SHREVEPORT, La. (InvestigateTV) — For the past 50 years, a sprawling flower garden near Shreveport has served as the center of the American Rose Society, showcasing the beauty of blooming roses from common to rare varieties in every color.
The American Rose Center promotes and displays roses that President Ronald Reagan designated as the national flower of the United States in 1986. Reagan said in his proclamation that “Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.”
Beth Smiley, the Rose Society’s executive director, said visitors can typically find 300 to 400 different varieties of roses growing and blooming at the facility.
“There’s probably a hundred different varieties of roses introduced every year,” Smiley said. “Some of them will make it, some of them will become timeless roses.”
Garden features thousands of rose bushes
The 118-acre garden contains about 6,000 rose bushes in a variety of garden settings, from small areas to large circular plantings that serve as the centerpiece.
“The first and second circle feature modern roses 19th and 20th century. Those are modern. And then the third circle features the shrub class of roses. And then the fourth circle features our old garden roses,” Smiley said.
The American Rose Society was founded in the 1890s in Pennsylvania and operated a large garden in Ohio through much of the 20th century. When the Rose Society needed a new home, land was donated near Shreveport, and the Rose Center moved to Louisiana in 1974.
“We wanna show you the classes of roses so that if you have a spot in your home garden, you say, oh, well, that would grow in that small spot that I have,” Smiley said.
Center preserves climbing rose varieties
The Rose Society is currently involved in preserving and cultivating ramblers, roses that have long branches that can climb poles, fences and even cover houses. A nursery is filled with young ramblers in an effort to grow interest in the climbing rose bushes.
Visitors can hear the sounds of water flowing in the reflecting pool and birds singing in the tall pines that shade part of the landscape. The garden offers easy walking trails and shady spots to sit and enjoy the scenery.
“The fragrance that you get when you smell a rose and that’s everybody’s first reaction, right? When you get a rose, you put your nose in it to smell it,” Smiley said about what makes roses the perfect flower gift.
“We can help you find the right roses for your place. Wherever that place is, anywhere in the United States, we will show you how. That’s why we exist, is to help you grow better roses,” Smiley said.
The American Rose Center has several peak blooms throughout the year, including one in the spring, another in early summer and a large rose bloom in the fall.
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