Longtime Capaha Rose Garden volunteer Barb Blanchard shares love for roses, gardening

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Barbara Blanchard looks over Dick Clark roses inside the Rose Garden at Capaha Park on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

Barb Blanchard has been volunteering her time at the Capaha Rose Garden in Capaha Park for nearly 40 years.

"I joined a garden club in 1968 and the garden clubs were involved with the rose garden," she says.

She originally became interested in roses because her uncle was the head of the horticulture department at the University of Lexington and her father grew roses at his home in St. Louis.

"Very small, little piece of property, but he grew beautiful roses," she says.

After a visit to Blanchard's home, her father decided she needed some rose plants in her own garden.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Barbara Blanchard looks over roses inside the Rose Garden at Capaha Park on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

"So he went out and he started me with eight, and I lived on Jean Anne, and I don't know how many I had over there -- 40, 50? You wouldn't have thought I could have that many," Blanchard says.

From there, her passion only grew, and she spent many hours working in the rose garden and tending to the blooms.

"I think that anything that you begin to love you grow a passion for, and I think that when my dad and I planted those roses that began a passion," she says.

Started by Mrs. Thomas G. Harris and Mrs. Chris El Stiver in 1953, the Capaha Rose Garden was originally used as a test garden to determine which kinds of grosses grew best in Cape Girardeau.

"I worked with both the ladies ... I learned a lot and it certainly wasn't from the books," she says.

Cutline-Body Copy:Barb Blanchard looks over Dick Clark roses inside the Capaha Rose Garden at Capaha Park on Thursday, May 11.

Laura Simon

"... I learned to really appreciate that lady (Harris). She cared for these like it was her child and every one of those roses was a very special thing. I think she probably is the one that developed a deep love for me, and she taught me how to do it right without a college degree in telling you how to do it right," she says, laughing.

Although the rose garden has seen several low points in the past with what Blanchard considers "semi-critical" levels of illness, she says it has always made a comeback with help from knowledgeable sources from the area.

"With determination and perseverance, the garden came back," she says.

From unpredictable weather to deer and Japanese beetles, the rose garden is affected by a number of sources outside of Blanchard's control, but she is confident the garden will be back in full force with time.

"What I have found with roses, they forgive you and they love you," she says.

Cutline-Body Copy:Barb Blanchard holds an Easy Does It rose inside the Capaha Rose Garden at Capaha Park on Thursday, May 11.

Laura Simon

It takes a village to raise the garden. Two garden clubs, along with area volunteers from the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, Southeast Missouri State University and the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department help keep the garden growing and healthy throughout the year.

"We have that kind of support and I think that the people who've been in Cape very long, this is just such an institution almost," Blanchard says.

Students from the CTC help "wake up the garden" and "put it to bed" every year. She says one of the largest tasks is to weed the garden beds and deadhead the roses to encourage new growth.

The garden holds an array of roses, from hybrid tea roses to grande bunda, shrub roses, English roses and more.

"It's just something that people enjoy, and you can feel it when you come in, there's a sense of peace," Blanchard says. "If you have a problem, sometimes it just kind of clears your head, just easier to come up with your solution."

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Barbara Blanchard holds a Julia Child rose inside the Rose Garden at Capaha Park on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

For those looking to begin their own rose garden, Blanchard recommends starting small and growing with time.

"I think I would start small. ... What happens is when you start growing roses and you learn all about them, when to spray them, how often to spray them, what to look for, the diseases," she says. "... I would start small and then what happens, something takes you over."

Throughout her time working with the rose garden, Blanchard has come to maintain a philosophy she once read: "It's only a tiny rosebud, this flower of God's design, but I cannot unfold the petals with these clumsy hands of mine. If I cannot unfold the rosebud petals, this flower of God's design, then how can I have wisdom to unfold this life of mine? So the pathway that lies before me, my heavenly father knows, I'll trust him to unfold the moments, just as he unfolds the rose."

"It's like you're communing with your creator," Blanchard says. "It's meditating, and I felt that maybe I had a passion that I didn't realize I had."

Although she has reduced her amount of work in the garden over time, Blanchard still enjoys visiting and helping out with lighter projects and maintenance.

"I will always love this rose garden," she says.

Those interested in volunteering at the Capaha Rose Garden may contact Blanchard at (573) 334-5659.