Rose Garden

April the eighth was a glorious spring day…perfect for the initial planting of the novel Vanderbilt rose garden. The novelty is that there are no roses in the garden. The historic roses suffered from the Rose Rosetta blight and had to be removed.   

After consulting with the Cornell Cooperative Extension and discovering this unfortunate situation, Linda Pitra, Nancy Swartz and their design team created a background design for the new rose plantation. The roses will be added in a year or two when the soil has healed. 

Twenty-four Hydrangeas, donated by a generous nursery, and blight-free columnar and rounded Boxwood were carefully planted by the CG Team of Mary Ahern, Donna Rusinski, Carol Eldon, Julie Harrington, Sarah Schueler, Marisa Comple, Pam Flam, Barbara DeBlasis, Robin Brennan and, of course, the directors-in-charge, Linda and Nancy.   

The work went quickly, partially because the Vanderbilt staff had dug the holes according to plan and because with excellent direction, the team worked efficiently and cooperatively.