Today we’re in Redding, California, visiting with Carol Cowee.
Here’s how it started—bare ground that would become the new rose garden.
The soil was compacted, horrible red, rocky dirt. It took two men three hours to dig/chisel just 10 holes!
All that hard work paid off. Here is the rose garden at three years old.
A huge climbing rose, ‘Mme Isaac Pereire’, grows up a huge arbor made of chain-link fence posts. ‘Mme Isaac Pereire’ is an old rose in the bourbon group with incredible fragrant flowers.
A wildfire in 2018 destroyed 170 roses and the house. It was heartbreaking to see those burnt stems, which had been covered with fragrant flowers.
But there are survivors. Carol’s childhood wagon, made by her father, managed to survive the fire, and Carol found three baby cacti under the burned mother plants. Here is the cactus in full bloom; the little plant produced 35 blossoms.
A gorgeous, massive red lily (Lilium hybrid, Oriental group, Zones 4–9) is growing strong despite being in a small pot, and it blooms heavily in July when it’s 105°F daily.
A perfect rose is highlighted in a water bowl.
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Comments
Wow! What an amazing impact you've had on beautifying your neighborhood! You really have the gift of having the vision for making an ordinary and kind of ugly spot into an amazing beautiful garden! Not everyone can do that, it takes a lot of imagination! I just can't say how impressed I am with what you've done! Excellent job!
Carol - your roses look terrific (and the cacti babies). You possess great resilience. Thank you for sharing the new garden.
Wonderful shot of so many roses. I have grown Mme. Isaac Pereire and it is beautiful and soooo fragrant. I miss those old roses. Your grouping is wonderfully full and well thought out. Love the very clever arbor also. I can imagine the feeling of devastation following such a giant loss.
That cactus is a true survivor... So lovely!
Nice recycling and end product with the chain link fence poles. Your garden looks like it has lovely fragrance.
A garden that has truly risen from the ashes! May it continue to thrive.
Fun to share our love of gardening! Love the feedback…
What a great rebirth of your garden. It's so beautiful.
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