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FeedMeet Mr. Rose
By Kelly Westhoff
Photo by ERIC MOORE
It took Olson a lifetime to master his growing techniques. “I’ve been raising roses for almost 75 years,” says Olson, who worked as a conductor on the Milwaukee Railroad for 40 years before retiring in 1982. “When I started, there were people who raised roses, but they wouldn’t tell you anything about how to do it.” Therefore, Olson’s garden became his lab. Through trial and error, he discovered the secrets to tending roses—then he told all. “It’s great to see young people get involved in roses, and I get so much pleasure out of helping them,” he says.
In recognition of his lifelong dedication to his namesake flower, the American Rose Society will honor Olson during its national convention on June 28, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Terrace Horticultural Books in St. Paul. Olson isn’t convinced he warrants the fuss. “I’m a dirty old man,” he jokes. “I’m always working in compost. I used to say the only reason I ever washed dishes was to get the dirt out from under my nails.”
Fellow rose aficionados, however, know Olson deserves high praise. “Jerry is a gem, a gentle soul,” says John Whitman, who co-authored Growing Roses in Cold Climates (McGraw-Hill, 1998), with Olson. “He’ll tell everybody everything he knows about growing roses. He doesn’t keep his recipe a secret.” Many consider the book, now out of print, a vital reference for rose growers living in northern latitudes; used copies circulate online and fetch upwards of $50.
The book details the “Minnesota Tip” method of wintering roses, which Olson developed in collaboration with Master Grower Albert Nelson in the 1950s. Instead of clipping back rose bushes and covering them with Styrofoam cones, the tip method involves digging trenches, tipping entire rose bushes into the ground, and covering them with leaves to protect them from winter’s harsh temperatures and freeze and thaw cycles. Tipping roses allows northern growers to save mature plants from year to year.
Olson used this method in his own Bloomington backyard to produce stunning displays of summer-long blooms. The method does require intense physical labor, and while Olson still tends roses in his backyard, he admits that he has given up his extensive garden and relinquished fragile bushes that call for tipping. “I’ve had as many as 750 roses bushes in my yard,” he says. “I used to go out there at night when I got home from work and water them with a flashlight taped to the end of my hose.” Roses take a tremendous amount of water provided they have proper drainage, says Olson. He also recommends a steady diet of organic fertilizers. Garden soil populated with night crawlers, he says, is a good indication that a rose garden is healthy and thriving.
Not only does Olson give out gardening tips, he also gives out roses. Through the years, he’s clipped blooms for neighborhood kids in search of Mother’s Day presents. He’s given roses to his church, the Fairview South hospital, to young men on their way to marriage proposals, and to husbands who’d found themselves in the doghouse. Olson even claims that his roses helped a friend stay sober. “I got him to raise roses and he quit drinking,” Olson smiles. “Roses have an awful lot of power.”
Kelly Westhoff is a Plymouth freelance writer.
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