Stop and Smell the Roses

By Bobbi Sistruck
Reprinted from the Carver Reporter

Most of us have dreamed of surrounding our homes with picture-perfect gardens worthy of a visit from the local garden club.

Many of us have spent hours and considerable dollars on those gardens only to have the plants within wilt, turn brown, be destroyed by insects -or all of the above.

Roses are often particularly tricky plants to keep alive and well in the homeowner’s garden. But Erwin Ehrenreich wants to change that. He and his wife, Cindy, have created a splendid display of easy-to-grow varieties that can thrive in almost any environment along with “rooms” full of beautiful, not-so-easy-to-grow tea roses and heirloom varieties in their nursery located on the outer grounds of Edaville USA in South Carver.

Erwin is a master gardener and rosarian with a knack for pairing the perfect peach-colored rose bush with perhaps a climber or a mini of a different color. The nursery is divided into several rooms, each of which boasts a different theme. Walking tours of the new rose garden at The Rose Man Nursery are held every Monday and Thursday afternoon between 2 and 4.

Erwin lends his expertise to the tours, and he is happy to answer all questions in an effort to help every gardener realize the full beauty of roses.

Take along all your rose-growing questions and learn the proper techniques for trimming, deadheading and cultivating one of nature’s most beautiful offerings. Walk among the more than 380 roses planted in several display garden rooms as you learn about the different classes of roses and how to care for them while learning the basic elements of garden design. “Or just come by to smell the roses.” Erwin said.

Colors only Mother Nature can create beckon the attention of a camera lens; shades of pink, white, purple peach, blue and, of course, the ever-popular rose-red are grouped together in the outdoor display rooms nestled at the edge of a serene pond.

The planting started last fall. Thus far, Erwin and Cindy have completed five rooms and plan to build several more. Their end goal is at least 20 rose rooms.

“We just completed the apricot/peach/orange room,” Erwin said. “I’ll have at least 10 by the winter when I will have to stop working.” His favorite rose room?

“Always the one I just completed,” he said. “Each one is better than the previous one.”

Certainly rose bushes could be purchased from a box store, but why risk failure when The Rose Man offers a lifetime worth of knowledge and help in keeping your roses alive and healthy? Besides, he has a selection of more than 600 varieties to choose from.

“We’re here to answer questions,” he said. “We talk roses. We’re here to help people with their rose problems.”

Future plans include a garden shop stocked with supplies, books and other items.

“We’re putting a lot into this,” Erwin said. “We’re here to stay.”

The nursery is located off the beaten path in South Carver, which is not quite conducive to customers finding it easily.

Erwin said many customers have found out about the nursery on the Internet just by Gooling “roses.” When planning a visit, though, they have had “a bit of trouble” finding the new location. He offers a perfect solution to that problem.

“GPS and MapQuest take them all over the place. It’s much easier to just follow the signs to Edaville and you’ll get here right away,” he said.

The gardens and tours are located at The Rose Man Nursery, 5 Eda Ave., Carver, just off Route 58. No appointment is necessary. Tours are free to the public. For further information, call 508-866-3311or log on to www.therosemannursery.com.

Secrets of a Rose Lover


Reprinted from the Country Garden Magazine Spring 2008


Starting over takes faith. And when the future is in roses, it takes a belief that these plants—with their challenging reputation—are worthy of the effort. But when Irwin Ehrenreich, a former ear, nose, and throat surgeon, injured his hand with a table saw in 1996 while renovating his home in Barnstable, Massachusetts, the injury forced Irwin to retire and left a void in his life. His wife, Cindy, thought learning how to tend roses may help him find a new passion.
“Cindy wanted me to start a rose garden,” Irwin says. “She talked me into going to a rose society meeting. They sent me home with a miniature rose.”
Never having grown roses before, Irwin set out to investigate the plants. The roses intrigued him. During the next several years, Irwin and Cindy learned as much as they could about the colorful, fragrant, history-rich plants. “As a surgeon I was constantly reading,” Irwin says. “I’m still reading—I’m just reading about roses now.”

Above ‘Jeanne Lajoie’ climbs an obelisk. Right
Attached to the back of their house, Cindy and
Irwin Ehrenreich’s garden room is a place for
potting plants and storing baskets, pottery, and
tools. Opposite Clipped from the garden, this
bouquet combines ‘Teasing Georgia’, ‘Graham
Thomas’, ‘Sally Holmes’, and Rosa multiflora.


