Lifestyle expert and garden designer P. Allen Smith’s newest introduction at the Garden Home Retreat promises to sweep guests off their feet with a combination of fragrant and floriferous roses and inspired architectural elements. Described as “hopelessly romantic,” the rose garden will officially open during the Tale of Two Farms Herbs & Roses Festival on Saturday, May 14.
Inspired by both the Aiken-Rhett House and Boone Hall Plantation gardens in Charleston, South Carolina, the rose garden includes several intimate spaces within its 25,000 square feet, and will contain one of the most comprehensive collections of Noisette roses in the country. Noisettes are the first class of American roses, and were first bred in Charleston during the early 1800s.
A hand-forged wrought-iron gate created by local artist and blacksmith Stuart Schild of Architectural Ironworks, Inc., and based on a 19th-century gate bonnet, will mark the southern entry. The entire oval-shaped garden will be surrounded by an allée of pleached trees. Brick garden follies will punctuate the eastern and western ends of the garden, and rose-filled parterres and pathways will flank two reflecting pools. Adjacent to the gate, and across the central lawn, an octagonal brick garden house will house an antique statue of a Roman goddess. Other stone statuary, urns and antique garden ornaments will be scattered throughout the garden and surrounding woodlands.
“This rose garden is not only a celebration of the first American class of roses, but the evolution of American roses as well,” says Smith. “To that end, we’ve also planted hundreds of roses from the Knock Out® Family of Roses, which were a total breakthrough in the world of roses when the first variety was introduced in 2000.”
Introduced by The Conard-Pyle Co./Star® Roses, the original Knock Out® Rose was created by Wisconsin rose breeder William Radler to reduce the rose gardener’s to do list with a plant that was cold hardy, disease resistant and incredibly floriferous. Since its introduction, six more varieties have been added to the Knock Out® Family of Roses. “We are excited to get our first look at P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Retreat Rose Garden,” said Steve Hutton, president of Conard-Pyle. “It is an honor that Knock Out® and Drift® Roses are being showcased in such a beautiful setting.” Hutton will also speak at the opening of the garden, and will offer guests expert advice on growing roses.
Peggy Cornett, curator of plants at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, will be on-hand to help Smith officially open the rose garden. Cornett will be also giving a lecture entitled “Historic Roses at Monticello” at the Clinton School of Public Service on May 13 at noon. The lecture is free and open to the public.
About P. Allen Smith : P. Allen Smith is an award-winning lifestyle designer and garden expert and host of the public television program P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and the syndicated 30-minute show P. Allen Smith Gardens , and the upcoming P. Allen Smith’s Garden to Table, also on public television. Smith is one of America's most recognized and respected garden design experts, providing ideas and inspiration through multiple media venues. He is the author of the best-selling Garden Home series of books published by Clarkson Potter/Random House, including Bringing the Garden Indoors: Container, Crafts and Bouquets for Every Room, published in 2009. His latest book, P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes from the Garden, was released in December 2010. Smith is also a regular contributor on NBC's The TODAY Show. Inspired by a childhood spent on the farm raising and showing livestock and poultry and since then a life of promoting good stewardship of the earth, in 2009 Smith founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy, an organization dedicated to the preservation and support of all threatened breeds of domestic poultry. Visit his website at www.pallensmith.com or connect with the P. Allen Smith team at twitter.com/pallensmith.
About The Conard-Pyle Co.: From the Peace rose to the revolutionary Knock Out® and Drift® roses, The Conard-Pyle Co. has been a pioneer in the field of plant development and introduction for more than 100 years. Founded in 1897 as a retail mail order firm specializing in roses, Conard-Pyle has evolved from a wholesale container nursery to a leading genetics company involved directly in breeding roses, perennials and woody plants, and introducing plants from other breeders around the world. To learn more about The Conard-Pyle Co., please visit http://www.conard-pyle.com/ or on Facebook .
Inspired by both the Aiken-Rhett House and Boone Hall Plantation gardens in Charleston, South Carolina, the rose garden includes several intimate spaces within its 25,000 square feet, and will contain one of the most comprehensive collections of Noisette roses in the country. Noisettes are the first class of American roses, and were first bred in Charleston during the early 1800s.
A hand-forged wrought-iron gate created by local artist and blacksmith Stuart Schild of Architectural Ironworks, Inc., and based on a 19th-century gate bonnet, will mark the southern entry. The entire oval-shaped garden will be surrounded by an allée of pleached trees. Brick garden follies will punctuate the eastern and western ends of the garden, and rose-filled parterres and pathways will flank two reflecting pools. Adjacent to the gate, and across the central lawn, an octagonal brick garden house will house an antique statue of a Roman goddess. Other stone statuary, urns and antique garden ornaments will be scattered throughout the garden and surrounding woodlands.
“This rose garden is not only a celebration of the first American class of roses, but the evolution of American roses as well,” says Smith. “To that end, we’ve also planted hundreds of roses from the Knock Out® Family of Roses, which were a total breakthrough in the world of roses when the first variety was introduced in 2000.”
Introduced by The Conard-Pyle Co./Star® Roses, the original Knock Out® Rose was created by Wisconsin rose breeder William Radler to reduce the rose gardener’s to do list with a plant that was cold hardy, disease resistant and incredibly floriferous. Since its introduction, six more varieties have been added to the Knock Out® Family of Roses. “We are excited to get our first look at P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Retreat Rose Garden,” said Steve Hutton, president of Conard-Pyle. “It is an honor that Knock Out® and Drift® Roses are being showcased in such a beautiful setting.” Hutton will also speak at the opening of the garden, and will offer guests expert advice on growing roses.
Peggy Cornett, curator of plants at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, will be on-hand to help Smith officially open the rose garden. Cornett will be also giving a lecture entitled “Historic Roses at Monticello” at the Clinton School of Public Service on May 13 at noon. The lecture is free and open to the public.
About P. Allen Smith : P. Allen Smith is an award-winning lifestyle designer and garden expert and host of the public television program P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and the syndicated 30-minute show P. Allen Smith Gardens , and the upcoming P. Allen Smith’s Garden to Table, also on public television. Smith is one of America's most recognized and respected garden design experts, providing ideas and inspiration through multiple media venues. He is the author of the best-selling Garden Home series of books published by Clarkson Potter/Random House, including Bringing the Garden Indoors: Container, Crafts and Bouquets for Every Room, published in 2009. His latest book, P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes from the Garden, was released in December 2010. Smith is also a regular contributor on NBC's The TODAY Show. Inspired by a childhood spent on the farm raising and showing livestock and poultry and since then a life of promoting good stewardship of the earth, in 2009 Smith founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy, an organization dedicated to the preservation and support of all threatened breeds of domestic poultry. Visit his website at www.pallensmith.com or connect with the P. Allen Smith team at twitter.com/pallensmith.
About The Conard-Pyle Co.: From the Peace rose to the revolutionary Knock Out® and Drift® roses, The Conard-Pyle Co. has been a pioneer in the field of plant development and introduction for more than 100 years. Founded in 1897 as a retail mail order firm specializing in roses, Conard-Pyle has evolved from a wholesale container nursery to a leading genetics company involved directly in breeding roses, perennials and woody plants, and introducing plants from other breeders around the world. To learn more about The Conard-Pyle Co., please visit http://www.conard-pyle.com/ or on Facebook .