a rose history lesson, with peter kukielski

ROSES ARE ANCIENT plants with a 35-million-year history on planet earth, so maybe it’s no surprise then that they have been a fixture in nearly every culture and many religions, too. In his recent book, “Rosa: The Story of the Rose,” rosarian Peter Kukielski tells lots of the stories of this beloved flower and our relationship to it, and its place in our cultural history.

Kukielski is former curator of New York Botanical Garden’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, where in 2008 to 2014, he implemented a new mission: to plant and trial roses for disease resistance and less chemical usage. He’s the author of an earlier book “Roses Without Chemicals” (affiliate link), and the designer of a recent garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario, Canada, a chemical-free province. And these days Peter gardens in Maine–where he is a big believer in the power of mulch to support the soil, and those beloved roses.

Read along as you listen to the March 29, 2021 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

Plus: Enter to win a copy of “Rosa: The Story of the Rose” (affiliate link) by  commenting in the box at the very bottom of the page. (Photo of Kukielsi, below, by Drew Hodges.)

Margaret Roach: How are you up there?

Peter Kukielski: Doing great up here. Thank you, how are you?

Margaret: O.K. So 35 million years on the planet, that’s a long time [laughter]. This new book—it’s quite different from the earlier one. It’s sort of more culture than horticulture. And as I said in the intro, it tells about the cultural connections we have with