The circular rose garden contains a mix of hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, polyanthus, rambler and landscape roses. The eight pairs of rose beds are arranged as a color wheel: red, pink, yellow, mauve, white, coral, assorteds and blends. All varieties are rated hardy in Zone 6b and are highly disease-resistant to black spot, our major disease problem. We control this fungus by spraying weekly with organic sprays, including insecticidal soap, horticultural oil and Seranade, an organic fungicide. The roses are fertilized monthly from April through August, with organic lawn fertilizer. In April, the first feeding, a cup of Epsom salts is also given to each rose. Pruning starts in March, when the roses are uncovered from their winter mulch, and continues throughout the growing season. The garden is deadheaded, cleaned of dead and diseased foliage, weeded and watered once per week. We are very grateful to our regular volunteers who help us with these time-consuming tasks. The rose garden also features two native grasses, planted in 2019: a tall variety of Indian grass called Sioux Blue and the much shorter northern dropseed. In the center of the rondel, you’ll find a carpet of lamb’s ears circling a ring of boxwood. If you look up the small slope next to the rose garden, you will see three rose arbors, planted with climbing roses and Clematis. Noteworthy among the latter is Clematis Betty Corning, which has small, nodding, lavender bell-like flowers from June into August. Because it took so much time to mow the area beneath the arbors, we replaced existing turf with a low-mow seed mix of low-growing fescues. The area is mowed or cut with a string trimmer once or twice per year. The center path is trimmed bi-weekly. Otherwise, the area receives no care or maintenance, other than irrigation. We also planted clumps of quaking oat grass, a native, cool-season species, under and in between the arbors. Look for the addition of small bulbs and native wildflowers in the future.