Soon their lawn began to shrink. “I don’t design my rose beds,” Irwin says. “I design a series of flowing paths.” He uses white spray paint to mark the edges of garden paths and then excavates the soil on either side of the paths. The resulting narrow strips of grass flow like streams through the garden, revealing new beds of bloom-laden roses with every turn.
“I used to have a little bit of everything in the garden—annuals, perennials, and roses,” Irwin says. That changed when he began to run out of space for new roses. “Once there was a garden group visiting and I gave everyone a shovel. I told them to dig up all the perennials. They did, and now I only have roses.”
Irwin and Cindy now grow about 500 roses. “Sometimes garden books mention the ‘shrinking lawn syndrome’ where grass is constantly removed to make way for gardens. We have shrinking lawn syndrome,” Irwin says. Irwin and Cindy’s rose garden covers about a quarter of their 2-acre property. Dubbed “The Rose Man” while working at a local nursery several years ago, Irwin has covered the street-side fence, the front of the house, and nearly every bit of soil in the front yard with roses.

Above Cindy and Irwin look over roses in their nursery. They specialize in
growing the best roses, including ones that are lesser known, available to
local gardeners. Top right ‘Teasing Georgia’ and ‘Sweet Juliet’ nearly mask the
sign in front of Cindy and Irwin’s home that reads “Sturgis Homestead 1690.”
Bottom right ‘Red Eden’ grows behind one of the birdhouses Cindy collects.


The area not consumed by rose beds is occupied by The Rose Man nursery, Irwin and Cindy’s rose business, which is in the process of moving to a new home in nearby Carver. The new location opens in April and will include a 1-acre display garden; a shop loaded with rose supplies, rose-theme crafts and antiques; and the couple’s favorite 500 or so varieties of roses available for purchase.
Irwin has come a long way since the day he came home with one miniature rose, and he’s happy to share his knowledge. “I always tell gardeners that roses are not as difficult to grow as they think. There is a lot of misinformation out there. I work to teach people the right way to care for roses.” Irwin has condensed his care tips into a pamphlet called “The Rose Man’s Secrets,” which goes home with every rose sold at the nursery. He shared many of his tips with us—see “Rose Care Simplified”

Above A sea of rose color explodes during the last two weeks of June. Irwin
and Cindy observe a lesser display of flowers late into fall. Right ‘Royal
Sunset’ scrambles over a fence. A passionate woodworker, Irwin built all of
the arbors, fences, and trellises in the landscape.
garden at a glance
ZONE 7a
SIZE ½ acre
AGE 11 years
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
The mild Cape Cod climate
is exceptional for growing
roses. Occasionally, brutally
cold winters strike the area,
causing plant death, but such
conditions are rare.




A frequent public speaker about roses and a Consulting Rosarian with the American Rose Society, Irwin is a regional source for rose growers. “People are constantly calling, e-mailing, and stopping by with questions. We are the place where people come with their rose problems,” he says. Irwin diagnoses the problem and offers a prescription—often in the form of fertilizer and proper maintenance strategies for avoiding disease. In a way, Irwin continues to practice medicine—but now his patients are roses.

Rose Care Simplified
Grow healthy roses by following Irwin Ehrenreich’s tips.
  • Plant new roses spring through fall. Select varieties that suit your schedule. Hardy, disease-resistant shrub roses require the least care.
  • Plant smart. Many roses are a combination of two plants—the top half is one variety grafted onto the root stock of another. The two meet at a swollen area called the bud union. In Zones 7 and below, bury the bud union at least 2 inches below the soil.
  • Prune when forsythia bloom. Remove weak or damaged canes and branches that are rubbing.
  • Provide water as needed. Roses thrive in moist, well-drained soil. When rain is scarce, water deeply once a week. Deliver water directly to the base of the plant to avoid getting the foliage wet.
  • Feed plants once a month from late spring to late summer.
  • Spray fungicides regularly to help prevent disease.
  • Deadhead plants throughout the season for repeated blooming.
  • Stop deadheading in October. Transition plants into winter dormancy by letting rose hips form.
  • After Thanksgiving, remove clinging leaves. Spray plants with lime-sulfur oil. Set a 12-inch-tall mound of mulch around each plant’s base for insulation.



