Have a Blooming Good Time on June 13 with Heirloom Roses in Wooster

WOOSTER, Ohio — Prepare yourself for some cracklin’ roses.

Wooster’s Garden of Roses of Legend and Romance, home to some 1,500 heirloom roses, will hold an open house and rose plant sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 13 — and the blooms there should be at their peak. Admission is free and open to the public. Sale proceeds will go to support the plants’ care.

The garden is part of Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave. in the Wayne County city. The center is the research arm of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.

Heirloom roses, also called antique roses and old garden roses, are types that were developed before 1867, when the first hybrid tea rose came out, said Matt Shultzman, the arboretum’s plant materials specialist. They’re known for their fragrance, easy care, and big range of plant shapes and flower colors.

Von Scharnhorst heirloom rose (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES Communications)

Available in the sale will be types called Bloomfield, Hanseat, The Fairy, Chevy Chase, Hiawatha, Thisbe Yellow, Crimson Showers, Pierette Pavement, Gillian Gibson, Veilchenblaugh and others.

All the plants in the sale were propagated from specimens in the garden, said Shultzman, a 2006 graduate of the college’s Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute, which is located next to the center.

Redleaf Rose (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES Communications)

The open house also will have live music and a rose pruning demonstration, he said.

For details, call 330-263-3761 or go to go.osu.edu/2015RoseOpenHouse.

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