Antique Rose Festival at Lynchburg's Old City Cemetery

The Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia, is an amazing place.  It's much more than just a place for those who have passed on ... it has historic buildings, museum exhibits, loads of special events throughout the year, a very busy chapel, and more.  (Weddings at the cemetery?  Lots of people do.)  Let's not forget, they have roses!

This past weekend was the cemetery's annual Antique Rose Festival.  My husband and I drove down on Saturday.  The weather was perfect!

The roses were just starting to flower.  (This spring, things are all a little bit late.)  I spent most of my time admiring the roses, and visiting with the folks that I know there.  It's been at least four years since I last visited, and it was good to catch up and hear what's been going on.  I did take time to snap a few photos for you.

This 'Harison's Yellow' was a fountain of gorgeous yellow flowers.

My favorite rose was this one ... sadly, it had lost its tag and no one was sure of its identity.  The plant was large (5' high and about 6-or-more feet wide), the white flowers are about an inch and a half in diameter, and the incredible fragrance was perfuming that entire end of the garden.  Any ideas?

The icing on top of this event for me is that there are dozens of varieties of heritage roses for sale!

I was tempted by so many of them!  In the end, I followed my heart and only brought home one ... "Polk Street Noisette".  It's a rose that was found at an old house in the neighborhood beside the cemetery.  No one working the sale could tell me anything about it, but I didn't care.  I have a fondness for found roses, with their stories of survival and discovery.  This new rose is already planted in my garden, in the front yard rose border.  I can't wait to see what it does as it grows!

In addition to the cemetery, we made two other stops in Lynchburg while we were there.  More to come, later in the week.

Upcoming Spring Rose and Garden Events in Virginia

At this time of year, there are SO many choices of things for rose and garden lovers to do in Virginia.  (For those of you in other parts of the country, I'm sure that there is plenty of stuff for you, too, wherever you are.)  Below, you will find the events that I plan to attend ... I will be enjoying these as a plain old attendee at each of them but one.

Virginia Garden Week
April 19 - 25, 2015
There's nothing like Virginia Garden Week anywhere else in the country.  Home and garden tours are scheduled in many locations throughout the state.  I'm touring Fredericksburg on Tuesday, Warrenton on Wednesday, and Middle Peninsula on Friday.
Click HERE to go to the Garden Week web site for schedule and details.

Azaleas in full bloom in Fredericksburg for Garden Tour.

I will be speaking at the April meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Garden Club, delivering my program "Documenting and Preserving the Roses at Hollywood Cemetery"
Festival Hall, Reedville, Virginia
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 12:00 pm

A beautiful example of statuary, and 'Safrano', at Hollywood Cemetery

Lynchburg Old City Cemetery Antique Rose Festival

Featured guest and speaker is my friend, Rev. Douglas Seidel

Heritage roses propagated from the cemetery's collection will be available for sale.

May 8-10, 2015  

Schedule of activities at the cemetery's web site HERE.  

'Dortmund' climbing on the porch of one of the museum buildings at the Old City Cemetery.

Sunday Picnic at Hollywood Cemetery

Pack a picnic, bring a blanket, and relax to sounds of great entertainment.  As an added bonus, I expect the roses at the cemetery to be putting on quite a show.

May 3, 2015, 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Details on the cemetery web site HERE.

Unknown red China rose, on the Dorsey Cosby lot at Hollywood Cemetery

Monticello’s Tufton Farm Wine and Roses Open House

Featured speaker is Peggy Cornett, Curator of Plants at Monticello

May 30, 2015 10:00 am – 2:00 pm  
Details are HERE, at the Monticello web site.

'Baltimore Belle' blooming in the garden at Tufton Farm.

Hartwood Roses Open Garden Day

Date to be determined, as soon as the roses in my garden let me know when full bloom time will be.

Details will be posted here, on the Hartwood Roses Facebook page, and on the Hartwood Roses web site as soon as I have them. 

Some Rosy Things To Do in May

May is here, finally!  April was a strange month, with temperatures lower than normal and a wide swing of weather ... I was wearing a turtleneck and a sweater yesterday, for Pete's sake.  It's time to start thinking about warm weather, shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops, and garden events.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (May 2, 3, and 4) is the Spring Plant Sale at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond.  It feels weird that I'm not selling roses anymore and won't a vendor at this show.  (Click HERE to go to the LGBG web site, for each day's hours and a list of vendors.)  Some of my best non-rose garden plants have come from this sale.

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, May 5, from 1pm - 3:30pm, everyone is invited to the 2nd annual "Sunday Picnic at Hollywood Cemetery".  Pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket and relax to sounds of great entertainment (Oak Lane Band and Censations from St. Catherine's School).  Guided Trolley car tours will be provided.  Cupcakes from Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe, an ice cream truck from Cool Concessions, and hotdogs from The Dog Wagon will be on site.  Hollywood Cemetery's roses will certainly be part of the day's events!

 

Print from Harper's Weekly, August 17, 1867.  The caption reads, "Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia -- decorating the graves of the rebel soldiers, May 31, 1867 -- drawn by W. L. Shepherd (see page 568)"

 

 

'Duchesse de Brabant' in the Armistead Plot.

 

 

Another cemetery that is near and dear to me is the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Saturday, May 11, is their 18th annual Antique Rose Festival.  The cemetery's rose collection should be nearing peak bloom for the festival, and there will be a huge assortment of antique roses available for sale.  (Click HERE to go to the event calendar on the cemetery's web site.)

 

The rose sale begins on Friday, May 3 ... with 140 varieties on the preliminary list that they sent me.  This is the ONLY opportunity I know to buy antique roses in person in this region.  Online vendors for antique roses are disappearing, so we have to take advantage of every opportunity we have to get these roses for our gardens, and support the people and organizations who work so hard to bring them to us.  (Lynchburg is pretty close to Covesville, where my new rug is, and I hope to make a combo trip ... to pick up my rug and visit the Old City Cemetery's roses.  Anyone down that way want to meet up?)

 

 

 

'Aglaia'

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 18, is Rose Day at Monticello's Tufton Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Rosarian Rev. Douglas Seidel will discuss the various types of old roses ... Doug is one of the most fascinating speakers I know!  Bring clippings of your “mystery roses” for Doug’s legendary antique rose identification workshop.  Curator Peggy Cornett will lead tours of the Tufton's gardens, including the Leonie Bell Noisette Garden.  A wide selection of historic roses and other plants will be available for sale.  (I will be there, but I don't know yet whether I will be helping with anything.)

 

 

"Hollywood Pink Cluster", found in Hollywood Cemetery, and growing in the Leonie Bell Garden.

 

'Baltimore Belle'

 

 

Though the nursery portion of Hartwood Roses is closed now, I will still host an Open Garden or two (or more) in late May, once my roses are blooming.  As soon as I have an idea of when, I will let you know.