The Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation will host a free garden discoveries event entitled "Survival of the Peggy Martin Rose" at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Main Library at Goodwood.
Peggy Martin, the namesake of the rose, will share her journey tracing the rose's origins and her passion for preserving heritage roses. Weather permitting, the program will conclude with a guided tour of the nearby Baton Rouge Botanic Gardens Rose Garden.
Martin spent decades nurturing a garden full of antique roses in Plaquemines Parish. But when the levees broke from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her land sat under 20 feet of salt water. Everything was lost.
When the water receded, it looked like nothing was left. That's when Martin saw a single climbing rose with fresh green shoots. That rose was the only thing still growing in the garden.
At the Garden Discoveries event, Martin will share about her quest beginning in 1989 to identify the origin of the now-popular Peggy Martin rose. She will discuss the interest in this rose that has been going on for 21 years, ever since she lost everything during Hurricane Katrina.
Martin has held leadership positions in rose societies such as the Heritage Rose Foundation, American Rose Society, New Orleans Old Garden Rose Society and various others.