Commentary by Christy Solo
While writing last week’s All Things Oregon I was reminded that I had a very rosy childhood.
In the literal sense, that is – not necessarily in the metaphorical sense.
This is because my parents really loved roses. Like really. Like a lot.
They planted a 1/8 acre rose garden in the front yard of our first house. That particular garden (they would have roses at all their subsequent homes) was largely my dad’s pet project.
While researching our rosy All Things I wandered down some internet rabbit holes (as one does) and finally realized why my dad was so enamored with all things rose that he spent all his free time tending that garden (seasonally, duck season was for duck hunting).
I knew that my dad’s godfather was Dr. Charles V. Covell, and I knew Dr. Covell liked roses. What I didn’t know (or at least recall – I was very young when we had that rose garden house) was just how much Dr. Covell loved roses, and that was passed on to my dad.
As I discovered via the internet Dr. Covell was the driving force in the creation of the Morcom Amphitheater of Roses in Oakland, Calif. At that time, he was a member of the Businessman’s Garden Club. Covell would later be the President of the American Rose Society.
The 7.5-acre garden still blooms today. In addition to thousands of roses, it has winding walkways, a reflecting pool and a cascading fountain.
Covell then went on to champion the creation of the Berkeley Rose Garden in Berkeley, Calif.
“The Garden is designed like an amphitheater with wide stone terraces facing magnificent views of San Francisco Bay. A semicircular redwood pergola, which extends the full width of the garden, provides not only visual definition to the site, but a structure for climbing roses and shaded benches. The planting of 2,500 rose bushes was planned by the East Bay Counties Rose Society under Charles V. Covell. The roses were arranged one color per terrace, from shades of red at the top through bronze and pink to yellow and white at the bottom.” – Susan Cerny, Berkeley Landmarks.
I’ve never visited either garden in real life, but probably my dad did, in addition to visiting Dr. Covell’s house and seeing his personal garden. Clearly the gardens and his rosy godfather made an impression on my dad.
While my parents never had a proper “rose garden” in their subsequent three homes, they always had roses. The house we lived in when I was in high school had a long walkway to the front door and it was lined with short, vibrant red roses. At the end of the walk on either side of the front entry gate were two towering Just Joey hybrid tea roses.
By the time they lived in that house dad was too busy with work to tend roses and mom became their primary caregiver. By my senior year in high school mom passed the torch temporarily to me and I was in charge of “all things pruning.”
Those Just Joeys became my mom’s favorite of all the roses she loved, and she had a large Just Joey in her garden in Trail (along with 20 or so other roses planted throughout the front and back yards).
Dr. Covell’s love of roses passed from him to my dad to my mom and the legacy lives on today in Trail. If you visit the Trail Tavern Museum this spring or summer, you can sit a spell in the Clarisse Pitto (my mom) memorial rose garden there.
