THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180818
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
If you have been intending to pause and smell the roses, seize the chance Sunday to stroll for free amid three acres of 4,000 rose bushes blooming in the Norfolk Botanical Garden.
For contrast, mosey in the sun to the Garden's new attraction, the 2.5 acre wildflower garden.
Then roam the Renaissance garden among out-sized statues of famous artists, marble-white as if carved from Ivory soap.
(Some people feign dismay at the statues by Moses Ezekiel; others cherish them as an exuberant outcropping of the area's eccentricity.)
A donation has enabled the Garden to lift the fees Sunday for admission to it and its train tours.
The same donor had funded free admission on Mother's Day, May 14. Because rain ruled out that occasion, the Garden is offering families a second chance to enjoy 250,000 rose blooms in honor of the donor's own mother's love of gardens.
``I thought this tribute to my mother would be a nice way for families and out-of-town visitors alike to enjoy the gardens,'' said the donor. ``I want families that may not have the advantage of being able to afford the admission fee to spend time in the Garden together. . . ''
The multitudinous roses are in the pink, as well as in every other color of the rainbow. Included is an experimental tri-colored rose. Our Botanical Garden is one of two dozen facilities maintaining test gardens across the continent.
Named ``the landscape rose,'' the tricolor shrub may prove hardier, more resistant to disease than are other varieties, said Al Lutz, the Botanical Garden's rosarian.
Lutz's favorite is Color Magic, a decade-old pink blend.
As the days warm, the rose garden is heavy with fragrance. ``Even with the wind today!' Lutz said Tuesday.
As roses were hybridized for varying colors and form, as many as 25 percent lost their scent, Lutz noted. Now there is a move to reintroduce aroma among them.
Notice, he remarked, that the first thing people do is lean down and sniff a rose. ``We don't want to disappoint them,'' he said.
So much for Sunday, when the Botanical Garden is free.
Tonight the Famnous Unknowns, a trio on acoustical guitars, will play in the NATO Vista from 7 to 9 o'clock. Last spring the Unknowns became renowned as one of the most popular aggregations.
The gate will reopen tonight at 5:30 o'clock. Ticket prices for Avant Gardeners are $3; Norfolk Botanical Garden Society members, $5; others, $6. Children 5 years and under are free. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
BETH BERGMAN/Staff
Color Magic - would a rose by any other name smell as sweet.
by CNB