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Curator's Corner
Anne O'Neill, Curator of the Cranford Rose Garden
Anne O'Neill, curator of the Cranford Rose Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's world-class Cranford Rose Garden is regarded as one of the most beautiful and romantic places in New York. The 1½-acre garden showcases over 5,000 rosebushes of 1,200 varieties that fill the air with captivating fragrances and glow with vivid yellows, soft apricots, powerful reds, and delicate pinks. The garden is thoughtfully organized so that visitors see and learn about the evolution of the rose throughout history. Climbing roses meander along trellises, arches, and over the central viewing pavilion. The center beds are devoted primarily to hybrid tea, floribunda, and grandiflora roses and are flanked by border beds planted primarily with species of old garden roses such as damasks and albas.
Responsible for creating this unique and inspiring work of garden art, as well as fulfilling its botanical and educational roles, is Brooklyn Botanic Garden's rosarian, Anne O'Neill. Anne has been a professional gardener for more than 20 years and has held the position of curator of the Cranford Rose Garden for 5 years.
Anne's love of gardening began at the age of three, when she tended her own "secret garden," behind the wall of her mother's garden in Carlow, Ireland. There she first grew English primroses and violas, and her mother wisely allowed the lupines and snowball viburnums surrounding the area to be "shared plants." In pursuit of her passion, rooted in this first young experience with plants, she later earned a bachelor's degree in commerce with a concentration in horticulture from University College Dublin. Anne is inspired by memory—of her own family of gardeners, former teachers, and mentors. She loves talking to other gardeners to discover what they were thinking when they designed their gardens and chose their plants. "The concept and the reality don't always converge, so I'm interested in what their garden 'dreams' were when they envisioned the garden," she says. The living-sculpture element of garden design also interests Anne, and she looks to interpret the form of a garden in the context of an ever-changing landscape.
Having worked in both European and American gardens, Anne notes several differences between them, as well as some similarities and shared influences. One difference is the plant palette. Because light patterns in Europe tend to be more diffuse, the softer, pastel colors used in many northern European gardens appear more complex than they would in American gardens, where light is more direct and where bolder, brighter-colored flowers are more effective. Anne believes a cross-influence exists between the two traditions, and she brings her European training to bear on the very American Cranford Rose Garden, offering a unique perspective to its illustrious heritage.
Anne has a specific set of criteria for selecting the plants for the Cranford Rose Garden:
- Botanical significance: Rose plants are chosen that strengthen the representation of each rose group.
- Hardiness: Because the Rose Garden is intended to educate visitors about which roses are suitable for their own gardens, Anne selects roses—both older varieties and newly introduced roses—that she hopes will thrive naturally in the local climate.
- Historical significance: Roses from the era during which the Cranford Rose Garden was built are still planted. Examples are 'Albertine'—a climber from the 1920s, floribundas such as 'Lafayette'; hybrid musks such as 'Felica', 'Kathleen', and 'Penelope'; and hybrid teas including 'Dainty Beth' and 'Madame Butterfly'.
- Color: Anne locates roses in the garden based on color, rather than choosing the plant based on color. She aims to achieve a relatively harmonious color combination with artistic juxtapositions of complementary and contrasting rose colors.
- Frangrance: Scent is central to the rose garden, and new introductions with good fragrance are favored. Fragrances range from tangy, citrus scents to the musky scents of damask roses.
- Shape: As a curator, she is particularly focused on how the look or structure will relate to the hardscapes and the other roses and plants. Does it trail or climb? Is it broad-leafed? Are the flowers flat or full? What are the hips like?
- Disease-resistance
- Diversity: Anne showcases species roses from similar climates worldwide. The seed index for botanical gardens all over the world allows BBG to cultivate wild rose species from as far away as China, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Iran—and from as close by as Canada and Utah.
- Garden Interest: Many roses are beautiful garden plants throughout the year, with graceful canes, beautiful thorns, interesting hips, and lovely leaves. And of course, there are the flowers!
Cranford Rose Garden as Public Garden
Anne strongly believes that public gardens are a necessary resource for people because they fulfill a human need on so many levels, including cultural, aesthetic, scientific, emotional, and spiritual ones. According to Anne, "Public gardens are an essential resource for any civilized society, not just as a recreational or green space but also as a cultural experience and a repository of scientific knowledge. These gardens provide a shared experience and are essential in building stronger communities." Anne explains that from a horticultural and design standpoint, "public gardens should always aspire to be the best they can be—to reach for the ultimate in terms of aesthetics, the plant collections, design, science, and education. Botanic gardens have wonderful opportunity—and a responsibility—to give the gift of nature to the community." In this way, Anne aims to make the Cranford Rose Garden the very best public rose garden—and a gainful learning experience for all its visitors.
Thus it's no surprise that Anne's most enduring memory about the rose garden involves people: When one of the first school groups walked through the garden after she began as curator, the children gasped, exclaiming that they'd never seen anything so beautiful. Anne loves to watch people on the pavilion, particularly because design of the garden encourages people to stop, pause, and soak in the surrounding beauty.
Anne feels that the Cranford Rose Garden's greatest succcess lies in educating visitors about roses, as well as evoking a passion for plants. She strives to elicit the "wow" factor in visitors, and hopes that people discover something new and exciting about plants each time they visit the Rose Garden. As the curator of one of the world's premier rose gardens, Anne is always working to achieve a balance between the aesthetic, educational, and scientific goals in order to ensure a garden that is sustainable and inspirational for future generations to come.