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International rose expert returns to Sacramento

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 8, 2020

Stephen Scanniello explains pruning techniques while entertaining rose fans at the Historic

City Cemetery in 2019. He'll be back in the area starting Thursday.

Scanniello leads two pruning workshops Saturday, presents preservation talk Thursday

He’s back! World-renowned rose expert Stephen Scanniello returns to Sacramento this week to inspire local rose lovers and share some of his vast knowledge.

On Saturday, Jan. 11, he’ll lead two pruning demonstrations at Sacramento’s Historic City Cemetery heritage rose garden. He’ll also make a free presentation about his preservation work at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 9) to the Sacramento Rose Society at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park. On Friday, he plans to visit the Woodland Public Library’s rose garden.

President of the Heritage Rose Foundation, Scanniello is a leader in preservation efforts around the globe. Curator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, he also is in charge of the revival of Connecticut’s Elizabeth Park, the nation’s oldest public rose garden. He’s written several books as well as created scores of gardens for private clients.

The cemetery garden is what brings Scanniello west each winter.

“This is my fifth trip to prune at the cemetery,” he said by phone from his New Jersey home. “It’s a working weekend. I’m looking forward to it.”

Scanniello adores the cemetery rose garden, a living library of about 500 antique and old garden roses – many found nowhere else.

“I think it’s one of the most interesting rose gardens and collections of roses in the world,” he said. “There’s not anything like it on the East Coast. To me, it’s incredibly refreshing to see these roses growing in what appears to be a safe place.

“It’s an amazing collection, a real treasure,” he added. “Roses grow so perfectly in Sacramento. They don’t have the disease issues we have (on the East Coast). They don’t have to contend with winter weather like we do. … Letting roses grow to their full capacity is wonderful to see.”

No reservations are necessary to attend Thursday’s talk at Shepard Center; the public is invited to attend. The center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento.

For Saturday’s pruning events at the cemetery, attendees should get tickets ($10 donation) in advance. At 9 a.m., Scanniello will show how to prune large climbers – including some of the cemetery’s giants. At 1 p.m., he’ll tackle shrub roses. The cemetery is located at 1000 Broadway, Sacramento.

Tickets and details: www.cemeteryrose.org .

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gardening Sacramento workshops pruning Historic Rose Garden events roses rose pruning winter gardening Historic City Cemetery

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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