Climbing 'Old Blush' growing on my office roof. Find it, along with other rose delectables here
Last summer, on the tail end of a SOUTHERN LIVING garden shoot, I had the great pleasure, honor really, of meeting the esteemed Dr. William Welch... garden writer and educator, Southern Garden historian, heirloom bulb advocate, antique rose rustler and rosarian extraordinaire, and one of the founders of the Antique Rose Emporium, from whence this spectacular rose came. Dr. Welch and his lovely wife, Lucille, along with two Oklahoma friends...
I was quite humbled to have Dr. Welch, and our mutual friend Bubba, then garden editor at SL, both rock-star caliber gardeners, as my garden guests.
Find HEIRLOOM GARDENING IN THE SOUTH here. (I have been reading it
while snow bound these last few days...)
And now it can be your good fortune to meet and visit with Dr. Welch as well! As a guest of the Oklahoma Horticultural Society, he will be speaking this weekend in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Details from the OHS program are below.
Saturday, March 7th at 6:30 p.m. at the Tulsa Garden Center
Sunday, March 8th at 2:00 p.m. at the Will Rogers Park Garden Exposition Center in Oklahoma City
OHS is happy to present speaker Dr. Bill Welch. Dr. Welch is presently Professor and Landscape Horticulturist for Texas A&M University. He is a native of Houston, Texas, has an undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture from LSU and did doctoral work in Horticulture and Extension Education there as well. Dr. Welch writes about gardening in Texas and the South and has several books that have been popular references including Perennial Garden Color, Antique Roses for the South, The Bountiful Flower Garden (with Neil Odenwald), Heirloom Gardening in the South (with Greg Grant) and The Bulb Hunter (with Chris Wiesinger). Welch writes a monthly garden column for Southern Living Magazine and Neil Sperry's Gardens and has had his gardens in Louisiana and Texas featured. Welch has been instrumental in the movement to collect and reintroduce old southern garden favorites into the modern plant palette. Roses have been a special interest, and he help found The Antique Rose Emporium near Brenham, Texas.
DO join us this weekend -- a wonderful way to kick off the 2015 Spring gardening season!