Be Smart

On my recent jaunt to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx to see the Darwin garden, I was too early for more than a few of the blooms in the Botanical Garden's huge formal rose garden. It's named for Peggy Rockefeller, source of the river of gold required to keep it going, but the rose garden's true designer is landscape architect Beatrix Ferrand.

Ferrand worked her garden magic early in the 20th century. A woman in what was at the time a man's profession, Ferrand is not as well known as she should be. No Wikipedia entry! A perfect project for some feminist green soul out there. Ferrand is not mentioned on the Botanical Garden website either -- I learned that she designed the rose garden from a recorded tour guide.

A formal rose garden may not be your style. Not mine either; I like my roses rambling rather than clipped and managed to a fare-thee-well. But June in this enormous rose acreage is the best possible time and place to plan your own rose growing.