Roses, Essential for an English Garden, Grown in Maine

In Maine the  Old Sheep Meadows Nursery  features rose varieties  that have grown through the tough winters of the northeast. Many roses fill the display gardens at the Nursery,located in the small town of Alfred. A visit is a must for anyone interested in roses.

What struck me about  the Nursery is that the garden design was, according to its promotional material, the English garden. The English cultivated displays of roses, in the cottage garden or  country garden, especially from mid nineteenth century when plants became more available to a mass market and the middle class gardener.

The Nursery owner Michal Graber  says “If you’re going to adapt English gardening to America, you have to find the right plant for the right place.  Just because it’s found in England doesn’t mean it will grow here”.  The Old Sheep Meadows  Nursery offers 500 roses, several heirloom varieties.  If they can grow in Maine, they have proven how tough they are.

Garden historian Ursula Buchan in her book English Garden said that if there is one genus of plants which can be said to be essential to the English garden, it must be the rose.

In the garden at Maine’s Old Sheep Meadows Nursery you will see this pink climber rose ‘John Davis ‘with ‘William Baffin’ on the right.

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