Winner Garden of the Month | RedneckRosarian

An invitation from our garden to yours…

Every month, we will feature a garden from one of our subscribers. Send us your pictures, along with a brief description of yourself, your garden and the particular plants or areas that you would like to highlight to information@costafarms.com.

The June 2011 Garden of the Month belongs to Chris from Helena, Alabama (Zone 7b). Chris has been growing roses for years, and about4 years ago, joined a local Rose Society to learn a “more excellent” way to cultivate our nation’s “National Floral Emblem”.

Folks ask Chris all the time why he grows roses and his answer is that growing is ‘just the natural progression of things’. Also know as the RedneckRosarian, this southern gentleman comes from a family that finds its roots firmly planted in the Deep South and all its awesome traditions. During civil war times, women gathered at cemeteries to decorate the graves of “our glorious dead” with blankets of spring roses. They wept and celebrated the lives of those who so bravely “fought the good fight”. Even today families gather for “Decoration Day” to decorate the graves and celebrate and remember.

Roses permeate so many facets of our lives, and Chris embodies that sentiment. When you visit his website at RedneckRosarian you will see his dedication to perpetuating knowledge about all types of roses and particularly the planting and care of rose gardens. If you look around his home, you will find yourself surrounded roses. They appear on dishes, photographs, upholstery, clothes, shoes, wallpaper and paintings. Chris valiantly attempts to do his part to expand the general interest and knowledge of the beautiful gift we have in the rose and to date, he has 73 roses under cultivation, representing over 60 varieties.