Peter E. Kukielski is widely recognized for his work toward sustainability and disease resistance in rose gardens.
Peter’s interests include garden design with an emphasis on ecologically friendly gardens with roses and companion plantings. These gardens don't require chemicals or fertilizers.
Peter designed and implemented a new rose garden at the Royal Botanical Garden, Ontario, as part of Canada's Sesquicentennial Celebration. The garden opened in Spring, 2018. Peter curated the collection of 3,500 roses and 18,000 companion plants. He created a soil management plan and an evaluation system. In 2019, this rose garden won an environmental award for creating a garden without any chemicals or fertilizers and promoting healthy ecological practices. He continues as a consultant for this garden.
Peter was curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden from 2006 to 2014. In 2007, he redesigned the rose collection of their world-renowned Beatrix Farrand - designed garden. In 2008, he implemented a new mission: planting and trialing roses for disease resistance and less chemical usage in the garden. His book "Roses Without Chemicals" is a culmination of that research. Under Peter's leadership, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden received the Great Rosarians of the World Rose Garden Hall of Fame Award for 2010 and was voted America's Best Public Rose Garden Display by the All American Rose Selections (AARS) committee. In 2012, the garden received the Award of Excellence from the World Federation of Rose Societies, recognizing it as one of the best rose gardens in the world. Peter came to New York from Atlanta, Georgia, where for more than 10 years he owned and operated The Rose Petaler Inc., a rose garden design and maintenance business. Peter was involved with the National Earth-Kind® team and helped to lead the Northeast trials. He was the executive director of the American Rose Trials for Sustainability (A.R.T.S.), launched in 2014, national rose trials set up to scientifically determine the best roses based on regionality and climate. Peter is contributor to and co-editor of The Sustainable Rose Garden: A Reader in Rose Culture (Newbury Books 2010). He resides in Portland, Maine.
My Mission
To help identify and make aware the strongest rose varieties for the home gardener.
By "rethinking the rose garden" and letting people know my opinions to a "good ideas" to plant a particular rose over another.
I want to help more people to grow roses and share the joy these plants bring into the world.
Imagining the world full of more gardens filled with beautiful, disease free, sustainable roses.
“Mr. Kukielski is in the vanguard of a national movement to identify and promote rose varieties that will thrive without chemical intervention”