Volunteers' work gives garden at Capaha Park a rosy future

A walk through the Rose Display Garden at Capaha Park is a treat to the senses with its rainbow assortment of blooms and delightfully sweet smells. But, for a time, the flowers weren't so beautiful and full of blooms.

The rosebushes had fallen on difficult times, producing few blooms and barely a showing for a garden that was once one of three rose test sites in the state. However, the Council of Garden Clubs and community volunteers have been working to amend the soil, fertilize and mulch the plants and revamp the garden beds.

Now the flowers are ready for the summer season. The rose garden, with its nearly 40 beds, will be rededicated at 7 p.m. June 5, followed by a free concert by the municipal band at 8 p.m. The band will perform tunes about roses for the occasion.

The rose beds at the garden have been refurbished and a new watering system installed that should boost the bushes' growth this season. Much of the work was completed by volunteers from Scout troops to horticulture students at the Career and Technology Center.

The students helped plant several new beds of roses -- nearly 300 bushes have been added in the last three years -- and mulch the existing beds after the soil was amended.

Some of the new roses added to the garden include Veterans' Honor, a red rose, and Habitat for Humanity roses. Both rosebushes were developed by Jackson & Perkins, a grower that supplies the majority of plants for the garden, and proceeds from the sale of each plant are donated to charity groups. There's even a Weight Watcher's Success rose with a delicate pink bloom.

The garden is maintained by the Cape Girardeau Parks Department and the Council of Garden Clubs.

The display garden was created in 1954 by the city and garden clubs. In 1955, it was accredited as one of three test sites in the state and now includes 750 roses of many varieties, from miniatures to hybrid teas and grandiflora and floribundas.

The garden clubs maintain the beds with volunteer labor, but this year have hired a gardener, Robby Smithey, to help with the work.

During the renovation process, the garden clubs learned that the pH balance in the soil around the bushes was too high, so the soil had to be amended with nutrients and fertilizer to help the plants grow, said club member Anne Foust.

Until then, the gardeners had been adding fertilizer, but nothing was happening. The soil was too acidic to allow the fertilizer nutrients to be released. But changing the soil "is one of the reasons why they're looking so much better this year," Foust said.

Roses aren't nearly as difficult to care for as many people believe, she said. It is sometimes difficult to get them to grow well in this part of the country because they don't care for high humidity. But if gardeners can keep away black spots and the humidity doesn't rise too high, "then the roses love it," Foust said.

Most of the work is in keeping good garden practices, she said.

It also helps to add some of Bud Davie's miracle fertilizer. Davie has nearly 200 rosebushes in his garden and has helped the garden clubs with the renovation project.

Roses will bloom all summer long, taking a respite during the hottest weeks of the seasons. The hard work is getting the beds fixed up to accommodate the plants, Davie said. "You can work too hard at it and it might not make that much difference," he said.

But the display garden seems to have benefited so far. "About the only thing left to do is cut the buds and keep them sprayed," Davie said.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126