ROSE GARDEN RESTORATION

The formal Rose Garden was the first garden designed by George Crawley for the Phipps family and reflects his formal style. The rose parterres form a pattern around a central square and within each of these parterres is a different cultivar of pink hybrid tea roses. The original parterres were edged with Boxwood, which was replaced with Japanese Holly at some point in the 1980’s.

This past summer, the Rose Garden underwent the first phase of a two-year restoration. Four of the eight parterres had their hedges restored back to Boxwood. A new cultivar named ‘ Little Missy’ was selected for its heat tolerance, resistance to the Boxwood Leaf Miner as well as Boxwood Blight. The diminutive nature of ‘Little Missy’ was an added bonus since it will be easy to maintain at the lower height of the original design.

For the three seasons prior to the restoration, the Horticulture Department trialed several cultivars of pink roses to replace the cultivar ‘Falling in Love’, which had not been performing up to standard. After much research and three successful trial seasons, the rose ‘Savannah Smile’ was selected. Visitors to the garden last year may not have noticed that a new rose had been planted. The plants put on so much growth in one season that they blended in seamlessly. What did stand out was their incredible fragrance. The double pink books begin as a deep salmon and fade to a powdery pink and have a strong fruity fragrance reminiscent of heirloom varieties. The foliage remained dark and glossy even during the heat and humidity of our Long Island summer-an impressive feat for any rose!

This year we plan to complete the restoration of the parterres and look forward to seeing the roses in their second year. If you are visiting the gardens this summer be sure to pass through and smell the roses!