Stop and Smell the (Local) Roses

This Sacramento spring, everything’s coming up roses.

Mild winter weather set up perfect conditions for an explosion of what many consider to be America’s favorite flower, and public gardens in the area are making the most of this rosy bonanza with several events timed to coincide with the peak of bloom.

“Everything’s looking great,” said Marni Leger, volunteer coordinator for the Natomas Rose Garden. “We’re just about ready to pop. In another week, we should see our first big blush. Our first wedding is April 20, so it’s perfect timing.”

Coincidentally, many of these public gardens made major improvements or renovations in recent months, giving them even more must-see appeal for late April and early May.

“Really, for the first time, (the circumstances are) just about perfect,” said Cecily Hastings, co-founder of Friends of East Sacramento, which oversees the newly renovated McKinley Park Memorial Rose Garden. “We’re encouraging everybody. If there’s ever a time to visit, it’s now.”

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At McKinley, hundreds of new rosebushes have been planted. Eight large perennial beds are now complete. In addition, three large metal arches will be erected later this month to create a shade structure in the garden for weddings and special events.

“Our (wedding) bookings are going very, very well,” Hastings said. “People are delighted how the garden looks.”

Thousands of rosebuds promise colorful displays at McKinley and other gardens. This week’s warm weather pushed the flowers closer to a grand opening.

“Our public gardens will be spectacular,” said Ellie Longanecker, president of the Sacramento Rose Society and the volunteer who spearheaded the McKinley renovation. “There’s been so many recent contributions to (them). We’ll see an accumulative effect.”

Longanecker, who grows hundreds of roses in her Carmichael garden, looks forward to the society’s 65th annual Sacramento rose show set for April 27 at McKinley Park’s Shepard Garden and Arts Center. Some years, flowers are abundant; others, not so much.

“It’s like throwing a party,” she said. “You start stressing out – ‘Is everybody going to show up?’ With the roses, you worry – ‘Will they arrive on time?’

“But right now, it looks like it will be a really nice rose year,” Longanecker added. “The foliage is healthy. There are so many buds in my garden, just on the verge. Everything looks really pretty and ready to go.”

Also hoping to hit that peak of bloom is the Woodland Library Rose Club, which hosts its 22nd annual garden tour April 28. UC Davis, home to 8 acres of field-grown roses, follows with its Rose Days on May 4 and 5.

The earliest roses have already started their show at Sacramento’s Historic City Cemetery (a.k.a. the Old City Cemetery), home to one of the world’s best collections of heritage bushes. With some varieties found nowhere else, the cemetery garden was an inaugural member of the Great Rosarians of the World hall of fame for its living library of rare roses.

One reason for local gardens’ success: location. The Central Valley offers perfect growing conditions.

“We can do things with roses a lot of other places can’t,” Eitzen said. “We’re very lucky where we live. We wouldn’t want it any other way.”

At the state Capitol, the World Peace Rose Garden will celebrate its 10th anniversary May 5.

“The garden will be absolutely stunning,” said T.J. David, the garden’s co-founder. For 2013, he said, “We added 80 new roses in different varieties that will really enhance the garden. We’re seeing those new roses take off like rockets.”

Named one of the top 10 public rose gardens in America, the Capitol Park landmark is a favorite photo spot for special occasions.

“On Saturdays and Sundays in spring, we’ll see eight or nine limos pull up, one right after another,” David said. “People will jump out, snap photos, and drive off again. At the peak of bloom, it looks like a camera convention in the garden; so many people are taking pictures.”

The upcoming anniversary celebration will attract guests from around the world, David said.

“The garden is really a celebration of all the things that happen here,” he said. “This has been such an incredible place. We’re already recognized as one of the best in America, but this could be our best year ever.”