Saturday, June 9, 2012

Rose Night at the Cranford Rose Garden

Sarah Owens, Curator
Presided over by curator Sarah Owens, the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn (NY) Botanic Garden is our idea of heaven.  With 5,000 roses comprised of over 1,700 varieties, if you are addicted to roses the way we are, it's a place where you can immerse yourself in roses as far as the eye can see. The only reason to come up for air is to inhale the magnificent fragrance.

But a garden this size presents plus-sized challenges, especially when the garden is going to be front and center for the Brooklyn Botanic's annual celebration of the roses in bloom.

One of the largest and most extensive rose collections in the country, we are totally amazed that Sarah manages virtually all of the upkeep with the aid of occasional interns and volunteers and one or two members of the horticultural staff who get assigned to the garden to help prepare for special events.


As members of the BBG, Steve and I schedule our early summer vacation week to coincide with the celebration of the blooming of the roses, an evening gala known as Rose Night. This year, we did more than just enjoy a picnic, rose-tinis and dancing in the garden at Rose Night. Steve and I volunteered to spend a good part of our vacation in the rose garden, helping Sarah to deadhead the roses and rake out the beds -- clean-up chores that make the garden ready for guests.


Roses in the main garden beds; past peak but still plenty of color!
Pruning, dead-heading, and raking out beds are not chores that we are unfamiliar with.

We have over 200 roses of our own and while that is a drop in the ocean by comparison, we at least had had a lot of practice pruning and deadheading the various types of roses before we headed out to trim roses at the Cranford.

So off to New York we trekked, our car loaded down with our garden totes and gardening gear.  After a miserable drive in torrential rain, we spent the better part of the three days leading up to Rose Night assisting Sarah, her interns, and some members of the horticultural staff to bring order to the roses. 


Armed with pruners, gauntlets, and hand rakes, decked out in hats, our New England Rose Society shirts, and sunblock, we arrived for our first day of work feeling excited yet daunted.  Just looking at the work ahead of us, the expanse of the beds, was intimidating.

Mother Nature cooperated (sort of).  The first day was cool and rainy and we were glad we had brought our rain gear.   The sun peaked through clouds on the second and third days, but still, the air temperature was at least 10-15 degrees cooler than usual for this time of year, and a gentle breeze made it easier for us to work hard, work fast, and work a full day.


Sarah had a plan though, and asked us to focus on the edges of the long beds - anything we could reach from the edge without actually standing inside the bed.   Then she had an intern attack the middle of the bed using a board to stand on so as to more evenly distribute her weight and not pack down the mulch around the roses.

We filled large trash buckets with clippings and the petals and leaves that we raked from as far in as we could reach.  These were dumped into the bed of Sarah's electricity powered "Electruck" and hauled to the compost area.  After twenty barrels, I gave up counting.

By the third day, Sarah's cadre of staff had dwindled down to an intern, a horticultural staff person, and us.  The other interns and staff had been reassigned to other areas of the botanic garden and so we worked as quickly as we could to finish up the last of the main beds.  We started at the edges and then armed with one foot by four foot long boards, worked our way into the middle of the bed.  The interns had made it look easy!  Balancing on a board while trying to rake under the sprawling roses was no easy task.


Sarah, Steve and Cathy as we wrapped up our volunteer effort.
When we quit for the day on our final day of work, it was amazing to stand back and look at all we had accomplished.  Even as we packed up our gear, we were still clipping the odd spent bloom here, pulling a weed there, but the beds looked gorgeous.

Despite having arrived at the Cranford with decades of experience, there is always something new to learn.  Sarah explained the use of the boards to us, something we had never considered.  In fact, we walk through our rose beds pruning, clipping, and weeding regularly.  We'll be much more circumspect in the future, employing stepping stones or boards to avoid compacting the mulch and soil, as roots need to breathe.

She also taught us the need to sanitize our tools at regular intervals, especially when moving from bed to bed, something else we never have done.  She provided spritz bottles of ammonia and encouraged us to use it frequently on our cutters.  When we returned home, we sanitized all of our tools and implements in a solution of household bleach, and we'll be more attentive to sanitizing our tools than we've ever been in the past.Ironically, we do sanitize our beds in spring with an ammonia spray, but we'd never given any thought to sanitizing our tools.

