This weekend, the New York Botanic Garden is having a celebration in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, just in time for the roses' peaking. The garden's curator, Stephen Scanniello, tells us, "This weekend will be the cusp of peak bloom. The peak will continue for the next two weeks. This weekend is a rare opportunity to see the most beautiful of the oldest and the most beautiful of the newest rose varieties. Usually one precedes the other, but right now, they’re blooming together.”
Scanniello gave some examples of those old and new varieties: "Apothecary’s Rose" which "goes back to the 16th century," was "grown in colonial NYC, petals were used as a medicinal plant - red with visible yellow center," and the pale pink "Kazanlik Rose," or "ancient rose...also grown in colonial New York and used as a source of fragrance" is "still used to make rosewater or rose oil." Two of the newest roses are "Poseidon," which is "lavender, very fragrant," and "Old Baylor's," a "pure white and extremely fragrant flower."
There are also many festivities on Saturday and Sunday—a phonograph (yes, phonograph) DJ, dance and jazz performances and sessions on planting roses and watercolor painting.
Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children 2-12 (chi;dren under 2 are free). It's free for members.
