Tomorrow I'll be on the road in Brigantine, spending time with Stephen Scanniello, the rose guru who's a Jersey Guy through and through despite his international fame as a rosarian. Ron Tarver, staff photographer - and gardener - par excellence, will join me, as will Samantha Templeton, a Drexel intern this summer who's our resident videographer. This is all for a story on roses, of course, since we're sailing into rose season.
This being the new age of journalism, when you finally see our work, it will include a story with beautiful photos, an online version with more photos and a video that Samantha will shoot. I hope we can take you on a tour of the rose garden, a sort of "you are there" experience that only this crazy new age affords.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Stephen's rose garden and picking his brain about one of the world's favorite flowers. Mine, too, though like many gardeners they intimidate me with all the talk about pruning and spraying ...
One of the interesting things about Stephen is his desire to find environmentally friendly alternatives to all the chemicals rose lovers have traditionally used. Despite their delicate-looking flowers, a lot of roses get nuked with chemicals. You'd think they'd burn up or at least look brown around the edges.
I know someone who didn't understand the directions and so didn't dilute the chemical powder he was using to get rid of Japanese beetles or something. For some strange reason the roses didn't die. But for years afterwards, you'd lean down to smell a blossom and you'd get a blast of chemicals up your nostrils.
Like springtime in Chernobyl, if you will.
