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'Rock star of roses' returns to Sacramento

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 9, 2019

Heritage rose expert Scanniello at three local events

Always entertaining as well as informative,
Stephen Scanniello will lead two workshops at the Historic City Cemetery.
(Photo: Courtesy Judy Eitzen)

Stephen Scanniello, the “rock star of roses,” returns to Sacramento for three events this week.

Probably the nation’s most famous heritage rose expert, Scanniello will be the guest speaker at the Sacramento Rose Society’s January meeting, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan.10, at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. His presentation is free and open to the public.

Roses brought friendships as well as opportunities for Scanniello, president of the Heritage Rose Foundation and curator of the New York Botanical Garden’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. He’s created gardens for New York’s rich and famous. Among his rose friends is the original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews. He’ll share stories about how those rosy relationships grew.

Scanniello currently is leading efforts to restore the garden of Alexander Hamilton’s Harlem home and Elizabeth Park, the nation’s oldest public rose garden in Hartford, Conn. He has lots of entertaining stories about those projects, too.

Saturday, Scanniello will lead two pruning demonstrations at the Historic City Cemetery’s heritage rose garden, the main reason Scanniello has become a frequent Sacramento visitor. Based in New Jersey, he’s made pruning the cemetery’s world famous roses an annual pilgrimage.

At 9 a.m., Scanniello will lead a workshop on how to prune climbing roses, using the cemetery collection as hands-on examples. Scanniello literally wrote the book on this subject; he’s the author of “Climbing Roses” and five other books.

At 1 p.m., Scanniello turns his attention to pruning heritage roses, including the cemetery’s many Victorian rarities. Known for their intense fragrance as well as bountiful blooms, these old garden roses need special attention. This expert will share how he treats these unusual bushes to bring out their best.

Suggested donation for each workshop is $10 with proceeds supporting the cemetery garden. Wear sensible shoes; paths can be slippery.

Street parking is available near the cemetery, located at 1000 Broadway, Sacramento. For details: www.cemeteryrose.org .

- Debbie Arrington

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Keywords:

heritage rose foundation Sacramento pruning Historic Rose Garden Sacramento Rose Society Stephen Scanniello Historic City Cemetery old garden roses

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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