Anybody here familiar with the rose gardens in Ladd's Addition? (Portland: home, to buy)

[pathrunner]

If so, I have a question for you. When I lived in Portland for several years I formally adopted a rosebed, and took care of several others that weren't adopted that badly needed attention. They all started looking great.

After a while they started dumping hugh quantities of bark on some of the rosebeds and tamping the bark down tight. It was asserted that this helped curb weeds.

No. It choked out the roses which then suffered and almost died out especially during phases of little rain (yes in Portland it does actually stop raining once in a while) It was infuriating to me. Then it became apparent to me that this was actually being done to make way for new varieties just created by prominent rose growers and cultivators. Just because someone has a botany degree doesn't make them correct 100% of the time.

One day I showed up to see that two entire beds had been ripped out without warning, beds I'd tirelessly worked on and brought back to beauty and health.

That's when I realized the rose world is highly competitive and political. And they don't give a damn about the older varieties not even being cultivated any longer. I think that is a shame. And don't think I believed their lies. Just be honest. You hate the old roses and are under pressure to put in newly-created varieties.
Fixed it for ya.

[karlsch]

The dark side of rose gardening!! Who knew?

Who knows what they were really trying to cover up and hide with those huge quantities of tamped-down bark?

[pathrunner]

Thank you! I expected some major pushback on this post, and it will probably still arrive!

[texasdiver]

Isn't the Ladd's Addition Rose Garden a public park administered by the Portland Parks Department?

How do you "formally adopt" a flowerbed in a public park? Is that some sort of official thing? Does that make you in charge of it?

[Metlakatla]

Are you talking about the test garden in Washington Park?

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Isn't the Ladd's Addition Rose Garden a public park administered by the Portland Parks Department?

How do you "formally adopt" a flowerbed in a public park? Is that some sort of official thing? Does that make you in charge of it?

FLAG - Friends of Ladd's Addition Gardens - Portland, OR

There are similar programs for volunteers at the (2) international test Rose Gardens.

Many of us have been caring for your Portland parks for decades (been an official program since 1950s)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

... I formally adopted a rosebed, and took care of several others that weren't adopted that badly needed attention. They all started looking great.

... it became apparent to me that this was actually being done to make way for new varieties just created by prominent rose growers and cultivators. ...


One day I showed up to see that two entire beds had been ripped out without warning, beds I'd tirelessly worked on and brought back to beauty and health.

That's when I realized the rose world is highly competitive and political. And they don't give a damn about the older varieties not even being cultivated any longer. I think that is a shame. ....

Of course you know all of this (volunteer agreement)
1).... You are at the mercy and whims of Portland Parks. They have the final say and responsibility.

2) some varieties are not well suited for the weather, or public parks... (you Don't get to decide this)

3) Volunteers often don't last as long as the project does. PP get to take the role when volunteers bail out.

4) it's Portland! (Everything is political / special interest groups

5) it's the Rose City... Lots of mucky mucks striving for their agenda

6) Rose culturing in Portland is very competitive / society issues. (Similar with rhodies, dahlias, tulips... Trees, fruits, community gardens.... There are polarized people everywhere.

7) pride... = People, even in volunteer organizations. Often people mangers who didn't ruin enough lives during their career. Never enough.

Sounds like there needed to be more / better communication in your organization. Parks should have let the leadership know of upcoming changes or issues. Leadership should have communicated to Parks of your progress and efforts and challenges and feedback. Usually this gets worked out, but sometimes there is a communication breakdown, or misinformation.

Life.... Gotta work through it.
I'm sure many appreciated and benefited from your efforts.

Thank you.

[pathrunner]

Thank you for acknowledging my hard work AND the ramifications of volunteering for that organization. It wasn't actually FLAG, it was the people in the rose organization.

They obviously took issue with my concerns because they finally even yanked out a VERY popular, very beautiful, long term, well-known rose -- the one that had my name on it. And yanked out the stake sign with my name on it as well.

Very childish and vindictive behavior. And let me just obliquely say that they give their kind a bad name. I never shared my concerns with anyone other than the person who ran the Friends of Ladd's Addition organization at the time.

It must have given the immature b-stards great satisfaction to do that to me. They've also done it to others.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I have no solution except for you to buy one of that very popular well known rose and plant it in your own garden and care for it there. Because I suspect that filing complaints about it to the rose garden or the rose society or whoever else there is is not going to make any difference at all.


So you are on your own to preserve that variety of rose for the future.


I'd offer to give a home to one of them, but roses are slightly overmatched by the weather where I live. I keep roses, but they tend to freeze to death in the winter, so I lose a lot of them.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

Thank you for acknowledging my hard work AND the ramifications of volunteering for that organization. It wasn't actually FLAG, it was the people in the rose organization.

They obviously took issue with my concerns because they finally even yanked out a VERY popular, very beautiful, long term, well-known rose -- the one that had my name on it. And yanked out the stake sign with my name on it as well.

Very childish and vindictive behavior. And let me just obliquely say that they give their kind a bad name. I never shared my concerns with anyone other than the person who ran the Friends of Ladd's Addition organization at the time.

It must have given the immature b-stards great satisfaction to do that to me. They've also done it to others.

And all of this happened when?