Katy Banks can trace her flourishing Arlington, Virginia garden of over 400 rosebushes back to a single bucket of blooms that was a gift from her grandmother, who was the first in her family’s three generations of rose growers. “It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me,” remembers Banks. “It felt really luxurious and decadent to have all of these fragrant flowers. To this day, I still cut buckets of them to pay it forward just because it was so special to me.”
For her, the blooms have long been a symbol of love and family, and she fondly remembers her grandparents’ lush yard in Washington State. “Their rosebushes were so healthy and tall and beautiful,” she says. “Whenever I’d visit, I’d always go and smell them.”
When she and her husband bought their first home together, she followed in her grandparents’ footsteps, finding the perfect spot for her first-ever climbing rose. She positioned it along a gate framed by a chain-link fence and an arbor. “After that, I was just hooked,” Banks says.
Credit:
PATRICIA LYONS
She continued to cultivate her green thumb when they moved into their current home, a 1940s stone house with a welcoming backyard, two decades ago. Here, her thriving rose collection has been a project years in the making—the product of a small, gradual endeavor that soared to new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I started spending more and more time in the garden,” she says. “It became an escape, a true oasis.”
Eager to share its beauty, Banks decided to open her haven to others, drawing more than 200 visitors from up and down the East Coast each year. “It’s the greatest gift in the world when people want to come,” she says. “To be able to talk about my roses and share them—it’s the best thing.”
‘Quicksilver’.
‘Distant Drums’.
‘Quicksilver’.
Credit:
PATRICIA LYONS
‘Distant Drums’.
Credit:
PATRICIA LYONS
The blossoms are also a means of connection with the women who came before her. In fact, her 85-year-old mother, Carol, still joins her for weekly “Weeding Wednesdays” on the property. “It’s wonderful because it’s a great way for me and my mom to spend time together,” says Banks, who planted a ‘Carol’s Favorite’ gallica rose in her honor.
That first bucket of flowers has become the gift that keeps on giving. Each spring, she watches her garden come to life just in time for Mother’s Day. “It gets bigger and bigger every year, and now I do it as a tribute to my mom and my grandma,” says Banks. “It’s all about finding what you love, and if it makes you happy, it’ll make other people happy.”
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