Read about the Rose Man Inside


Primetime Capecod:


Roses to the Rescue:
Reprinted from The Register - June 8, 2006

ROSES TO THE RESCUE

By Stephanie Foster


Ten years ago, Irwin Ehrenreich was a happily married surgeon with a loving wife Cindy, three kids and a budding career. He had just become a partner at Hyannis Ear, Nose and Throat. In his spare time he restored the 300 year old colonial house in Barnstable he lived in. He built new walls and she stenciled them. Life was good.

But on one April day in 1996, his mind drifted away from the table saw he was using and he severed two fingers from his left hand. Cape Cod Hospital sent him to Mass General where they attempted to reattach the fingers.

"Only one survived with minimal use", he says holding his four-fingered hand out. He is upbeat about his loss now but it was no smiling matter when his career as a surgeon crashed and burned. "I couldn't hold an instrument" he says. Retired at 45, Irwin became depressed. "My mother and sister suggested doing medical reports or insurance related to medicine. But all I loved was surgery. If I couldn't do that, I didn't want to do anything else.

Cindy came to the rescue. She wanted him to grow roses and dragged him to the Seaside Rosarians rose show. He was impressed and became a member. "I received a miniature rose bush as a gift when I joined. Then I bought the book eRoses for Dummies' and read it twice. I came out of a field where I was very obsessive. I was constantly reading, taking courses and going to conventions. I attacked roses in the same way and started reading everything I could find."

Cindy fanned the flame of his new ardor. "He started building trellises, arbors and put up a white fence. He wanted red roses against a white fence. I said why not apricot? There is so much more out there than the typical red rose," she says.

Five years after Irwin had 200 roses and was president of the Seaside Rosarians. Later the group merged with the Lower Cape Rose Society and he is now vice president.

Along the way he encountered master gardener and author C.L. Fornari. "I walked into Country Garden and saw that she did consultations. She came to my garden to tell me where to put perennials." As they talked she realized that he was a rose expert and suggested to the manager at Country Garden that he take care of the rose section.

"I did it for five years. I got to know a lot more. I also met the sales reps from growers in California." Knowledge that would come in handy later. Fornari also suggested that he become a Master Gardener. He did. "Then she told me the Cape needed a rose nursery and suggested that I open a place. She inspired me."

Last year Irwin opened his own nursery offering unusual stock that most garden centers don't carry. Customers can see the plants growing in his display gardens and then buy from his inventory of 3000 plants. For people who don't have the time to tend to their own gardens, he offers rose care, consultations, weekly spraying and fertilizing.

Now in their second season, husband and wife work together. "I draw the sketches and Cindy picks the roses. We planted 100 roses at an old Victorian home and coordinated them with the colors of the house."

Last year, they attended the Hyannis Farmer's Market on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (opens June 14) and will return this year with both roses and Cindy's rose photographs. The Barnstable Fair was also a good venue for them and this year, he has agreed to plant a demonstration garden there to go with the master gardener's vegetable garden.

He's also added rose lectures to his agenda, and once a month he gives "The Rose Report" on Fornari's gardening show on 95 WXTK radio. "It created a whole new life for me. I don't miss medicine. I'm glad I didn't do any of those other things. I bump into doctors I know and they tell me how miserable they are. They have stress, pressures, and problems with insurance reimbursements."


Irwin eventually abandoned the world of perennials entirely. "I find them more work. Each one needs different care. Roses are basically all the same in terms of care. If you can take care of one rose you can take care of any rose. Next to roses, perennials are like weeds" he says, with a smile.

Why do the Ehrenreichs love roses? "They offer five months of bloom, variety, color, fragrance and it's the challenge. I've learned how to do it right. So it's easy for me."

Cindy adds, "Some people say they just aren't lucky with roses but it has nothing to do with luck. You have to know what to do."


April 1, 2007

The bloom is off the rose as the microsurgeon encounters a thorn

By PAULA PETERS
If you ask Irwin Ehrenreich what he loves about roses he will tell you "everything" and then proceed to tell you the many reasons until he is breathless.

"I think they are just the nicest plant, not just the flowers, but the plant, thorns and all. I like that there are so many colors and varieties or roses - tens of thousands of roses - and that they have such a long blooming period. Nothing blooms as long as a rose. And then there is the fragrance."

He can mark history with the flowers - from Cleopatra's room filled with the petals to welcome Marc Anthony, to the 15th century War of the Roses, to the story of Napoleon's wife, the Empress Josephine, who vowed to collect every variety in the world.

