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The 'Classic Rose Garden' at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show
Tony Abruscato, President, Flower Show Productions, Inc
Tony Abruscato, President, Flower Show Productions, Inc

“Tony Abruscato always believed we could build a rose garden in March in Chicago and he made it happen.”   ~ Susan Fox

Susan Fox, Speaker at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show
Susan Fox, Speaker at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Chicago Flower & Garden Show 2015, March 14-22

Garden Design Magazine is filled with beautiful gardens and useful content. It’s one of my favorite print publications. When Gina Tedesco, vice president of GreenMark Public Relations, Inc. owned by award winning Publicist and President Sue Markgraf called and asked me if I could do an interview about The Rose Gardens of The Chicago Flower & Garden Show with Garden Design Magazine, I was thrilled and honored to do it. Gina Khara is a highly experienced editor at Garden Design Magazine. Here are some of the key points we shared with her about the first rose gardens that the amazing President and Owner, of Flower Productions Tony Abruscato will feature among his 22 display gardens at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show opening March 14-22.

Roses Bloom Early at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show, by Anne Balogh

A)What are you most excited about that visitors will see in the two rose garden displays?

  1. That we will have roses that offer each gardener a beautiful individualized landscape choice suitable for whatever interests them, whether it be:
  2. Landscaping with Roses;
  3. Rose Photography;
  4. Rose Accessorizing;
  5. Flower Arranging;
  6. Rose Collections;
  7. Extension of Interior Décor;
  8. Or Showing Roses.

The rose garden at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show owned by Tony Abruscato is the first in over a decade at this show. It will consist of hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, KnockOuts, shrubs, drift groundcover roses, climbing roses and landscape roses all by both Star Roses and Plants and Weeks Roses. We will have a miniature garden as well.

Q. What do you hope visitors at the show will take away from these displays?

  • That roses are easy to grow, can require minimal care, are long living, and resilient. And that we will have Consulting Rosarians from The American Rose Society available during the show at the rose garden to answer questions about rose growing for attendees. Also I want folks to know that sure many rose growers have special techniques, however you need to only know the basics to grow beautiful roses:
    • 6-8 hours of sun per day
    • Soil nutrients and fertilization
    • Watering

Q. What is something visitors can look for in the rose gardens that they might not have otherwise noticed without someone showing them or telling them? Is there a certain variety you think they might see, or something unique to look for?

A) That roses work beautifully with companion plantings. We will be showing many companion plantings with roses, so look for the color spots and how lovely roses create a back drop with ornamental plants and perennials. Gardeners can get ideas to build their dream rose garden or enhance their existing plantings back home. We hope to have roses espaliered, and climbing roses on arches and trellises and arbors. There will be roses hopefully in large urns and large pots for ideas of how to give design elements to existing gardens with roses in pots.

Some of the varieties we hope to have are:

Star Roses and Plants

  1. Dee-Lish,
  2. Pink Flamingo,
  3. Eternal Flame,
  4. Apricot Candy,
  5. Sunshine Daydream

Weeks Roses

  1. Anna’s Promise,
  2. Cinco De Mayo,
  3. Julia Child,
  4. Jump for Joy,
  5. Koko Loko,

About Flower Show Productions, Inc.:

Flower Show Productions, Inc. is the production company for the annual Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier (March 14-22, 2015) and grand-scale public events that celebrate sustainable living and eco-friendly lifestyles. The company provides year-round messaging, education and information about the benefits of earth-friendly choices to our yards, neighborhoods, communities and the planet. Future show dates are March 12-20, 2016 and March 11-19, 2017. For information, please visit www.chicagoflower.com. Find the Chicago Flower & Garden Show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chicagoflower and on Twitter @ChicagoFlower.

Susan Fox Presentation Schedule Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Landscaping With Roses Introducing Tim Wood of Star Roses and Plants and Karen Kemp Docksteader of Weeks Roses, Staurday, March 14th 2:00 PM

Miniature Roses Hot New Color For Your Garden, Sat. March 21

We promised you a rose garden. Come see us at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show and all your friends from the American Rose Society working as docents all week and both week-ends to answer questions in the rose gardens and sharing the friendship of roses next week.

The Rose Garden
The Rose Garden