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Photo courtesy of coastrose
Rose (public) Garden
Listing last updated on Wed Dec 2024
401 East M Street
Wilmington, CA
90744
United States
(310) 548-7777 [Information]
From the Howard Rose Garden/Banning Museum brochure: The Howard Rose Garden was named in honor of Paul J. Howard (1882 - 1966), a celebrated Los Angeles horticulturist and prominent, respected landscape designer whose parents came to Los Angeles in the mid-1800s. After his death, his daughters Carol Howard Richards and Allaseba Howard Gorham generously funded the development of the rose garden, which has long been a popular stop for visitors to the museum.
While the lovely Howard Rose Garden was originally designed to showcase what are called "modern roses" - those which you might find in a traditional formal rose garden - in 2010 an ambitious project was begun by Friends of Banning Museum to enhance the garden and add a section reflective of the Victorian time in which Phineas Banning lived. Today, visitors will see two garden areas; the original modern rose section, and a delightful planting area that contains a variety of "old" roses, those were cultivated in Banning's time.
Historian Gloria Leinbach describes this garden-within-a-garden and its historical significance:
"The rose garden contains a diverse collection of roses consisting of many varieties and colors that were popular during the Victorian era, especially the repeat blooming varieties. These repeat blooming roses created quite a sensation in horticulture circles, and nurserymen in America and Europe introduced many new varieties every year to keep up with customer demand. The history of how these roses made their way into Los Angeles gardens is tied to the Industrial Revolution and its ensuing commercial culture. Networks of transportation systems connected European and American markets, which then expanded to East and West coast markets. Modern transportation systems delivered all types of commercial goods and made rose gardening accessible to all classes of society."
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