When Lauren Uhlig moved from an apartment to a home in northeast Baltimore’s Hamilton Hills in 2016, she was excited about the four-by-eight vegetable bed in the backyard. Although she works as an architect, Uhlig was inspired to explore the local cut flower movement and, on a whim, she decided to try her hand at growing some roses. When she told people about her blooming aspirations, they all said the same thing: good luck.

Roses are notoriously difficult to grow in this area due to heat, humidity, and deer. But Uhlig, 31, was undeterred. She bought five rose bushes in 2019 just to see if she could keep them alive and now she has several hundred—and many more four-by-eight flower beds in the backyard.

“I still remember my first rose,” she says. “I was so proud of myself. I had grown a rose and it had bloomed and it was magical. And I haven’t stopped since.

“I had no background in gardening, no background in roses, it was just something I fell into, and seem to have a knack for,” she continues.

She had such a knack, she decided to turn it into a business. In honor of that first garden bed, Uhlig started Florxeight (pronounced floor-by-eight) in 2019 and now sells cut roses directly to local florists.

Despite their high-maintenance reputation, Uhlig says roses are one of the world’s oldest flowers. Fossil records indicate the existence of roses 30 million years ago. So, while they may be persnickety to grow, “at their core, they’re scrappy,” she says.

Uhlig plants English style heirloom garden roses. When the forsythia starts to bloom, usually in March, she knows it is time to wake up her garden. She prunes out anything diseased, damaged, or dead, as well as any spindly canes less than the thickness of a pencil. (She says one of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is not pruning their roses enough.)

This is also when she starts to fertilize, using a recipe of natural-based products she mixes up herself. She fertilizes “weakly weekly”—in small amounts on a weekly basis—throughout the growing season and until roughly six weeks before the first frost.

“It’s like the diet of a performance athlete, they need to consume enough nutrients for their energy output,” she explains, “but it’s not necessary for anyone who just wants beautiful garden roses.”

Throughout the spring and in fall—she takes a break during the high heat of summer when the demand is less—Uhlig’s roses produce lush, multi-petaled florals. They are the definition of romance, the type of roses Willian Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

“My roses are delicate, with a shorter vase life but with the most wonderful smell,” says Uhlig.

In short, these are nothing like the stiff, tight-budded roses on offer at the local grocery store. Those buds are Uhlig’s prime competitors. According to the USDA, the U.S. imported more than $800-million worth of roses in 2022, almost all from Central and South America, and imports have led to a 95-percent decline in domestic rose production.

Those roses generally have no scent but have long, sturdy stems and the unblemished blooms florists require. Of course, perfection comes at a price; imported roses are created using a tremendous amount of pesticide, often unscrupulously applied, leaving communities ravaged by the impacts of pollution. And the carbon cost to get them to U.S. markets is significant.

It’s one of many reasons Ellen Frost, owner of Local Color Flowers, says she always joked that she was the only floral designer who didn’t work with roses. Her business, which helped pioneer the local flower movement in Maryland, only uses stems grown within 100 miles of Baltimore. And there were no roses in that radius. So, when she heard Uhlig was going to try to grow them, she was intrigued, excited, and, of course, a little skeptical.

When Uhlig produced her first bloom, she proudly took it directly to Frost. “We told her, ‘Everything you produce, we’ll buy,’” Frost recalls. She says the blooms are beloved by customers who have long had an appetite for local roses.

Frost says that while the flowers are “stunning,” it is their scent you notice first, especially if one is accustomed to scentless imported roses.

“They aren’t just fragrant, but every variety has a different fragrance,” she explains. “And fragrance is so important because so much of what we love about flowers is attached to scent memory; roses can take you back to your wedding day or to your grandmother’s yard or a special garden you visited.”

For the best results growing roses at home, Uhlig says to look for varieties that are disease-resistant and known to do well in this area. She picks up lots of good intel on varieties that excel in climates similar to Baltimore’s from rose web forums. She uses integrated pest management practices too, attracting beneficial insects and applying non-chemical sprays to combat most diseases and pests. To help others who want to accept the challenge of growing their own roses, Uhlig is also running an online course.

Frost says it cannot be overstated just how remarkable it is that Uhlig is having success in her endeavor. “In the national scheme of flower growing, it is very exciting to have this coming out of our city,” says Frost.

