Shreveport, LA Part III: Rose Garden

Shreveport, LA

Just a few miles up the road from where we were staying at Tall Pines RV Park was the American Rose Center, which is the headquarters of the American Rose Society. The center is located on a 118-acre wooded tract that is home to the American Rose Center Gardens which is a collection of over 65 smaller rose gardens sponsored by various chapters of the American Rose Society or by individual members or couples.

As we pulled into the entrance to the gardens, there was a building that was dark. At first we thought the gardens were closed, but we eventually saw the sign for the administration building located farthed into the property. Apparently they only use the first building for weddings, and the administration building is where the gift shop and garden entrance are located.

We went to the garden relatively early in the morning, because it was supposed to be hot and humid. We were the only car in the parking lot at 9:45 AM. We paid our admission fee, got a garden map, and headed into the garden.

The garden's most distinctive feature is the Windsounds Carillon located right inside the garden entrance. The carillon plays on the quarter hour. As one would expect, the tower is surrounded by roses.

According to the website, the "official" season for the rose garden is April to October, but there are peak times of bloom in the spring (late April to early May) and fall (mid October). There are many varieties of roses, and different types of roses have different bloom patterns, so there were still some roses in bloom even though it was late May.

Some of the gardens at the American Rose Center have companion plantings like azaleas and crepe myrtle to take up the slack when the roses aren't blooming profusely. Unfortunately, the azaleas were done and the crepe myrtles were just starting to bloom. The quiet pool of the Prayer Garden in the next photo is surrounded by crepe myrtle that will be spectacular in a few more weeks.

One of the things we liked about the gardens was the way the paths wound around through the woods and how each individual garden presented a new vignette. Most of the gardens had a focal point such as a sculpture, a pool, or a trellis like the one shown in the background of the photo below to add interest.

There was even a Japanese garden complete with a small tea house.

One garden had a replica of the Statue of Liberty surrounded by yellow roses.

Pink roses lined one side of the walkway to the chapel.

Although the gardens weren't in their peak bloom time, there were some areas that had roses in flower.

We liked the salmon color of the roses in the next garden, so we paused for a photo.

There were also many individual blooms that were beautiful.

We had a nice walk around the American Rose Center Gardens even though only some of the roses were in bloom. We probably would have been disappointed if we had driven a long distance to see the garden, but since it was only a few miles up the road from where we were staying, we're glad we went.

By the time we were done, the sun was getting really hot, and we still had to go back to the RV park to do a few chores since we were scheduled to depart the next day. Look for our next post and we'll tell you where our next stop was.

Comments

[Marsha]

I would LOVE this place. Paul would walk around and then go get his book, while I would just sit and soak it all in!