Ferndale gardener falls hard for roses

ZOE FRALEY

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For Ferndale resident Lynda Fell, a rose is never just a rose.

The redolent-petaled beauties are more like her companions, and she speaks about them as "she" or "her."

"Louise, she's my favorite," Fell says of the lanky rose that grows outside her office window. "She's one of my dear friends."

| DANNY GAWLOWSKI | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

ROSE CARE TIPS
Here are a few of Ferndale resident Lynda Fell's tips on how to care for roses.
- Select roses grown on their own root stock, rather than ones that are grafted onto another stalk. It makes them hardier and more true to their breed.
- Pick a sunny spot. Roses need at least six to eight hours of sun to flourish, preferably morning sun to dry their leaves.
- Give them a treat with some fertilizer. "They'll give you a better show," Fell says. "They like to be fed." (See Fell's organic rose fertilizer recipe).
- Check the Internet to find old garden roses. Here are some of Fell's favorite sites:
www.heirloomroses.com
www.vintagegardens.com
www.amityheritageroses.com
www.chambleeroses.com
www.vintagebloomers.com
www.ashdownroses.com
www.hortico.com
www.weareroses.com
www.christiansonsnursery.com
ORGANIC ROSE FERTILIZER
Ferndale gardener Lynda Fell shares her recipe for organic rose fertilizer. The ingredients are available at Whatcom Farmers Co-op locations.
- One part blood meal
- One part bat guano
- One part Kelzyme or kelp meal
- Two parts bone meal
The food is applied at a rate of one or two cups per rose, depending on size and age, every 60 days during the eight-month growing period.

Fell has more than 100 roses sprinkled throughout her yard. Some are the modern roses that are available at local nurseries, but most are old garden roses, the kind of roses you would see spread across the canvases of the master painters.

"Old garden roses are kind of like a well-kept secret among gardeners," says Fell, 42, who also runs a bridal recycling business. "(They) have the scent, the beauty, the hardiness. It's a win-win situation."

In her collection she has moss roses with stems are dense with thin thorns, and the first hybrid tea rose, which was classified in 1867 and named La France. She even has a Chinese green rose with no petals, just an unfurling of small, coarse leaves.

"They're just my passion," she says of the flowers. "I've been growing roses for 20 years and collecting old garden roses for the past 10 years."

Though her garden is populated with peonies and snap dragons as well, it's the roses that keep her intrigued.

"The scent - they all smell so nostalgic, and they're historic," she says. "Empress Josephine was a rose collector, and I can understand why."

To get her rose garden up to par was quite a feat. When she and her husband bought their home four years ago, the yard was thick with trees that blocked out the sun.

"There were a lot of trees and it was really dank and dark," she says.

They cleared spaces for flowers and roses to take in sun but kept some trees to provide shade and privacy.

"My husband is from Australia and he loves the greenery here," she says. "So when we renovate he wants evergreens and I want roses. Sometimes he wins and sometimes I win."

Even if she doesn't add any more roses to her collection, the natural, meandering plants she has now are still quite the sight when they bloom in the summer.

"In the first flush it was color all around," she says of their first blooms. "It was pretty spectacular."