Late winter early spring might be kind of quiet in the garden in terms of flowers, but it is very busy in terms of plant care – especially in the care of keeping of our roses. Roses are a favorite of many gardeners, a staple of many gardens, they have been cultivated, celebrated, bred and judged for more than 5,000 years around the world. Roses can and are grown just about anywhere in the world. Their history and mythology runs deeply through the roots of cultures around the world. Roses are among the pluralists of the world. They can be ancient or modern, they can be brassy and bright or elegant and understated. They can be edible, native, tenaciously perennial, fragrant, large, small, climbing, cuttable and endlessly arrangeable. The roses have it all. And late winter, early spring is an active time for caring for your roses: everything from choosing and planting bare root selections to pruning and feeding your established roses.

This week on Cultivating Place, we’re joined by Jolene Adams, a recent past president of the American Rose Society, an active rosarian and dedicated home gardener with more than 150 roses in her Hayward, CA home cottage garden.