If Uhlig has her way, she’s going to put Maryland on the map for rose growing. She admits it is a far-fetched dream, but if her wonderous little northeast Baltimore backyard is a litmus test, she may just make that dream a reality.

Roses have been a garden classic throughout history—inspiring the ancient Greeks to cultivate its sweet aroma into some of the first perfumes and world-famous poets to use their allure as soulful metaphors for love.

And whether it’s your first or fifty-first planting season, most gardeners fancy this timeless flower for its everblooming beauty and scent. But building a healthy rose garden can have its frustrations: They’re prone to disease, munching bugs, and mildew.

So how to avoid that? We consulted Scott Carbone, nursery manager at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville, who suggested a few rose breeds that look lovely, are relatively resistant to diseases, and will add a summer flair to your garden. And yes, planting in July will work if the roses are established when you buy them and get lots of water to make it through hot days.

Color Cocktail
These shrub roses come in multicolored shades of pink, white, and yellow and are easy to grow in a garden or patio container. Make sure they are planted in a nice, sunny spot and watered weekly.

English Rose Climbers
These elegant David Austin flowers can be planted up against walls or gates to make any garden charming. However, their location means they will require frequent watering, since the soil in these areas tends to be drier.

Knock Outs
Carbone said these self-cleaning, low-maintenance roses are great for beginner gardeners. Be sure to plant these bushes in a sunny location where they have lots of space to grow. Soon enough, your garden will be full of vibrant magenta, white, and yellow blooms.

Julia Child
Named after the celebrity chef, these shrub roses are butter gold and smell like licorice candy. They need full sun and regular watering, especially in extreme heat.

Bonica
Who would believe these charming little pink flowers would be the toughest rose? Bonica are pretty easy to care for, but avoid rinsing the leaves when watering the shrub, and prune any dead wood as it appears.

First Prize
Although hybrid tea roses are not known for their disease resistance, this Jackson & Perkins rose is the exception. Their long, pointed buds open into splashes of pink atop green leathery leaves. Carbone says these flowers need to be watered from the base and recommends clearing away any debris to make sure they have good airflow.

Is there a better time of year to dine outdoors in Maryland than the fall, when there’s plenty of warmth but the swelter recedes? The patio is the place to be as we soak up these lovely evenings and store them away in our memory for the colder climes of winter. Here are three patio companions to aid your evening revelry.

Wölffer Estate No. 139 Dry Rosé Cider

($16 4-pack bottles, Legends)
If you enjoy apple cider to herald the approach of fall but can’t quite let go of your love for summertime rosé, this drink is a godsend. What more can you ask for? How about having it in a can so we can chill a four-pack in a cooler or sip them poolside? Thank New York cider producer Wölffer Estate for granting all these wishes.

Jack Rudy Small Batch Elderflower Tonic
($17, The Country Vintner)
Whether you’d like to try an elderflower riff on the classic gin and tonic or mate a fuller-bodied tonic experience with heavier stuff like mezcal or rum, all you really need is your sense of adventure and an ice maker to appreciate this sumptuous syrup.

Château Pigoudet Première Rosé 2017
($14, Oslo Imports)
Rosé is a style of wine synonymous with summer, a phenomenon that got its start in Provence. This one is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. It’s a fruity style with notes of alpine strawberry, cherry, melon, and white peach.

Calstar Cellars Rosé of Pinot Meunier 2013

$20, RSVP Wines

Winemaker Rick Davis enjoys renown as a craftsman of fine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in California. When he decided to try his hand at something pink, the result was a juicy, ever-so-slightly off-dry expression, full of watermelon and raspberry tones.

Saint Roch les Vignes Côtes de Provence 2013

$15, Washburn Wine Co.

The trademark pale-salmon color of rosés from France’s Provence region could fool you into thinking that the wine lacks flavor. It doesn’t. Bright raspberry, peach, and lemony citrus burst from the wine, with a dry finish laced with savory herbs.

Castello di Ama Rosato 2013

$25, The Country Vintner

Castello di Ama is among the best wineries of Italy’s Chianti region. The estate’s Rosé is hewn from the same Sangiovese crop as the area’s red wines and echoes their earthy, red-cherry intensity. It is a broader interpretation of rosé, with a slightly creamy finish.

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Warm weather is finally in full bloom. For wine lovers, that means it’s time to drink rosé. If you associate rosé with the sickly sweet pink stuff of the past, please know that the wine has grown up. We’ve culled three delicious examples that have sprouted up this season.