Tag Archive for: rose garden

hidden rose garden in the desert

Discovering a Hidden Desert Rose Garden

I am a self-professed lover of roses and rejoice whenever I come across rose bushes that are thriving in our hot, arid climate and I also enjoy unexpected discoveries in the garden. On a recent visit to new client’s home, I came upon a hidden rose garden in the desert. 

The Surprising Oasis: Roses Thriving in the Desert Landscape

hidden rose garden in the desert with front lawn native plants

As I walked up to the front door, I was preparing for my consultation with her and noted that her front landscape had a nice framework in place with mature plants.

palo verde trees and saguaro cacti

Upon walking into the backyard, I was greeted by expansive views of the desert, dotted with palo verde trees and saguaro cacti. Like the front, the landscape had good bones but, needed some attention to the subtler points, such as adding color.

A Joyful Surprise: The Desert Rose Garden Revealed

A Hidden Rose Garden in the Desert in the shade of trees

After discussing my recommendations for the backyard, we started toward the large side garden, when I caught a glimpse of the owner’s pride and joy – her rose garden.

A Hidden Rose Garden in the Desert with irrigation and hoses

I experienced pure joy when I saw this lovely garden, filled with colorful roses that were happily growing in a desert landscape. Groups of roses were planted in beds, with amended soil and edged with rocks that created a natural look.

Secrets to Desert Rose Success

The owner inherited these roses, and she has put her green thumb to good use, but there are other factors that affect her success with roses. 

Tropicana Rose

Tropicana Rose

First, the roses are located in designated beds, with amended soil, such as compost and steer manure. Second, and perhaps most importantly for a desert garden, they are located in an area that has filtered sunlight. While roses can grow in full sun, they can struggle in the summer, and appreciate some relief. Third, she feeds her roses in spring and fall with a rose fertilizer.

Pink roses

The Contrasting Beauty: Desert Roses Amidst the Saguaro Forest

Although I lean toward using plants that look great with little fuss, I make an exception for roses. I have grown roses for over 25 years. Now I’m testing new roses for rose growers to see how they do in a low desert garden. 

I firmly believe that when a specific type of plant brings you joy. It’s worth investing a bit of extra work, just like with roses.

A Hidden Rose Garden in the Desert with saguaro cactus

As I stood in my client’s rose garden, I looked out onto the saguaro forest that stood outside her backyard wall. I was struck at how beautiful this colorful oasis stood in stark contrast with its surroundings.

Growing roses in the desert doesn’t have to be difficult, but there are factors that affect your success. I’ve compiled my rose-growing posts into a single list, which you can access here

The third day of our road trip began in Santa Barbara – a place that we are both very familiar with.  However, our goal for this day was to do a combination of things; some which we had done before while also taking part in some new experiences.

Santa Barbara Mission

The first outing on our itinerary was to visit the Santa Barbara Mission, which is also known as the “Queen of the California Missions.”

As you can see, it is quite large and very beautiful.  But, before entering the mission, the rose garden that lay across the street was in full bloom and was calling to me.  For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you have undoubtedly seen me writing about the rose garden.

Santa Barbara Mission

The rose beds were encircled by large expanses of grass, where you can see dogs chasing after the balls, frisbees being thrown and picnic blankets set out.

roses

In April, all the roses were at the peak bloom, and the air was perfumed with their fragrance.

roses
different roses

This bed was created with three different roses with different heights.  

I’m sorry that I can’t tell you what each type of roses these are, because they weren’t labeled.

Santa Barbara Mission
multi-colored roses

My mother liked the multi-colored roses best, like the Mardi Gras, pictured above.

Santa Barbara Mission

After getting our fill with lovely roses, we walked up toward the mission.

Santa Barbara Mission
Santa Barbara Mission

The sounds of water from the Moorish Fountain along with the scents of the roses and the beauty of the mission building itself is the reason that I make a stop here every time I am in Santa Barbara.

California Missions

The mission was built in 1786, and it is still a working church.  All of the 21 California Missions were built to help convert the native Americans to Christianity.  The history of these missions is well know to every child in California as it is an integral part of the state’s history.

For our visit today, we decided to take the self-guided tour.

Santa Barbara

This is the ‘lavanderia’, which was built in 1808 by the Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara mission village.  It is the wash basin where the Indian women did the laundry.  The clothes were washed in the basin and then scrubbed and laid out to dry along the sloped sides.

