September Walking Tour - A Wonderful Time to Enjoy Roses

We often think about the rose as a focal point of gardens in spring and summer, however sometimes we forget that late summer and early fall are some of the best times to enjoy their great displays of flowers, even though they are not blooming as prolifically as they do in the spring.

Under our harsh mid-summer weather conditions, hot temperatures, dryness and the stress of strong sunlight, the colors of the flowers may fade. And the Japanese beetles feast on our roses from late spring to mid-summer, causing damage to some of the blooms. The absence of these conditions can make later in the summer a delightful time to see the roses!

During the cooler weather in early fall (especially morning and evening), the color of the flowers intensifies as it is meant to do. When our horticulturists identify a rose by its flowers, fall is the best season to do so.

Some of the more popular modern roses we see in the Gardens today are shrub roses, such as Floribunda, English rose and hardy Canadian rose. They were cultivated to have a longer blooming season from spring to fall, a greater variety of colors and compact sizes, and cold hardiness and disease resistance habits. These better accommodate our sustainable ways of Western gardening.

Be sure to see the displays of roses in the Ellipse garden and the Romantic Gardens on your next visit.