Asheville Red Cross Roses

The Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society was founded in 1996 and, in 1997,  began a rose garden at the Asheville Red Cross, our meeting site.  The purpose of this garden was to grow low-maintenance roses that could be recommended and grown by any gardener with a sunny spot.  The Red Cross garden is a no-spray garden – no fungicides are used.

Many of the first roses planted were large shrubs and some are no longer commercially available.   While beautiful, these roses are not useful for most homeowners.  

Therefore, for the past three years, the Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society has been replacing these roses with smaller and more compact roses that fit better into modern gardens.  Some older roses, like Carefree Beauty, are good garden roses and remain.   

New roses will be evaluated for black spot resistance for three years before being recommended to the public.  Plum Perfect, Olivia Rose Austin, Easy to Please, Livin’ Easy and Easy Spirit are examples of roses planted in 2019 and are under evaluation.  

While some roses will remain permanently in the Red Cross garden, others will be removed every year to allow more roses to be added.   This year, three roses – Music Box, a shrub roses, Savannah, and South Africa, both hybrid teas – were added to the garden.

We welcome visitors to the Red Cross garden but recommend you come on one of our meeting days when we can tell you more about the garden and its roses. We meet on the second Sunday of the month at 2 pm in the Red Cross Classroom.

Our Test Garden Roses: