June is for Roses at New York’s Brooklyn Botanic

For a colorful, aromatic and fascinating horticultural experience, New York City residents and visitors can pay a visit in early summer to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s historic Cranford Rose Garden. There they will find one of the most varied rose collections in the United States, according to Garden sources.

Packed into the Cranford Rose Garden’s one-acre tract are more than 5,000 rose bushes and almost 1,200 different species and varieties, including All-America Rose Selections (AARS) and many wild and old roses that are the ancestors of modern roses, and that are now rarely found in cultivation.

Simple but Effective Rose Garden Design

The Cranford Rose Garden’s design is simple but effective. It has a rectangular shape and an elegant stone and latticework pavilion that divides the garden into a large main section and a smaller section with a curving, diagonal path and a small rose display. Fifteen rectangular beds devoted to more modern roses such as floribundas, polyanthas, hybrid teas and grandiflora roses run down the center of the main section of the garden, while old and wild roses surround the perimeter.

The rose beds in the Garden are closely spaced and densely planted, and Clematis blossoms adorn the trellises, providing an artistic complement to the climbing roses. Each rose plant is labeled with a name and the date it was introduced, inviting visitors to learn more about the history and development of the rose.

Historically Important Wild and Old Roses

According to Botanical Garden sources, the Garden’s wild rose collection includes Rosa gallica, a bloom native to Europe and Asia that is thought to be the foundation of the oldest cultivated rose in the West, and Rosa carolina, a North American native found from Nova Scotia to Kansas and South to Texas.

Rosa gallica ‘Officianalis’ was cultivated by monks in the Middle Ages and is sometimes called the “apothecary’s rose” because of its historic use in medicinal preparations. Rosa carolina is also called the pasture rose. It blooms rather early, in May, and has a fragrant, pale pink blossom.

The Garden’s older cultivated roses also include varieties such as ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison,’ a so-called repeat bloomer or rose that blooms more than once a year, and ‘Baronne Prevost,’ a “hybrid perpetual” developed by crossing repeat bloomers and older roses.

‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ is an early hybrid Bourbon rose from the 1700s that is a cross between the ever-blooming old roses from China and the once-blooming old roses from Europe. ‘Baronne Prevost’ is a fragrant, showy, Victorian rose developed from the intermingling of repeat-bloomers with the older roses.

Chameleon-like Rose is the Ancestor of Red and White Roses

The Cranford Rose Garden also has old roses that were introduced into cultivation because they brought new colors to the rose gardener’s palette, or new aromas to delight the senses. The old China rose, or Rosa chinensis, transforms into several different hues during its growth cycle and was the foundation for the delicate whites and intense reds in subsequent hybrids after its introduction into Europe in the 18th century.

Yellow Roses and Perfume Derived from Two Old Roses

The Garden has an old Asian rose called Rosa foetida that is the basis for the yellow roses we have today. It also has the ‘Kazanlik’ (Rosa x damascena trigintipetala) rose, an old, pale pink damask variety that is one of the most aromatic kinds of roses and is used to make perfume.

Rose Garden Opens in June with Special Events

The Cranford Rose Garden opens in the month of June, which is a vital and exciting time to visit. The Garden often hosts special events to honor the rose and is filled with photographers and artists. Many rose bushes are at their peak in June, when the Garden pleasantly assaults the senses with tens of thousands of roses in a vast assortment of colors, shapes and scents.

Garden’s Web Site is Informative and Fun

The Garden’s Web site has a guide to identifying roses , excerpted from the work of noted rosarian, Stephen Scanniello, and a fun feature in the form of a time-lapse video of the rose garden that is set to music by a local musician and can be embedded into anyone’s personal blog or Facebook page. There is also a link to a Flickr page where visitors can post their photographs of the beautiful blossoms.

During the month of June, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is open until 6 PM. On Tuesdays, the Garden has free admission except for special events. Rose Garden tours are given on weekend afternoons and self-guided tours are always available.