Gorgeous Goot Garden

I love to see this rose garden in full spring bloom after visiting it in the winter. You can take a look at the sleeping shots here. This garden really is a hidden gem in NJ. We came home from camping last night so were able to take a ride and see the blooms. So glad we did!

The entrance is lined with boxwoods and those are pink knock-outs behind them.

Of course I had to snap the large clump of Easy Does It's, one of my favorite.

I was also happy to see Rainbow Sorbet, another rose that blooms heavily in my garden.

This is a beautiful Ballerina that is climbing up a pillar. Very vigorous.

This Frontenac was the most prolific bush in the garden. You can see the bush from every spot in the garden.

That's John Cabot climbing up the arbor. His blooms were a beautiful magenta shade that were extremely bright.

They have a few lovely specimens of The Garland that grow up the arbors.

This is Leonie Lamesch. While at this garden, I love to window shop and think about roses I need to get  for next year. This is definitly one of them.

The rose that took my breath away was this climbing City of York. How do I get one?? It's a must have for next year. I can't describe the huge blooms and beautiful foliage. It really was perfect.

More City of York...

Close-up...

Near the City of York was an American Pillar that covered a bench. Very pretty.

Secret



Love and Peace. I was surprised how yellow it was. Stunning.

Cinco de Mayo which I have in my garden too. Such a pretty rose!

This was another one that I would love to have in my garden. I love the soft pink edges. This is Glenda Marie.

Sweet Surrender was at its peak today and the bushes were simply covered with blooms.

My second favorite for me in the garden was Strike it Rich. The blooms glowed  and stood up straight and tall. It would be a great cut flower.

So, they had ever red you could imagine....Olympiad, Chrysler Imperial, Legend, Mister Lincoln, etc. but the most beautiful red in the entire garden (in my opinion) was Peggy Rockefeller. The blooms were a perfect red, not too pink, velvety and the bush itself was very full and lush. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland when Alice helps paint the roses red. What a beauty!

Julia Child...that's Wild Blue Yonder next to it which was glorious and deep purple. I have no luck with purple roses in my garden. Maybe I'll try this one next year....

Double Delight

This post could go on and on, but I'll save some shots for later. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon...

Sleeping Rose Garden

The other day when David and I went to Colonial Park, we also stopped at the Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden. David found this lovely spot in Somerset, NJ last summer while we were on a bike ride. It was such a fun surprise! We love riding Rails to Trails (I never knew about these until I moved to NJ) and if you follow the D & R Canal Trail which is 29 miles of great bike trail you will run into this rose garden. Not to say that David and I ride the entire 29 miles...good grief. We access at the Somerset entrance and ride until we get tired. I think the most we did was 10 miles.

Anyway, here are just a few shots of what this garden looks like in winter. I love looking at rose gardens while they are sleeping because you can really see the layout.

The garden boasts over 3000 roses and is a really nice large size. Supposedly they only have roses that thrive in NJ, but looking at the list of Hybrid Tea roses, I'm a little sceptical. A few of these should probably only be grown in California, Florida or some other really warm wonderful place.

The below identifier belongs to the rose above. I took this shot because these roses looked unbelievably healthy and to be that greened-out in March?? I think I might need a Lady Elsie May for some background filler.

That's David in the background. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. Just a few other families.

This shot gives you an indication of the size. This is from corner to corner.

A gorgeous Ballerina Polyantha rose.

I took this to check out the branching habit of Fantin Latour, a Centifolia rose. I have a baby one of these in the front garden and looking at this I think I may need to move it.

They have a small test area for Weeks roses. I would love to know what they are testing but sadly, no tags!

David said he might build me an arbor this year. Hurray!! I've always wanted one and it is helpful to have a very handy husband. I took this shot because I love how this climbing rose looks on their arbor in the winter. Want something similar. This is The Garland and they have several of them. I don't know if this climber is still in production...I looked and can't seem to find it.

Beautiful Magnolia in the background.

Since I'm from Arizona I think I need this rose, don't ya think?