The oldest roses on the North American continent were planted in the garden of a house in the north-west of Philadelphia: Wyck.
Here has lived the same family of Quakers for nine generations from 1690 to 1973: Milans, Jansens, Wistars, Haines.
A rose at Wyck, Philadelphia
Their devotion to roses across generations has bequeathed us a history of roses which is maintained now by a private organization.
They bloom in May and only once a year.
TBD. Wyck, Philadelphia
Red Rose of Lancaster (Apothecary Rose), unknown date of introduction
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I visit three other rose gardens.
In all three cases, the most direct route from the entrances of the parks in which they are located requires you to step down to the enclosure of roses.
A breathtaking aspect of their design: you can see the roses – all of them – as in a painting: in one sweep of the thirsting and appreciative eye.
One, the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania is not far from Wyck.
On higher ground than Wyck, here the roses bloom in June.
The second is Brooklyn Botanical Garden, NY. A rectangle with, along one side, a colonade supporting vines of roses and other plants.
Roses are interplanted with other flowers and bloom in June and July.
The third is the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY.
Roses alone are planted in their enclosure and bloom in June and July.
I had the great fortune to visit on a day of a light drizzle of warm rain.
The rose garden, New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx, NY under a light drizzle.
This was a happy day.
To be in warm rain in the fragrance of roses and warm earth is the veriest heaven.
Here some of the roses of all three gardens (Wyck posted elsewhere).
Sea Foam shrub rose
Sea Foam, 1964, shrub rose, hybridized by Schwartz, US
Green Ice miniature rose
Green Ice miniature rose , introduced by Morris, US, in 1972
Glamis Castle, an Austin, UK rose
Rosa virginiana introduced prior to 1724 and considered a native to the eastern US. Its fruit is steeped for tea and made into jam
Garden in May, 1895, oil on canvas
Maria Oakey Dewing, 1845-1927, American. Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
Tequila, floribunda rose, hybridized by Meilland, France
Peach Drift, shrub rose, hybrider Meilland, France
Eden, large flowered climber rose, introduced in 1987, hybridized by Meilland, France
Prairie Harvest, shrub rose, introduced in 1985 and hybridized by Buck, US
Wenlock shrub rose, introduced in 1984 and hybridized by Austin, UK
Hybrid tea rose considered to be the queen of modern roses by the Morris Arboretum, this rose has an ancestry which includes perpetual, China and tea roses.
Itself one of 6000 named varieties, it was introduced to the eastern US in 1867
