Washington, United States

While I am an experienced gardener and science and environmental educator/professor (therefore, author), I am new to flowers other than those you eat. I come from a long line of farmers, worked beside my mother as a child in the vegetable garden our family depended upon, and now, along with my husband, am restoring the Anne Rae Boys Belovich gardens.

Anne Belovich, "the Grand Dame of Roses" was known for her love of rambler and climbing roses and her generosity in sharing her garden and flowers. She was also a collector of other types of roses as well as clematis and rhododendrons. In 2016, just before the release from quarantine of her final imports, she was diagnosed with cancer. She worked with Stephen Scanniello and Claude Graves to secure a home for some of her rambler collection at the Chambersville Tree Farm in Texas which later became the basis for the elegant Anne Belovich Rambler Collection at American Rose Society gardens in Shreveport, Louisiana. Anne worked to fulfil the rare rose motto of 3-3-30, give your rare roses to three public gardens, three nurseries, and thirty backyard gardens and make them more common. At the time of her passing, she was working on her seventh book on American bred roses. She and her friend Harald Evans of Germany, were working on a project to bring American roses no longer in America, home.

Anne shared roses with Leonard Heller, a friend and neighbor and an expert of spinosissima roses. We are working with Len to bring his favorite roses, with his stories, to the property.

Our restoration efforts will focus on Anne's design and intent in 2016. We will ask those who were recipients of Anne's generosity to help us replace some of the roses that have been lost with cuttings from the plants they were given. As Anne intended, we will open the gardens by appointment during specified times and allow cuttings for propagation as it is safe to do so.

Anne left us with eleven blogs, seven which are posted on her website at https://www.annesgardens.com. While our plates are full, we will continue to add new content to the website as possible.

Be sure to watch Growing Floret's second season this spring (2023) on the Magnolia Channel, where Anne's story and inspiration will be shared through Erin's eyes.

Beginner

Last visit: More than a year ago