Lynn Woods Rose Garden Club - another new project!

Lynn is the next town over from us. It's a not-especially-affluent city, but it is home to a wonderful 2200-acre woodland park, which is one of my favorite places. They also have a large, lovely beach, and our beloved pottery studio is located there, so we have a strong connection and affection for Lynn.

Anyhow, the is a formal rose garden in the woods, which seems to be a very well-kept secret but we have visited it frequently over the years. Before I retired, I said to DH that volunteering in the garden was something I would like to do some day. After retirement, other items clamored for my attention, and that desire kind of fell by the wayside - until about a month ago. There was a post on the Woods' FB page asking for volunteers to join an effort to restore the rose garden to its former glory. It felt like the universe was sending us an engraved invitation!

We've been to two meetings now, and it's so exciting to be with a group of people who are all so passionate about gardening and the woods! The ranger says we have "plenty of money" to work with, and when has anyone on a project team ever heard those words? We will have $12K just to spend on plants. He said this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I'm sure that's correct. Deer were an enormous challenge, and a huge black chain link fence has been erected around the area, so future plantings should be safe from the deer who had eaten most of the existing plants in the garden. We'll be installing an irrigation system and a potting shed. Also trying to hide that big fence with woody plants, lol. You will be hearing more from me on this project in the future. I am so excited!

Ironically (especially given my name here), I am not too crazy about roses although I can appreciate them in a formal garden setting, and I really enjoy the fragrant ones. We will also be planting areas of perennials and natives, and DH and I will be in the natives sub-group.


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Wow, how fantastic and what fun! Plant some David Austin roses for me.
When I was in college I was in the play Gaslight, and one of the lines was, "Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin" from the poem.

That sounds like a lovely snd worthwhile project. I would only say, if your fence isn’t 8’ high it may be inadequate for deer.

i hate deer now more than trees.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

That sounds like a lovely snd worthwhile project. I would only say, if your fence isn’t 8’ high it may be inadequate for deer.

i hate deer now more than trees.

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We were just at a very cool orchard and their fence was 14 feet.

rosa, that sounds wonderful!! Yes, one gardener can be passionate, but a group of gardeners working on a project together can be so inspiring! I'm sure iris lilies and others here can attest to that as well.

I am in agreement with you about roses in general. I don't have any. I returned the one rugosa rose I bought because I hated those thorns. But people do love rose gardens. When my college friends got together last june we went to the NY Botanical Garden and the rose garden was beautiful!

As for the deer discussion, oddly, we had a lot more deer in NJ than I have in my garden in VT. My Vermont friends do have issues with them, however. I think we're saved by the fact that there are few deep woodlands around us.

Looking forward to your reports over time! Post pictures, too!

Deer are thriving in suburbia.

I am dipping my toe into roses with The Fairy polyanthus rose, a reliable no -fuss little shrub rose.I got DH to agree to prune them since I HATE the thorns. He has always had a rose or two around in his garden area. I will add at least one David Austin type pink shrub rose.

I think we have a good solution to keep deer out of our front flower bed where we will have roses and a few lilies. We tried it last year and it worked like a charm! We lay fencing in front of the flower bed, wire fencing with 6” holes. The deer hate stepping into those holes.

That is a smart low impact way to deter deer! Rosa, that might be something you could incorporate into your design!

The fence is very tall; I believe it's at least 10'. The ranger says there have been no signs of deer in the garden since the fence was installed, although it sounds like they've already eaten everything in there that's palatable to them.
There are some native roses that we will probably try to incorporate around the wilder edges.
IL: Could you please post a picture of the fencing? I'm having trouble visualizing it. We've talked a little bit about landscaping around the park house where we have our meetings, and that is not within the fenced area, so your solution may be relevant there.

Rosa here it is. We lay out it out flat and parallel to the straight edges of the flowerbed. It works because our flowerbeds have straight edges.DH has to lift it up and set aside every time he mows, but he doesn’t mind that.

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Thanks, IL! I will keep this solution in mind for the future.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Thanks, IL! I will keep this solution in mind for the future.

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If you all have a 10’ fence around the roses, that will keep them out.

That's wonderful, rr! I'm so happy for you! I am hoping to find something I can sink my teeth into once I retire, so this is very inspirational. Have fun!

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Originally Posted by happystuff

That's wonderful, rr! I'm so happy for you! I am hoping to find something I can sink my teeth into once I retire, so this is very inspirational. Have fun!

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be careful! Tiptoe around your investigation into any interesting volunteer opportunities.

organizations are learning that the best place to get volunteers are the newly retired folks who are out there looking for something to do. We grab them and hog tie them and conscript them to work for us for the next decade.

i’m just warning you.:~)

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

be careful! Tiptoe around your investigation into any interesting volunteer opportunities.

organizations are learning that the best place to get volunteers are the newly retired folks who are out there looking for something to do. We grab them and hog tie them and conscript them to work for us for the next decade.

i’m just warning you.:~)

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LOL. Thanks for the warning!

Here is a current picture of the Rose Garden. Landscapers have installed irrigation, planted grass and amended the garden beds. Current projects by us volunteers are re-setting the sunken cobblestones, acquiring additional cobblestones, and keeping the garden weeded and mowed. We are slowly starting to introduce some plants, with the expectation that we'll do quite a bit of planting in September.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Here is a current picture of the Rose Garden. Landscapers have installed irrigation, planted grass and amended the garden beds. Current projects by us volunteers are re-setting the sunken cobblestones, acquiring additional cobblestones, and keeping the garden weeded and mowed. We are slowly starting to introduce some plants, with the expectation that we'll do quite a bit of planting in September.

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That looks so beautiful and peaceful. Very nice.

Very nice!

How exciting, Rosa, and fulfilling for you. This seems like such a worthwhile effort. Years back when I could only find part time work, I volunteered at a local nonprofit wildlife botanical garden. I probably wrote about it here. It was totally run by volunteers too, and such meaningful work, for me. Kudos to you! I look forward to your posts!