Santa Barbara

At the end of the lavanderia is the head of a mountain lion that was carved by a Chumash Indian.  It is thought to the be the oldest, public stone sculpture in California.

A flowering Dasylirion quadrangulatum

A flowering Dasylirion quadrangulatum.

interior courtyard

The interior courtyard was filled with areas of grass, majestic palm trees, flowering perennials and a smattering of succulents.

Santa Barbara Mission
Santa Barbara Mission
Santa Barbara Mission
Santa Barbara Mission

Walking through the courtyard garden, you experience a feeling of serenity and the stresses of the day just melted away – so what if I had to submit a lengthy magazine article in less than 24 hours to my editor?

Santa Barbara Mission

The cemetery was filled with old graves from the late 1700’s all the way to the early 1900’s.  The Indian girl from the book, “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, who was found on the islands just off the coast of California, is buried on the mission grounds in an unmarked grave.

Santa Barbara Mission

This shaded pathway ran along the side of the cemetery.

 Moreton Bay fig tree

In the center of the grassy area, was a huge Moreton Bay fig tree from Australia, that was planted in 1890.

After leaving the outdoor areas, we walked through the church just as a wedding was almost ready to start. 

Santa Barbara Mission

As we walked out, I was reminded about why I love to visit this special place.

California Mission

Have you ever visited a California Mission?  There are 21 located along the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco.  I’ve seen several, and will visit a few others on this trip, which I’ll share with you.

Now for the second part of our day…

Casa del Herrero

Casa del Herrero is an historic mansion located in Montecito, which is a small town located next to Santa Barbara.

This Spanish Colonial style home was built in 1925 and is still largely the same, indoors and outdoors making it a wonderful example of the style of the 1920’s period.

A purple trumpet vine crawls up the side of the front entry.

A purple trumpet vine crawls up the side of the front entry.

This was the home of the Steedman family who came from St. Louis.  They made the decision to build their second home in Santa Barbara (Montecito).  Mr. Steedman was a engineering graduate of Harvard and owned a munitions plant that was instrumental during WW I.

After retiring, he began silversmithing and working with other metals, earning him the name “the blacksmith”.  His workshop is filled with countless tools, meticulously arranged.  There areseveral of his inventions still in the workshop that he had patented.

Bright red geraniums hang from the window, peeking through the rejas (decorative iron work covering the window).

Bright red geraniums hang from the window, peeking through the rejas (decorative iron work covering the window).

Tours of the estate are by reservation only and small groups are led by docents at a pre-arranged time.  The tour begins in the home where no photography is allowed.  Then it moves to the garden and finally the workshop.  As you can probably guess, I was mostly interested in seeing the garden.

 creative metal work
 creative metal work

Numerous examples of creative metal work could be seen both inside and outside the house.

Spanish Colonial Revival style

The tour begins in the house.  Photographs were allowed outside but not indoors.  I did really like the windows, which were covered with decorative metal iron, which is characteristic of the Spanish Colonial Revival style.  Another feature of this style is that window aren’t symmetrical – they are asymmetrical and occur wherever a window is needed for light or to open up a view.

The style of Santa Barbara (and Montecito) is the Spanish Colonial Revival style and I was very excited to see some great architectural examples as well as in the landscape design.

brightly-colored Spanish tiles

This view from the downstairs of the house shows a brightly-colored Spanish tiles.  The refreshing sound of water made me yearn to go outside.

At this point, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the inside tour.

'foot fountain'

When it was time to go outdoors, I tried to stay toward the front, without being obnoxious so that I could get pictures of the garden without people turning up in them – I think that I mostly succeeded 😉

This slightly raised area is backed by a ‘foot fountain’ where you can cool off your feet in the  shallow basin – I’d love something like that in my garden, wouldn’t you?

Santa Barbara

In this area of the garden, plants with white blooms were added at the request of the owners.  They liked to take a strolls at night and without outdoor lights, could still see where they were walking due to the way white blooms appear to ‘glow’ at night.

White bearded iris

White bearded iris

Calla (Arum) lilies

Calla (Arum) lilies

sharply pruned boxwood shrubs

Here is the rose garden, which was filled with tree roses enclosed in sharply pruned boxwood shrubs. Not really my style, but they were nice.

