By Patti Spezaferro

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, 
the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, 
and with as yet no sign to remind one 
that its fresh young beauty will ever fade?” 

―Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll, born in 1843, was an extraordinary British horticulturist, garden designer, writer, and artist. She designed over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote over 1,000 articles for magazines such as Country Life and William Robinson’s The Garden. Jekyll has been described as a premier influence in English garden design by British and American gardening enthusiasts. When designing a garden, Jekyll’s goal was to give delight, to give refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to lift up the heart in a spirit of praise and thankfulness. 

While I am sheltering-at-home, I have been in my garden more than ever. It has been my sanctuary. I am so grateful to be able to putter around my garden admiring my roses while fighting my pest problems.  June is a month for pruning old garden roses which unlike modern roses that are repeat bloomers, old garden roses are not repeat bloomers. Old garden roses also referred to as heritage or historic roses, belong to a class which existed before the introduction of the first modern rose, La France in 1867. The flower form is typically quartered, cupped, globular or compact. Rose lovers fall in love with old roses because they are typically disease- resistant, have wonderful fragrances, beautiful attractive hips, and a wonderful choice of delicate pastel colors that are naturally soothing to any viewer. 

June is also a month for watering, weeding, deadheading, fertilizing and general clean up. Remove suckers because if left to grow, rose sucker canes will ‘suck’ or deplete the nutrients needed for growth and development. This weakens the upper part of the bush, sometimes to the point where the whole plant dies. To remove a sucker, follow the sucker all the way back to where it is growing from the understock. You may need to dig down a bit. Cut it off right at the point of contact. If you cut above it, it will sprout faster and even produce more suckers. 

And finally, this month come to the PRS Zoom weekly social chat hour every Thursdays at 2 pm to get ideas, watch members tour their rose garden, build community and learn something new. Tomoko Lee, our webmaster extraordinaire, has been working hard compiling our member’s roses for our Annual Virtual Rose Exhibit. Check our website, the first week of June where over 165  beautiful rose photos will be on display. Our next Zoom monthly membership meeting is set for Tuesday, June 16th at 7:30 pm when our speaker Karen Flores will talk about Flower Arrangements. Like Jekyll’s  gardens, our meetings will leave you delighted, your mind refreshed and soothed, and your spirits lifted with a heart filled with thankfulness in having a strong and welcoming community to share your love of roses. Until then, don’t forget to smell the roses!