LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 14, 2009) — Florida Southern College's Horticulture Department will provide several antique roses for the newly established New York City Historic Rose District in parts of Harlem and Washington Heights.

Florida Southern was asked to contribute to the project because the College has a near-complete collection of musk roses and Bermuda Mystery roses, and all of its antique roses are tested and certified free of rose mosaic virus disease. Several varieties grew in 19th century New York City.

FSC students will propagate roses for the new gardens as a service-learning project in two classes, Principles of Plant Science and Introduction to Horticultural Science, both taught by Dr. Malcolm M. Manners. "I think this is a project the students will find fascinating, and if and when they visit New York in the future, they can also visit 'their' roses," said Dr. Manners, who serves as a trustee of the Heritage Rose Foundation.

The project came about after some members of the Heritage Rose Foundation planted historically important roses on or near the graves of some of New Yorks early horticulturists. The president of the borough of Manhattan read about the event in the New York Times and approached the Heritage Rose Foundation about establishing a historic rose district in his borough.

On Oct. 24, and again on Earth Day 2010, the Heritage Rose Foundation and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President will plant gardens of historically important roses at Trinity Church Cemetery, the final resting place of two prominent New York rose cultivators, George F. Harison and Daniel Boll; the Audubon Park Historic District, the former site of John J. Audubons estate; and the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the oldest house in New York and George Washingtons headquarters during 1776.