GROUNDBREAKING IN SHREVEPORT

Robert B. Martin Jr., Past President

In the 1935 American Rose Annual, J. Horace McFarland, the Father of the American Rose Society, presented a “high ideal” for a proposed Rosarium of the American Rose Society. There a Committee formed two years earlier laid out the detail of an “attempt to realize the vision of a vast garden devoted to the display, study and culture of roses in all their forms.” In it, they envisioned a large area with a “comprehensive display” of roses “more complete than any municipal rose garden.” They hoped it would showcase the “landscape value of shrub roses” and areas “devoted to special exhibitions”.

At its October 1969 meeting the ARS Board approved the establishment of Society headquarters in Shreveport, Louisiana which in their estimation was a “nearly ideal location”. Facilitating the decision was a gift of 118 acres of land in Shreveport, followed by a fund-raising campaign among the citizens of Shreveport which produced very generous contributions to the development of the American Rose Center as a permanent home for the Society. Thereafter, on May 9, 1974 the American Rose Center was officially dedicated and opened to visitors.

To those who thought the project too idealistic, the Committee on the National Rosarium quoted the words of the late municipal designer, D. H. Burnham:

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high and hope and work; remembering that a noble, logical design once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency.”

On April 4, 2019, in conjunction with a planning session of its Board of Directors, the American Rose Society broke ground on the J. Horace McFarland Plaza, the introduction to the “clockworks” that make up the new design of America’s Rose Garden – a series of circular gardens, as gears in a vintage pocket watch, representing in a graphic way a tour of rose history, going back in time from the present day. Located just beyond the Shanley/Del Vecchio Garden Gate Pavilion, the J. Horace McFarland Plaza was planted with beautiful ‘McFarland’ rose.

America’s Rose Garden is the fulfillment of the long-held dream of J. Horace McFarland, who, among his innumerable contributions to the American Rose Society, served as its President from 1930-1932. It was carried forward through the efforts of four more recent occupants of that office. First proposed in its current form by Pat Shanley, President from 2016-2018, the work is was coordinated by Marilyn Wellan, President from 2003-2006, with fund-raising among district and local societies being undertaken under the direction of President Emeritus, Dr. Jim Hering, President from 1997-2000 and the project was completed under the administration Bob Martin, President from 2019-2021. 

Why Shreveport? In the words of Past President, the late Bob Martin, “It has been often said that our home is where our heart is. As rose gardeners our home is where our garden is. And our garden – America’s Rose Garden – is in Shreveport.”  

It is our hope that you will make plans to come home to visit our beautiful garden. We’ll leave a light on for you.

A CALL FOR A NATIONAL ROSARIUM 

BY ROSE VISIONARY J. HORACE MCFARLAND 

In the 1935 American Rose Annual, edited by the esteemed rosarian and then ARS President Emeritus J. Horace McFarland, a National Rosarium of the American Rose Society was proposed. The Rosarium Committee envisioned “a vast garden devoted to the display, study, and culture of roses in all their forms, to demonstration of their capacities, and to providing facilities for research into all related subjects. 

  “THE ROSE GARDEN SHOULD BE A LARGE AREA… This display garden would be freely open at all times to the public, in order that color and mass effects, fragrance, and general beauty of design might commend themselves to general approbation and contribute toward making the love of roses more widespread and deeply felt.

“A BOTANICAL COLLECTION of all obtainable rose species and forms would be included as essential to the project. 

 “THE ROSARIUM WOULD ALSO CONSTITUTE A MUSEUM in which rare, historical and special varieties in danger of extinction could be preserve…” 

“AREAS COULD BE DEVOTED TO SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS; A SUITABLE LIBRARY could also preserve books, papers, pamphlets and house something analogous to an art museum. A FINANCIAL FOUNDATION would be requisite for this great enterprise. ‘The need for this enterprise is upon us now,’ they said, and ‘the benefits will be felt at once…’ To those who think our Rosarium project is too idealistic and its benefits too far in the future, we endorse the words of great Municipal Designer D. H. Burnham: 

 “‘Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high and hope and work; remembering that a noble, logical design once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency.’” 

McFarland’s dream of a national rosarium has been realized in the form of America’s Rose Garden at the American Rose Center. Approximately 40 years after that vision for a National Rosarium for the American Rose Society was expressed, the rose gardens became a reality. We have a large garden, open to the public. We offer special exhibitions in the form of horticulture seminars and symposiums. We have a beautiful library where rose books, papers and pamphlets are collected and preserved. We have a financial foundation that provides annual support for the gardens. These were some of the goals in that call for a National Rosarium. 

​Today we recognize our good fortune to have such a Rosarium of 118 acres of forests and gardens. Our history is rich with developments, prideful achievements, and seasons of beautiful gardens. We made remarkable progress through the years, especially with the addition of major facilities. However, in 2016, we recognized the time had come to reassess the mission of the gardens, to recognize available resources, to evaluate our horticultural practices and bring them up to a new standard of excellence, to make the gardens the priority that they deserve to be. 

The cathedral-like pines, a major identifier of the gardens had grown too tall, too massive, with too many roots and too much shade. The fence we provided to keep the deer out had become merely a playground obstacle on the way to a dinner of juicy new rose leaves and stems. The prime objective of our gardens—roses—were suffering. Then too, we learned that small rose beds spread out over an area of forty acres provides less garden impact than more concentrated plantings, and they are more expensive to maintain. 

And so, these were the challenges that were undertaken with the creation of the Master Plan – 2017-2022.  In the words of Past President and Great Garden Restoration Coordinator, Marilyn Wellan, “With the Great Garden Restoration Project, we made “no little plans.” We made “big plans!” Now, we are living up to promises that accompanied all developments to date—the promise to showcase the Rose in a beautiful and dynamic rose garden.”