebana.

Roses and Hellebores: An unlikely pairing, tea roses and hellebores
bring together structured elegance with a woodsy airiness.

Tall arrangement: Florists from Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island
took floral design to new heights at the Floral Promenade.

Above and below: Mixed hybrid tea roses in arrangements.

Click for more photos…

World Rose Festival photo gallery (cont’d)

Above and below: Mixed roses in arrangements.

Red roses with spiral trellis: In a rose show, some floral art classes
have special requirements. This arrangement was a “kinetic”
one, built with real and implied motion on a spinning base.

Unusual, commercially grown roses turned heads at the Floral Promenade.

Dozens of red roses.

Rose bowl: Any vessel can hold a rose… even a martini glass.

Display garden creators added surprising touches in every nook.
Here, a Buddhist figure reposes in the garden.

“Ariel” is a sculpture by artist Kevin Priebe that was
debuted at World Rose Festival.

Antebellum Maiden: With a gown of foliage and roses, this
“antebellum maiden” was created by the BC Floral Art Society.

Foxglove: Heritage Perennials’ display garden showed a
perfect perennial bed at the peak of its bloom.

Fescue and campanula offered that much sought-after shot of blue
in Heritage Perennials’ display garden.

Salvia and daylilies in perfect contrast.

Sea Holly

Staff at Heritage Perennials said Veronica ‘Royal Candles’ was
their “what’s that amazing plant?” of the weekend.

Lilies and roses… classics.

Sunpod Greenhouses showed how even small space and patio gardens
can have innovative and stylish greenhouses for an extended season.

Handcrafted summer hats from Me & Ma’s Hats in Seattle.

Abbotsford’s Cannor Nursery brought a wide selection of roses
for every inspired gardener to take home.
 

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Special thanks to Renata Triveri of Greenbridge Horticultural Advantage
for her help in captioning these photographs.