A rosy 100th at the Huntington
The Huntington Library’s famous rose garden has a new beauty to behold.
Rose garden curator Tom Carruth helped breed a fragrant new offering, and he’s adding it to the garden’s noted rose collection in honor of the Huntington’s 100th birthday. It’s one of the many festivities planned in honor of a destination beloved by tourists and locals alike.
The rose is officially known as “Huntington’s 100th.” Gardeners may also see the rose sold under the pseudonym “Life of the Party,” but if you look closely at the tag, he said, it will mention the official, copyrighted name of “Hunting ton’s 100th.”
In honor of its centennial, the Huntington has also poured a new circular walkway in the grassy area between the conservatory and the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries, where it is planting 85 Huntington’s 100th roses this week.
The roses should bloom this spring and provide a particularly aromatic experience for gallery visitors.
According to the Huntington, “the old-fashioned rose is a soft pastel yellow touched with a blush of orchid pink and cream, with a powerful fragrance reminiscent of citrus blossoms and sweet fruit.”
Carruth puts it this way: “The fragrance will knock you down. You don’t even have to put your nose to it; you just have to walk by.”
You can buy the rose in a pot during the Huntington’s annual spring plant sale the last weekend in April.
Not ready to plant a rose? The garden gift shop has been collecting petals from the rose for the last two years to make soaps and candles “perfumed by Huntington’s 100th.”