This other section of the garden starts with a unique water feature.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

As with all Spanish Colonial Revival design, there are Moorish influences as is shown with this eight-pointed star-shaped fountain.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

From an upper window, you can see how the star fits into the larger landscape.  I loved this part of the garden as your eye looks beyond the star toward what lies beyond.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

A grassy space lined with star jasmine, trained as shrubs lead toward another water fountain and a gate at the very end.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

It is so fun discovering what lies beyond as you walk closer.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

I don’t know about you, but I really want to know what lies beyond the little gate.

Spanish Colonial Revival design

Standing at the gate, you see an area that has been allowed to remain natural except for the Spanish tiled structure.  Evidently, the grandchildren of the originally owners would have campouts in this area and the servants would haul out cots, sheets and blankets for the kids.  I know that my kids would love to have done something like this.

huge dragon tree (Dracaena draco)

Adding to the intrigue of this more natural area is a huge dragon tree (Dracaena draco), which adds intrigue and interest to this area.

huge dragon tree (Dracaena draco)

Semi-circular steps lead you back up toward to the back of the house.

Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara

A shady seating area is covered with lovely tiles.  I think that this would be a really great option for a decorative patio.

Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara

Continuing toward the house, a narrow water feature runs down a few steps before draining into a basin covered in blue and yellow tiles.

Casa del Herrero

Like most estates of the time, Casa del Herrero had a kitchen garden as well as an orchard.

runnel
runnel

Near the workshop, was a ‘runnel’, which ran along the wall.  This is another feature found in Spanish Colonial style.  They are often made from clay tiles and help channel rain water from the roof to a basin where it can be stored until needed – it’s like a Spanish version of a rain barrel.

Santa Barbara

We ended the garden part of the tour at the colorful potting bench of Mrs. Steedman.  It was covered in Spanish tiles and the bottom wooden portion was actually a ‘lazy Susan’ as it could be turned, revealing a shelf containing gardening implements.

Santa Barbara

The tour lasted exactly 90 minutes and was very educational and interesting.  I was inspired by many different elements in the gardens as well.

If you would like a chance to visit this special place, you can find out more information here.

After a busy day, we headed back up to my aunt’s house in Santa Barbara and had a lovely dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin, who stopped by to see us.

All in all, a great day!

Do you love roses?  I do.

I used to have 40 roses in my Phoenix garden – I must admit that I went a little overboard.  

Showing my sister a few of my roses back in the 90's

Showing my sister a few of my roses back in the 90’s

Now my rose garden consists of three well-loved roses…

Abraham Darby

Abraham Darby

Although my passion has steered toward using drought tolerant trees and plants to add beauty to the landscape, I still have a special place in my heart for roses.

So, whenever I am on the road and a rose garden is nearby, I always take some time to “walk through the roses”.

trip to Ireland

Back in 2001, we took a trip to Ireland.  This was when we had two kids and not five (we adopted three children from China a few years later).

Of course when traveling in Europe, castles are always on the ‘must-see’ list.  While visiting the city of Kilkenny, we decided to make a stop at Kilkenny Castle.

The problem was, was that all of Ireland and Great Britain was under quarantine conditions at many of the tourist attractions due to ‘foot and mouth’ disease, which was highly contagious and speading to livestock.

So, much of our trip was spent looking from the outside in.

Kilkenny Castle

Fast forward 2 years later and we found ourselves in Kilkenny again and we were thrilled that there were no restrictions.

My husband was anxious to go on the tour of the inside of the castle, but the problem was, was that I couldn’t tear myself away from the rose gardens surrounding the castle.

Kilkenny Castle

It was June and the roses smelled heavenly and were so beautiful.

Whenever I find myself on a large estate or castle (which isn’t all that often), I like to dream of what I would do with the gardens.

In this case, I would probably tear up more grass and add more roses!

I look cranky in this photo, but I blame it on the jet lag from arriving in Ireland the day before.

I look cranky in this photo, but I blame it on the jet lag from arriving in Ireland the day before.

After spending an hour touring the grounds, we did make it indoors for the tour, which was very interesting – I like history too!

A Rose Garden Garden Fit For a Castle?

The next day was spent touring the surrounding countryside, but in the afternoon, we found ourselves drawn to the rose garden again and sat on the benches reading.

I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon, do you?

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For more information on roses and how to grow them in the desert, I have listed several blog posts that will help that you can access, here.