LAKELAND (Jan. 19, 2012) – The Horticulture Department at Florida Southern College will host a plant sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 28 that will feature rare “heritage” roses available nowhere else in the country. The sale, which is open to the public, will support the Department’s participation in a unique project to create a Heritage Rose District in Northern Manhattan, New York.

In addition to heritage roses, the plant sale will also offer orchids, landscape perennials and other plants. The sale will be held on a lot on the northeast corner of the FSC campus along McDonald Street. Parking is available in Lot F just south of the sale. The parking lot can only be accessed by turning north onto Harvard Road from Lake Hollingsworth Drive.

Many of the roses offered for sale have been grafted onto roots of Fortuniana roses and are not available elsewhere in the country. Others are of varieties seldom offered for sale. Many are certified free of rose mosaic virus disease.

Proceeds from the plant sale will support the next round of the Department’s ongoing Heritage Rose District project in the spring. As part of FSC’s commitment to service learning, students and professors have been propagating roses and planting them in Manhattan.

Since October 2009, the FSC Horticulture Department has been working with the Heritage Rose Foundation and the Office of the Borough President of Manhattan to develop the Heritage Rose District of New York City. The District covers an area of northern Manhattan from Washington Heights through Harlem, and is the first of its kind in the country.

Created entirely with donated roses and volunteer labor, the district is a celebration of the historic and cultural roots of these neighborhoods, showcasing roses that grew there more than 75 years ago. To date, more than 500 heritage roses have been planted on more than 25 sites that include community gardens, cemeteries, historic properties, cultural institutions, and universities. The majority of the roses planted in the District are from the rose collection at Florida Southern College.

“This project accomplishes a number of things for us,” said Dr. Malcolm Manners, Professor of Citrus Science and coordinator of the project at FSC. “It's a great way for them to do service learning, by providing a way to beautify some of New York's poorer neighborhoods. And at the same time, it's an integral part of their learning for future careers in horticulture.”

For more information about the Heritage Rose District, see www.heritagefoundation.org.