With construction going on around the main gardens, we never even got to see the pool or the arches and Sarah said that the roses had actually peaked a few weeks earlier.  While we missed most of the old garden roses, still, there was glorious bloom everywhere we looked.


On our final day of gardening, we traded in aprons and hats for vintage themed evening wear to attend Rose Night.

Sarah had asked us to wear the outfits we had worn to an 1860's era ball earlier in the spring, and we arrived decked out in period attire, minus the horse and carriage.

Rose Night is a wonderful event that harkens back to an earlier day when children played and families picnicked on the esplanade around the garden.

This was our second year attending, and it was wonderful to see so many more people wearing fancy hats and some even wearing vintage or vintage styled outfits.


Steve and Cathy, with Sarah in the rose garden at Rose Night.
We shared a table with a wonderful local family.  Lola dressed all in pink for the event.

Featured were pink tablecloths and rose martinis with rose petals floating in them.
A "members only" event, Rose Night at the Cranford has become one of our favorite spring events, made even more special for us by knowing that in some small way, our efforts helped make the garden just a little more beautiful for the members who came to enjoy it.

If you would like to join us for a picnic at Rose Night, you can find membership information for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden HERE.

37 comments:

  1. What a fabulous event. Well done with all the deadheading and maintenance. You look fantastic in your period costumes.

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    1. Thanks Linda! It was quite the experience! It's one thing to tour such an extensive garden. It's another thing to stand there with a trash bucket and pruner. I remember thinking to myself, "Did I really volunteer for this!?" But it was actually a lot of fun and we worked with some incredible people and learned a lot as well.

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  2. What a job it would be to keep up all of those roses. I am sure it was a fun cleanup though being amongst so many roses in bloom. Kind of heady. LOL! I love the costumes. How fantastic you all looked and what a fun event.

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    1. I don't know how she does it! But I will tell you that she is very organized and really knows how to guide everyone to make the most of the help she has to maximize the effect. The beds looked gorgeous that night.

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  3. Excellent post and wonderful photos! Larry

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    1. Thanks Larry! if you're local, do drop by for the Countyry Gardens Tour!

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  4. Cathy and Steve Great Photos and Great job with all the help at the Garden. I'm visiting Tuesday and will see all your work.

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    1. Teresa, we are like ships passing in the night! Everyone on your tour should bring gauntlets and pruners and arrive for the tour "dressed" for the garden... (as a practical joke, of course). Sarah would about freak! Have fun! Definitely check out the catmint. It is a fabulous companion plant and she uses it there extensively.

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  5. Outstanding event...and lots of work...I know just pruning my roses is work....I love the vintage clothing...wonderful!!

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    1. Deb, when we first volunteered, it seemed like a good idea, a fun thing to do. I don't think either of us thought about the amount of work it would actually entail. We care for 200 roses and think we do a lot LOL. When we got there and actually stood there looking at the work ahead of us, it was surreal. It took me about five minutes to find my groove and then I was amazed at how quickly we could move along. The way she broke up the work was extremely efficient and I was impressed with how dedicated her interns and volunteers are, and how much we got done in so short a time.

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  6. We often think places like this are swamped with helpers, Sarah must have been pleased to see you. Like the new look of your site. Oh and look at you two, just like Scarlet and Rhett.

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    1. Alistair, there is a private rose garden near us that is home to 1800 roses. The curator there has 7 full time staff. That Sarah can keep this garden running with an occasional worker assigned to help and some interns here and there and a few volunteers is amazing to me. Her dedication and hard work is evident in every rose bush.

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  7. dear cathy and steve, what a wonderful way to spend a holiday! Cathy, you in particular inspire me that you clearly have so much energy and have defintiely left the wheelchair far behind. Your 1860s outfits are beautiful. Thanks for sharing the tips. i regularly squash the earth and boards are such a good and simple idea. And the idea of a disinfectant spritz. You both must have dreamt of roses that night ...

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    1. Hi Cat... oh, I wish I HAD left the wheelchair totally behind. I still struggle mightily, and there are days I can't do without it. Working in the garden, we actually had the chair with us, although because of the weather, we didn't have it out much. I brought my canes and a little garden seat to sit on. I have my very good days and my very bad days and have learned to adjust what I'm doing to what I can handle on any given day.

