Fellows Gardens growing with 400 new roses

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The first phase of a long-term

makeover of the Fellows Riverside Gardens’ Modern Rose Garden is now complete.

Gardeners this week planted 145 roses in Fellows’ iconic rose garden, replacing damaged flowers and filling in voids.

The planting effort is part of a project that will extend into next summer. By July, a total of 400 new roses will fill the garden in bursts of red, pink and yellow.

“I’m just thrilled that we’re going to be back to full capacity with the tenants in the rose garden. It’s exciting,” said Andrew Pratt, Mill Creek MetroParks gardens director.

He also addressed concerns he’s heard about Gardens staff planting roses this late in the season.

“Roses can definitely be planted this time of year,” he said. “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”

The additions to the rose garden were selected based on the American Rose Society’s ranking of flowers’ attributes, such as vigor and disease resistance. All of the chosen flowers are ranked at least a “7” on the society’s 1-10 scale.

The Modern Rose Garden was planted as Fellows’ first in 1963.

“This garden was John Paolano’s vision,” said Pratt of the landscape architect who designed Fellows Riverside Gardens.

This renovation of the rose garden is the most-comprehensive to date, and aims to bring it back to its original state, Gardens staff members said. In all, seven beds are slated to be replaced, and 20 more will be filled in with additional flowers.

Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens, the nonprofit organization that supports the Gardens, is covering the estimated $8,000 to $10,000 cost of the project.