Roseland Plantation received its current name from Mrs. Gertrude Windsor around the mid 1950s. Prior to being named Roseland, the property experienced a series of owners; each no doubt had their own name for the property. Although Mrs. Windsor named the property “Roseland”, she never planted roses here. She left that to us.
“How can you have ‘Roseland’ if there are no roses? When our guests enter our gates, they should gasp at the beautiful rose gardens, and they should be immersed in rose fragrance when they step out of their cars!” we thought. So we decided to rectify the situation.
We selected the island in the middle of the circular drive in front of the Windsor House as a starting point. The island has three beautiful, large crepe myrtles that are begging for complimentary colors. We opted for four carpets of color: white, yellow, apricot, and deep pink to match the crepe myrtles. We selected international award winning English roses from David Austin famous for their beauty and fragrance.
Then came the first surprise: We were told that we’ll need 80 – 100 rosebushes per patch for maximum impact, with a total of 320 just in that small island. I nearly fainted! But we’ve gotten used to such surprises at Roseland because everything is bigger, everything is more difficult, everything is more beautiful when finished. So we simply said, “OK,” and Alejandro and I started planting about five weeks ago.
We drilled holes, and more holes, until our arms and backs were sore. We brought truckload after truckload of planter’s mix and mulch. And still we didn’t have enough. It took a solid month of work to plant the roses – then we realized they need to be watered and hand watering just isn’t practical.
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| Under Construction |
So we started installing drip irrigation systems throughout the property. This is a huge project, more like irrigating an entire subdivision, because we not only have to install the drip system (which is simple and quick), but we have to distribute water, power, and zone controls throughout the property. We also have to ensure that whatever we install can be easily expanded to water the grass and any new gardens we build in the future. So far we’ve completed all the drip zones but none of the feeder lines, power grids, or control systems. So if we want to water our new roses, we attach a hose to each zone. Well, it works…
That’s why there haven’t been any blogs during the past month: We’ve been working on roses. But it will be worth it when the flowers come in full bloom – and that should be soon since we already have roses from our new plants! So come see Roseland and experience the fragrance of hundreds of roses in the near future.
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| Blooming rose garden |
The picture above was rotated automatically by Google, our blog provider. I tried 5 different times, but was unable to make it come out right. After wasting over an hour, I gave up.
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