People Make Plants Come Alive at IGC

P. Allen Smith & me holding his beautiful rooster Edwin at #G2B14 in Little Rock, AR

Do plants give life to people or do people give life to plants? It’s the age old chicken or the egg causality dilemma, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” At The Independent Garden Show last week in Chicago, August 19-21, I had reason to ponder this theory. When Continue Reading

Memory Lane of Roses

'Moonstone' bred by Tom Carruth Former Director of Research & Marketing, Weeks Roses is as at home in a garden setting as Queen of the Rose Show. #roseshows #gardenchat #rosechat #rosepicoftheday

Memory lane is strewn with magnificent roses in central Illinois this summer. Dew glistening on petals of roses appears as ice crystals when lit by the first rays of dawn. Illinois crops and vegetable gardens are bountiful with enough rain to sustain the corn and soybeans until harvest. Every day Continue Reading

Red | White | and A Blue Rose

Applause | A True Blue Rose

Red White and Blue Rose Collections had long been sought after and yet the Blue Rose was a quest that was only a dream. There are many patriotic Red and White Roses. And yet when one would seek the blue rose it was a dream to be fulfilled by a Continue Reading

Love Planted A Rose Garden | June Is National Rose Month

June Spring Bloom | The Floribunda Rose Garden in Full Bloom

“Love planted a rose and the world turned sweet ” ~ Katherine Lee Bates Floribunda Rose Garden in Bloom June was declared National Rose Month by Ronald Reagan in 1986. The Northeastern Illinois Rose Society was proud to play a role in having the rose named America’s floral emblem while Continue Reading

A Spring Garden Comes To Life

P. Allen Smith is Wonderful with Kids

Heaven “scent” ‘Nevada’ is blooming. When the wind whispers through its softer than angels’ wings petals, one has the allusion that butterflies are fluttering all about. Its a magic rose flower bush. Simply breathtaking. The cool spring continues in Central Illinois. This coolness allows flowers to last and bloom stages Continue Reading