Plumeria Girl, the red roses are the ubiquitous Meiland landscape rose La Sevilliana, which is grown everywhere in B. C. in mall plantings, parks and other public spaces. It is one of the most easy care shrub roses there is. It out Knockouts, Knockout for health, colour and rebloom. That particular row of roses is at least 25 years old. It was pruned back by half this spring and given a much of rotted horse manure. The roses have responded superbly. Ingrid, as you know, B. C. and the Okanagan in particular are Canada's vacation mecca. The Okanagan Valley is lakes and beaches from end to end and also fruit and wine country, so it is worth a visit in and of itself. The gardens are just icing on the cake so to speak for people who love gardens and roses. Next event on my list: I am going to be giving a rose propagation workshop on July 7th to help raise awareness of these gardens and the rose collection. Participants will strike three cuttings from roses of their choice each and the Friends of the Gardens will keep one from each participant to grow on and use in enlarging the collection, filling in spaces and curating some of the rare varieties we have in the collection for the future. Cheers, Rick

Thank you Jeri and Sheila, Sheila, it is not really an ordeal, I am very chill about it and even looking forward to the arrival of the roses. I have learned in my life not to get stressed out about things over which I have no control. The Board of Directors I work with, the staff at the Research Station where the gardens are located and of course my volunteers are all on board. As long as I lead, they will make things work. The local retail nursery, Garden Works, also stepped up to help at the first request. This crisis shows that good people, with good hearts, do good things. So, I am experiencing a reality that is beyond my control. As an early elder mentor used to tell me: "From the day that you're born, till your ridin the Hearse, there ain't nothin so bad that it couldn't get worse"! That has been a mantra to me from my mid twenties to my late 60's. The reality is that it is spring, and my own garden is coming to life, as are the Summerland Ornamental Gardens behind locked gates. The cycle of the seasons goes on irrespective of our human fears and individual angst. As the old Bobby McFerrin song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" so succinctly instructs, no worries, it is what it is and it will be what it will be. So cherish nature, hold fast to those you love and smell your roses Sheila. Another poem from modern mythology that suits the times and is one I have used to live by goes: Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under mountains of the moon. Roads go ever, ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known.[ From - "The Hobbit", J.R.R. Tollein Don't Worry, Be Happy. It is what it is and will be what it will be. Rick

Embothrium, yes there are plans for signage, that is on the spring to do list. Both myself and the lead on the Grounds Committee, as well as members of my Rose Team, are fans of companion plantings. However, we will wait to finish the new garden and for the plants to fill in before we begin to make decisions on companion plants. I personally like an English Garden look and plant companions such as Lavender, Delphiniums and others in my own rose garden. So we shall see how the garden unfolds as it and we move forward. There are deer and bear fencing around the entire research station. We seldom have deer inside the Gardens, however back bears are resident in summer. The research station has orchards, vineyards and other yummy test plots surrounding the display gardens. We are also right on the edge of mountainous wildlands, so the wildlife is handy by and this is their territory, not ours. Same can be said for the First Nations Peoples in the valley. Think Yellowstone National Park in the US. We are very cognizant of the human, bear interface and post a lot of information, along with bear proof refuse containers. The few resident bears ignore the humans almost completely and are in fact a bit of an attraction in themselves. One old sow loves to climb an old Ponderosa Pine with a spectacular view near the new rose garden and doze in the crook of a large llmb on summer afternoons. I have often had to ask "visistors" not to get to close or to disturb her. She is quite photogenic when dozing. Very occasionally, the Provincial Conservation Officer Service has had to remove a deer, or a young bear who does not yet know the rules, from inside the fence. I love the fact that the wildlife is so close. The South Okanagan Valley is home to a lot of wild critters. We have many protected areas and soon, a new National Park Reserve in this part of the Province. I have California Big Horn Sheep in my neighbourhood every winter. And each spring, there are young back bears looking for a new territory. The problem is never with the animals. It is always with the people who don't care, or won't share the "their space" with the rest of our fellow Earth creatures who were here long before we were.. If we do not soon realize that we are part of the environment and the environment is part of us, Mother Nature will fix the problems we are causing in spite of us. We as a species are far too arrogant and ignorant about our importance in the grand scheme of things. It is past time that we as a species and a culture reflect on our place and our ecological limits in the grand scheme of things.. Cheers, Rick

Thank you Vaporvac and Sheila. I very much hope that both of you can make the trip sometime too. We are trying very hard to have the new Canadian Heritage Rose Garden completely finished by next June, 2022 at which time we very much hope to be able to celebrate with a formal grand opening dedication and rose tour. We still have an arbor to build and place as the new garden's focal point and the structure on which to drape our climbing roses. We also still have quite a few roses being grown on by John in California that we could not import due to Covid and border closures. We have begun to clear more ground on the edge of the English Shrub garden to allow us to plant more of the early Austin Shrub roses. We are having to dig out old plants of Russian Sage and do some serious weeding, but are making progress, though we did break an irrigation head last week trying to get a huge old root ball of Russian Sage out from beside and under it. Russian Sage and Oregon Grape, both garden thugs, especially when they get into places where there is even minimal irrigation. We also have a site where we will be moving a few of our OGRs which are struggling in neglected areas and will also put some of Paul Bardens roses in various beds when we get them from John. That will be the culmination of my piece of the Paul Barden's Roses Are Becomming Rare currating project that we began on the Antuque Roses Forum two years ago. We will have a good collection of Paul's glorious varieties once we get them in the garden and can grow them to maturity. I am especially looking forward to growing some of his OGR hybrids here in our zone 6b winter climate. Of course that will take a few more years. I am hearing rumours that they are considering opening the border to travel in late June or July. That is still rumour, but Canada's Minister of Public Safety was apparently overheard talking about the possiblitly of late June. That would certainly be welcome news. The grand opening and dedication of the Canadian Heritage Rose Garden will likely be in the first or second week of June when our roses are at peak bloom. In normal years, we hold our rose tour at that time. So stay tuned, I will post any confirmation and dates on the forum next spring when we know for certain if it will be a go. Cheers, Rick