The Whistling Gardener

by Steve Smith

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, located at 3915 Sunnyside Blvd., and a respected local expert on all things horticultural. You can reach Steve at 425-334-2002 or by e-mail at info@sunnysidenursery.net.

The date was 1992 and it was summer, probably around July or so. The nursery was long on roses and we needed to figure out what to do with all of them. Rather than try to sell them and actually make some money, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to plant them inside my circle drive, and thus began "The Rose Garden."

We dug roughly 100 holes and planted the roses on 3-foot centers in a series of concentric circles, and for the next several years enjoyed months and months of lovely fragrant bouquets throughout the summer. Now, don't misunderstand me, this was not a maintenance-free arrangement. I labored for hours applying fertilizers and fungicides and insecticides, deadheading and pruning and, of course, watering. Most of the time I was rewarded for my efforts. But all too often Mother Nature would intervene and decide to rain on my garden just about the time the roses were getting ready to open up into their glorious forms and smells. When this happened the outside petals would rot and the flowers wouldn't open. My only option then was to cut them back and wait 4 to 6 weeks for another flush of blooms. Needless to say, this tended to create some major frustration on my part.

Fast forward now to the spring of 2005. It had been a mild winter and I got an early start on the roses. They were pruned and sprayed and fertilized and all furrowed-up for irrigating. By late May they were growing by leaps and bounds and the foliage was looking luscious. My anticipation was building. I could picture the bouquet on the dinning room table, its fragrance wafting all through the house.

Of course, just as the buds began to open, Mother Nature once again dumped on us and I snapped. It was the final straw for me and my Rose Garden. The following spring I dug them all up and donated them to the Evergreen Arboretum plant auction. The Rose Garden encircling my driveway became a tropical garden that year, and it has subsequently evolved into a hardy tropical-looking garden of shrubs and perennials, which gives me great pleasure in the summer when all the different foliages and textures all meld together into a huge mass of vegetation and flowers. It's by no means the Rose Garden but it's a hell of a lot less frustrating. Mother Nature can dump all she wants and it only makes my plants grow bigger.

Now that I have shared my tale of woe with you, I need to tell you that if you were ever interested in growing roses this is the year to do it. The weather has been absolutely perfect, not only for roses but for peonies and poppies and lupines and delphiniums and just about any plant that blooms in May and June. While the Rose Garden is long gone, I still have a few roses scattered in the yard and I have yet to spray them for diseases or insects. The first flush of blooms has been spectacular and with the warm weather the fragrance has been to die for. This is how gardening is supposed to work.

If you are worried about the high maintenance of roses, try the Easy Elegance series or the Floral Carpets or any of the Rugosa hybrids or landscape roses. These have all been bred for disease resistance and easy care. Some even have good fragrance. After you have gotten comfortable with these types of roses, try some of the traditional hybrid teas or floribundas. David Austin roses have the look of old English roses with the wonderful fragrance and numerous petals but much better disease resistance.

As long as the weather continues with warm, dry days you should be able to count on growing some wonderful roses this year. Get them planted, fertilize them and water and get ready for some lovely bouquets. Roses can give you years of pleasure and satisfaction.

On the other hand, if Mother Nature gets her way...



Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at

425-334-2002 or online at info@sunnysidenursery.net.