      And yes, we dream of roses... we also dream of weeding and pruning LOL....

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  8. Now that is a rosy sight! You guys looked great in the vintage wear, especially surrounded by the roses.

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    1. Thanks so much for dropping in! Yes, we love that photo as well. It was a wonderful night!

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  9. Wow, what a weekend! So memorable and unique. You told the story so well. I could imagine so clearly what your visit was like. I'm sure your help was greatly appreciated! And how fun to get to celebrate at the end!

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  10. What a fantastic journey! I like the idea of using boards...great idea. Even though your number of roses cannot compare to theirs, you still have quite a lot. Thanks for sharing this wonderful trip....love the vintage-wear!

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    1. Thanks for dropping by, Michelle. The board idea is HUGE. I never appreciated how important it is to not compact the soil and mulch around the plants. We learned so much over those few days!

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  11. Hey guys,
    Long time. I've been out of blog world but glad to see a post like this. I must admit this is one of the posts I have ever seen. Keep up the great work you two.

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    1. Patrick, welcome back! We are so glad you are feeling better and we hope you have a wonderful summer. Looking forward to checking on your window boxes and gardens!

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  12. I love your vintage attire for Rose Night! I can only imagine how much Sarah appreciated your help. The roses are breathtaking!

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    1. The Cranford IS breathtaking. If you ever have a chance to visit, definitely avail yourself. I could just immerse myself in the fragrance. And yes, she really did appreciate the vintage wear. We had a lot of fun.

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  13. Hi Cathy and Steve, you look great in your vintage attire, very convincing! And you are so privilege to have an accessible rose garden that lush and beautiful. Oh i am so envious!...and i want to show you previous post of Heliconia from my other blog, just to show that they bloom almost simultaneously and stay there for ~3 months. http://www.abagillon.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html

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    1. Yes, your climate does make it tough on roses. But there are some roses that do well in zone 9-11. The Heliconia definitely gives you months of brilliant color... such an unusual bloom for a tree!

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  14. Good Morning. Just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. Details at http://wp.me/p1w6cN-Wb. Congratulations.

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    1. Thanks so much for the honor and the vote of confidence!

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  15. It looks like you all had a lovely time -- and you and Steve looked lovely too!!

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  16. Oh, we did! Thanks for stopping by Lori!

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  17. I love reading about your adventures and work. The way you embrace life makes me smile. A truly admirable way to live. Cheers!

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    1. Awww shucks, you made us blush! Thanks so much, Kevin, you're so sweet!

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  18. I'm just now seeing this post. Sounds like you guys worked really hard and had a lot of fun and I can just about smell all those gorgeous roses you groomed!

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    1. Thanks for dropping by!

      It was tremendous fun and while our noses did tire and after a while, we hardly could sense the perfume, if we stepped away and then went back, the fragrance was as impressive as the visual effect. We had so much fun, we plan to make it an annual event. We hope we've inspired other rose lovers to volunteer at this their own local botanical gardens.

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  19. Hats off to your fine work and dedication for your community garden. The blooms you have planted, from lassies to autumn splendors, are all beauties. Thank you for the inspiration.

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  20. I love a good volunteerism story! Your efforts surely benefited the gardens. How sore were you after? ; ) Great outfits for the event. Looks like everyone had a great time.

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    1. Mario, so nice to connect with you again! We were not as sore as you might imagine LOL... we have a huge garden ourselves, and are used to spending long days on the weekends tending to it. Plus we generally start each day in the spring and summer with a couple of hours in the garden before Steve heads off to work. Steve had battled an Achilles tendon problem since January and he wore a support recommended by the doctor and he was fine. I was very tired, but not hurting!

      We were fortunate in that we could not have asked for better weather. It was unseasonably cool and that made the work so much easier. Had we been doing this all in hot, humid weather, it would have been much harder.

      We had a wonderful time and plan to make it an annual event! If you ever get a chance to visit there, don't miss it. The Cranford has one of the most extensive rose collections around and Sarah is a dynamo, a fountain of information, and a truly wonderful person!

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