What a beautiful day for the Maplewood Rose Festival.

Spring may have been late to arrive in Western New York this year—and my roses are certainly taking their sweet time to bloom—but the inherent joy of a festival puts everyone in a good mood.

That’s especially true when the event includes opportunities to shop and add to our collections—or simply to learn more from vendors and other collectors, which should be the case today at the Maplewood Rose Garden—where, I should add, they do a fine job of curating their living collection.

The event there is scheduled to include a variety of vendors as well as informational booths that we can visit while we meander through Rochester’s historic rose garden.

And a trip to the annual rose fest wouldn’t be complete without stopping by the tent staffed by members of the Greater Rochester Rose Society. Needless to say, their experienced gardeners can answer our questions about growing roses, but they can also help with just about anything else in our yards and flower beds.

Over the years, I’ve learned that the members of the local Rose Society not only collect roses, but many of them also collect dahlias and hostas and other perennials as well, so most of them seem to have been born with two green thumbs.

Curiously, though, many of them don’t think of themselves as collectors. Most of them have dozens of rose bushes, and some of them even have hundreds—but they simply consider themselves gardeners, not collectors.

Oh, have I got news for them.

Over the years, I’ve heard a few figures that determine whether you have a collection or just a number of things. One source says you need six of something to call it a collection, but another says if you have only four or more of something, you have a collection. Either measurement, therefore, makes most of the members of the local Rose Society collectors over and over again.

You see, once you fall in love with roses—and their colors, their fragrance, and their beautiful blooms—you’ll be hard pressed to limit yourself to only three rose bushes.

What’s more, you might just start collecting things related to roses, such as…

• pictures, paintings, and photographs of roses
• calendars, note cards, and stationery with illustrations of roses
• china, glass, or ceramic rose figurines
• blouses—or neckties—made of rose-print material, sweaters embellished with roses, and jewelry in the shape of roses
• rose hip teas, rose petal jams, and rose water recipes
• tablecloths, curtains, and tea towels bedecked in roses

As you can see, the lovely rose has inspired a wide array of rose-related collectibles that run the gamut from high art to housework, so there’s probably something in the field that will tempt you.

Of course, the only thing better than a representation of a rose is the real thing, so come out to the Maplewood Rose Festival, meet the members of the Rochester Rose Society, and see what’s blooming.

Happy Gardening!

Patti
The Committed Collector

So which are you—a collector or a gardener? Or are you, like me, both? Admittedly, I’m a much better collector than I am a gardener, but I just can’t manage to limit myself to one lilac or two peonies or three roses or…If that sounds like you, please leave a comment and let us know about your collecting-gardening connections.

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