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Faith-based gardening: A rose for the pope

E-mail|Link|Comments (5) Posted by Michael Paulson June 2, 2009 11:43 PM

I'm not much of a gardener, but last September I came home from the annual convention of the Religion Newswriters Association as the proud owner of two Pope John Paul II rose bushes that I somehow won at a silent auction to benefit starving religion writers (OK, it actually helped fund scholarships for writers to attend the conference).

The rosebushes, a hybrid tea rose developed by Jackson & Perkins in South Carolina, arrived a few weeks later in a long narrow cardboard box. I live in one of those classic Boston triple-deckers, and everyone else in the building is pretty serious about flowers and shrubs, so one day late last fall my neighbor Charlie (who works for the Episcopal Church, but doesn't seem offended by Romish roses) and I planted the rosebushes in an empty patch along the driveway that gets partial sun and has a fence that provides some shelter from the elements. It was pretty late in the year, but, as luck would have it, winter arrived even later, and the roses had a good month before the first hard freeze. Yuri, the orange-striped cat who lives upstairs, immediately took to the project, and began snoozing on the roots, which I imagined would help keep them warm.

When spring rolled around, there was a bit of a complication. Daffodils and daylilies and Solomon's Seal sprung up jungle-like, crowding the pontifical petals:

The rose bushes were completely hidden from view, and I began to worry whether the branches could make it through, so over Memorial Day weekend Charlie and I staged an intervention, ripping out all the other flowers in an effort to give the papal plants some room:

As it turns out, one of the bushes seems to be thriving (left); the other bush (right) is in serious trouble, and may be headed for that great greenhouse in the sky.

So now we wait, which I suppose is what gardeners do. The publicity material about the Pope John Paul II Commemorative Rose promises "grand stature and classic, pristine white blossoms (that) evoke the majesty and honor the memory of one of history's most beloved and influential leaders."

We shall see. In the meantime, do any of you gardeners out there have any advice? And, just in case we wind up with an empty spot, are there any other flowers named for religious leaders?

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5 comments so far...

My roses have been praying for heavenly intervention for years but so far continue in their suffering -- black spot, mutts burrowing around them, sleazy DC summers.

Posted by Cathy Lynn Grossman June 3, 09 04:33 PM

Roses thrive in the sun. I planted 3 roses on the south facing side of the house and they have tripled in size in a couple of years. Also each spring I give them a shot of (dare I use a brand name?) Bayer Advanced All in One Rose and Flower care. Don't for get to pick your roses to enjoy---it helps them to bloom more. Good luck.
Judy Bruggeman
Wenatchee, WA

Posted by Judy Bruggeman June 3, 09 06:59 PM

Michael: If you could hide your contempt for the Catholic Church a little better by avoiding pejorative terms for Catholics, perhaps we mackerel-snappers would see the light,

Posted by JoeyGeneva June 3, 09 08:52 PM

Hello, Michael--
My son just sent me your article about your Pope John Paul II roses. He thought I should tell you about my Mary Garden in which every flower planted there is named for the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are hundreds of plants named for Mary, dating to pre-reformation times in England. I have merely 20 or so, as my garden is small. I will attach a few photos. after the Reformation, a lot of these were renamed.

About your roses--the one looks like a goner, but to bring the other back next spring, I suggest mulching with fresh soil ( I buy bags in the fall of potting soil just for this purpose) form a "teepee" out of the soil around the knob just above soil line. this will keep the roots from freezing. Next spring, remove the soil and add it to the rest of the soil in your garden area.

I am sending you a couple of web sites about Mary Gardens and you can find our more by googling " Mary Gardens" John Stokes did a wonderful article on Mary Gardening.
I think your readers might be interested in this. Last year I did a power point presentation for my garden club on Mary Gardens as a component of a theme gardens session.

http://www.mgardens.org/HM-FOTM-HO.html
http://www.fisheaters.com/marygardens.html

Posted by Susan Selby June 4, 09 10:18 AM

My first suspect was the cat - if he urinated on it, you've got an acidic soil problem but don't give up - rose bushes are hardy and will surprise you by blooming when you thought all was lost. Having said that, some steps might be in order. They like full sun and rose fertilizer or Miracle Gro with lots of water might help. You could try to transplant it but like livers, you need to keep it alive in the process.
P.S. I wonder what religious leader the Venus Fly Trap is named for?

Posted by earthlover June 5, 09 08:20 AM

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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Harvey Cox, the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, marks his retirement by asserting a little-used right of his professorship -- to graze a cow in Harvard Yard. Photo, by Barry Chin of the Globe staff, taken on Sept. 10, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.