"That is my favorite," he said, telling me how her quest for roses took precedence over the French Revolution. "The British ships would open the blockade and allow ships carrying roses to Josephine to pass through."

Josephine's passion for the flower mirrors Irwin's, which has overwhelmed his world in the past decade; but that hasn't always been the case. There was a time in Irwin's life when a rose was just a rose.

Eleven years ago Irwin was doing some amateur carpentry repair to the historic 300-year-old home he shares with his wife, Cindy, and their three sons when a tragic accident dramatically altered the course of his life.

Cutting wood on a table saw, he admits he was daydreaming when his left hand drifted into the blade, severing two fingers.

"I grabbed the fingers and threw them in a bag of ice," he said, recalling there wasn't a lot of blood or pain initially, just a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach with the instant realization his career was over.

Dr. Irwin Ehrenreich had been practicing medicine as a left-handed microsurgeon specializing in the ear, nose and throat for more than 10 years.

He had a choice to close the wounds and sacrifice the fingers or attempt to reattach them surgically. Either way, Irwin said, there was no turning back to his career. "I knew it was over."

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital successfully reattached one of the two fingers.

It was a devastating blow, but a year later Cindy encouraged him to attend his first rose show and introduced him to what would become his new life's work.

It is how he became known as the rose man of Barnstable.

He joined a local rose society and began to read anything and everything he could about growing, nurturing and breeding the plants. Within three years he was president of the Seaside Rosarians and is now president of the Lower Cape Rose Society. He consults and lectures on roses and has become such a noted authority, he was called upon to make the opening remarks at a recent rose convention of the Yankee District Rose Society in Newport, R.I.

Two years ago he won approval from the town of Barnstable to develop the property surrounding his home, the 1690 Sturgis Homestead in Barnstable Village, into a nursery to sell the plants. In season it is an amazing display of color and fragrance wafting over Route 6A, from blooming flowers of every imaginable variety barely contained by a whitewashed picket fence.

Last week the bare plants held nothing but promise and thorns, but small green labels identified them. There was an English rose called Gertrude Jekyll and another named for Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a floribunda called Simply Marvelous! and a hybrid tea named in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

"I walk around my garden and tend to them, care for them and prune them. They are like my patients. I put a lot of energy into being a surgeon, and I took all that energy and put it into my roses," he said.

He admits to being obsessive about his roses in much the same way he obsessed about medicine.

"But medicine was very stressful, and this is enjoyable," he said, and it filled a great void in his life. "I wanted to be committed to something really tough and challenging and to master it. Anyone can grow tulips and pansies; these are roses."

Last week Irwin and Cindy donned garden gloves and their matching brown canvas aprons to begin potting more than 4,000 plants in their basement potting shed. Delivered in giant cardboard crates that now fill the driveway, the young plants soak overnight in a pool of water.

"It's a real mom-and-pop operation," he said, "I bring in the plants, prune the roots and Cindy plants them in a 3-gallon pot."

This spring, however, they do this knowing the future of the nursery is uncertain.

To meet the overwhelming demand for roses this season, Irwin went to the back of his 2-acre lot on the far side of a small pond in the center of his yard and cut some trees and cleared some brush to accommodate more plants. He had unwittingly violated a law, bringing out a conservation agent.

When he learned what he had done, Irwin dreaded a fine and citation but never imagined he would be ordered to remove all of the raised-bed flower boxes he built to accommodate the plants. Without them the nursery would just be a mud bath, and certainly no place to sell roses.

The Ehrenreichs don't want to start a new war of the roses, but are seeking to appeal the decision, issued based on the proximity of the raised-bed boxes to wetlands. A hearing is scheduled for April 17.

The future of the nursery and their livelihood will depend on the outcome.

"It couldn't have come at a worse time," said Irwin, who regrets his ignorance of the law, but hopes he doesn't have to pay the ultimate price. "If I can't sell these roses, I can't pay for them."

He is hopeful the town will consider an agricultural exemption to allow the nursery to continue.

After all, as with Josephine's parting of the British blockade, roses are special.

Paula Peters, a former Cape Cod Times staff writer, lives in Mashpee. She can be reached at paula@wampworx.com. Village to Village runs on the first and third Sunday of each month.

(Published: April 1, 2007)